Rethinking Extrasensory Perception

Abstract

In this article, we define precognition as an atypical perceptual ability that allows the acquisition of non-inferential information arising from a future point in spacetime. The Multiphasic Model of Precognition (MMPC) identifies two distinct phases: The first is the physics domain, which addresses the question of retrocausation and how it is possible for information to traverse from one spacetime point to another. We suggest that the solution might be found within entropic considerations. The second is the neuroscience domain, which addresses the acquisition and interpretation of retrocausal signals. We propose that this occurs across three stages: (a) perception of signals from an information carrier, based on psychophysical variability in a putative signal transducer; (b) cortical processing of the signals, mediated by a cortical hyper-associative mechanism; and (c) cognition, mediated by normal cognitive processes, leading to a response based on retrocausal information. The model is comprehensive, brain-based, and provides a new direction for research requiring multidisciplinary expertise.Keywords precognition, extrasensory perception, retrocausation, synesthesia, entropy 2 SAGE Openwere not sufficient to either describe the observables or provide a working definition for experimental work. The "anomaly" in AC refers to our insufficient understanding of the process of AC, rather than its validity. ESP/psi/psychic experiences are the most popular terms as understood by the lay community.AC research, particularly in the last 30 years, has accumulated sufficient evidence to establish the existence of information transfer through processes that we are only now beginning to understand. Although it is beyond the scope of this article to provide a complete analysis of the substantial amount of experimental and theoretical work that has been carried out worldwide since the 1930s, research across laboratories provides statistical evidence for an information transfer anomaly. Table 1 shows the most relevant set of meta-analyses of various experimental AC paradigms.It is not our intention to provide irrefutable evidence of AC; rather, we provide references from which this table was generated, to demonstrate that a substantial experimental database exists that meets the standards of critical scientific methodology. The meta-analyses in Table 1 take into account reasonable "file drawer" estimates (Iyengar & Greenhouse, 1988;Rosenthal, 1979;Scargle, 2000;Schonemann & Scargle, 2008).Beginning in the 1970s, the research paradigm shifted from forced-choice studies to free-response methodologies. Some of these gave the first laboratory evidence for freeresponse precognition (PC) under strict laboratory conditions. Researchers examined various internal noise reduction methods such as dreaming (Krippner, Ullman, & Honorton, 1971, 1972 and the ganzfeld (Honorton & Harper, 1974). Puthoff and Targ (1974) further modernized a concept from early in the 20th century (Sinclair, 1930(Sinclair, /2001 Warcollier, 1926 Warcollie...

Modelling human cognition of abnormal machine behaviour

“…New theories and models began to suggest a wider range of cognitive modes, including naturalistic decision-making (e.g. Endsley 1995;Reasons and Hobbs 2003;Klein 2008), and several attempts have been made to identify the capacities of less well-understood cognitive phenomena, such as pre-cognition (Snodgrass et al 2004;Marwaha and May 2015).…”

Response to: Brief Comments on “Siddhis and Psi Research: An Interdisciplinary Analysis”

“…Details of testable hypotheses are discussed in Marwaha and May (2015a,b). 6,7 Physicalist hypotheses have to be experimentally rejected before considering a dualist/panpsychist approach as a possible explanatory mechanism for psi.…”

Examining the nature of retrocausal effects in biology and psychology

“…But it is worth mentioning that other types of precognition such as anomalous cognition (i.e. remote viewing) are also important to understand, and to that end, Marwaha and May have described anomalous cognition with an intriguing multimodal model [1]. However, anomalous cognition/remote viewing requires conscious access to future events and has a time scale on the order of hours, days, weeks, or years.…”

“…To my knowledge, getting information about the future cannot currently be distinguished from the case in which a future event is correlated to a person's mental state in the present, precognition can be considered to be a macroscopic manifestation of retrocausality. However, "causality" may be a misnomer in this particular case (and perhaps in general), as thus far there is no need to suppose that an event that is precognized changes an individual's mental state, just that there is a correlation between them (e.g., [1]). …”