Friday, June 1, 2018   7:45 PM

Convention Spotlight: Caroline Watt on Precognition, ASCs, and the Ganzfeld

Experiences with psi are reported more often by people who are self-reported creative and artistic, who have a mental discipline practice, as well as those who have prior psi experience or belief. Additionally, mild isolation (ganzfeld) and induced relaxation techniques have been documented to help people access these experiences—but are these variables reliable in relation to ESP induction? Caroline Watt, Emily Dawson, Alisdair Tullo, Abby Pooley, and Holly Rice at University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, predicted overall high scoring on a ganzfeld precognition task, based on the careful selection of participants with these psi-conducive characteristics. One experimenter, per trial, oversaw the time-stamped collection of data during the study that was designed for simplicity and security; three experimenters oversaw twenty trials each during the entire course of the study. Watt et al. found that moderator variables can optimize the results and be mapped on to common features of spontaneously reported paranormal experiences. Additionally, this was the first study to be submitted to a registration-based meta-analysis, and the review protocol will help to eliminate biases from methodological decisions after the study results are known. It will also allow for the adaptation of data relative to the unique characteristics of a study, thereby encouraging more programmatic research efforts.

Learn more about the current developments in the field of parapsychology by attending the 61st Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association. Be sure to book before registration closes on July 27th

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