The grants competition for the 2012 Parapsychological Association Research Endowment (PARE) has come to a close, and several grant proposals have been awarded. The Parapsychological Association (PA) will be providing funds to support research investigating Healing Touch therapy, the role of memory in precognitive dream experience, and a replication of Dean Radin’s presentiment studies. Each research initiative will explore areas that have far-reaching implications for furthering the science of parapsychology and understanding the nature of consciousness.

Margaret Moga, PhD (Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine) will lead an exploratory study into magnetic field activity in the immediate environment of practitioners and clients during Healing Touch. Healing touch is an energy-based therapy, which is believed to have an effect upon the electromagnetic field around a person’s physical body. Moga’s study seeks to identify potential relationships between magnetic-field activity, client symptoms, and practitioner descriptions of the client’s biofield. Researchers will also assess the usefulness of magnetic field activity as a measure of energetic changes felt by the practitioner and/or client during a healing session.

Milan Valášek (Doctoral Candidate, Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh) will examine the role of memory in precognitive (“knowledge beforehand”) dream experience. Three studies are planned for the upcoming year, which will analyze the role that memory and motivation have on the subjective quality of an individual’s precognitive dream experience. The primary method for assessment is the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm, a procedure used to study false memory.

Juan Manuel Corbetta (The Institute of Paranormal Psychology of Buenos Aires [IPP]) will lead a multi-disciplinary research team in the study of anomalous anticipatory skin conductance response to visual stimuli. The experiment, a replication of presentiment (“feeling beforehand”) experiments carried out by Dean Radin in the late 1990s, seeks to generate data and compare the results to the findings originally obtained by Radin and others. The IPP will engage psychologists, parapsychologists, and medical doctors to measure participants’ electrodermal activity in direct relation to the presentation of photographs selected to induce an emotional or a calm reaction.

An additional grant proposal was awarded, but the recipient is not yet in a position to declare acceptance. 

Funding for PARE awards was made possible through a generous donation by Dr. Gertrude Schmeidler, who was a leading researcher and educator in the field of parapsychology. The awards are administered annually by the Board of the Parapsychological Association. One or more awards is made each year to cover the direct costs of conducting scientific research. Donations to support the mission of the PA, including the funding of research initiatives, can be made by contacting Executive Director Annalisa Ventola at business@parapsych.org.

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Article written by Anastasia Wasko, an independent editor, author and PA volunteer. More information about Ms. Wasko can be found at www.anastasiawasko.com.