Using Neuroimaging to Resolve the Psi Debate

Abstract

Parapsychology is the scientific investigation of apparently paranormal mental phenomena (such as telepathy, i.e., "mind reading"), also known as psi. Despite widespread public belief in such phenomena and over 75 years of experimentation, there is no compelling evidence that psi exists. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in an effort to document the existence of psi. If psi exists, it occurs in the brain, and hence, assessing the brain directly should be more sensitive than using indirect behavioral methods (as have been used previously). To increase sensitivity, this experiment was designed to produce positive results if telepathy, clairvoyance (i.e., direct sensing of remote events), or precognition (i.e., knowing future events) exist. Moreover, the study included biologically or emotionally related participants (e.g., twins) and emotional stimuli in an effort to maximize experimental conditions that are purportedly conducive to psi. In spite of these characteristics of the study, psi stimuli and non-psi stimuli evoked indistinguishable neuronal responses-although differences in stimulus arousal values of the same stimuli had the expected effects on patterns of brain activation. These findings are the strongest evidence yet obtained against the existence of paranormal mental phenomena.

Emotion Regulation Using Virtual Environments and Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback

“…This differential responsiveness means that the fixed-effect statistical analyses may not be appropriate when trying to generalize inferences ( 42 ). In our case, this analysis fits well since we are working with a restricted group that has been trained to perform the emotional task, and making inferences to an additional group of subjects was not our goal ( 43 ). Instead, providing robust results at the individual subject level is an important step toward clinical applications.…”

“…Tenderness ), rtfMRI-NFB method (SVM and ROI) and assessment site. To gain power to detect these effects in a small group of participants, we analyzed the rtfMRI-NFB data using a fixed effects model ( 42 , 43 ). First, to test our hypotheses on the engagement of specific ROIs during the conditions tenderness and anguish, SVC were applied using the ROIs from the ROI based rtfMRI-NFB method with a whole-brain voxel threshold of p < 0.005, uncorrected.…”

Magic Performances – When Explained in Psychic Terms by University Students

“…Psychologists have long been interested in paranormal and/or magical (including psi) phenomena in children as well as adults ( Rosengren et al, 2000 ; Subbotsky, 2001 , 2004a , 2010 ; Wiseman et al, 2003 ; Wiseman and Watt, 2004 , 2006 ; Lindeman and Aarnio, 2006 ; Losh and Nzekwe, 2011 ; Risen, 2016 ). Some studies focused on the existence of paranormal phenomena ( Honorton and Harper, 1974 ; Bem and Honorton, 1994 ; Milton and Wiseman, 1999 ; Etzold, 2006 ; Moulton and Kosslyn, 2008 ), while others focused on cognitive thought processes that underpin PBs ( Brugger et al, 1990 ; Lindeman et al, 2008 ; Fiske and Taylor, 2013 ). Yet, others focused on personality traits (e.g., intelligence, creativity, schizotypy traits, extraversion, and reasoning abilities) associated with PBs (for reviews, see e.g., French, 1992 ; Irwin, 1993 ).…”

Why Most Research Findings About Psi Are False: The Replicability Crisis, the Psi Paradox and the Myth of Sisyphus

“…For example, phenomenological and neurobiological aspects of synesthesia can be evaluated ( Eagleman et al, 2007 ), and psi might have a lot in common with synesthesia ( Simmonds-Moore et al, 2019 ). So, if the profound nature of psi cannot be explained, reliable markers correlated with its expression using fMRI or EEG studies could be determined in order to find neuro-correlates of psi ( Moulton and Kosslyn, 2008 ). But the level of research in this domain has to be improved ( Acunzo et al, 2013 ), and it should be proven that these correlations in fMRI results are not psi effects.…”