The grants competition for the 2017 Parapsychological Association Research Endowment (PARE) has come to a close, and three grant proposals have been awarded. The Parapsychological Association (PA) will be providing funds to support research into associative remote viewing methods and results analysis, the psychology of attachment and the exceptional experiences of twins, and perceptual and psychophenomenological traits associated with varieties of healing practices. Each research initiative will explore areas that have far-reaching implications for furthering the science of parapsychology and understanding the nature of consciousness.

Igor Grgić, Debra Lynne Katz, and Patrizio Tressoldi study associative remote viewing (ARV), a specific application of remote viewing during which predictions about events or circumstances can be made. ARV is a method to access information that will only be known in the future, and it is commonly connected with predicting outcomes of financial and sporting events. Grgić and his team will be reviewing data from previously completed ARV trials. The researchers seek to understand what worked when predictions resulted in hits and what went wrong when predictions resulted in misses. Then, six independent judges and two teams of two working under blind conditions will repeat judging, scoring, and prediction methods of the previous trials with a focus on identifying and evaluating differences in judging styles and predictive decision-making, leading to a better understanding of what constitutes a “Hit” or “Miss” in ARV.

Göran Brusewitz (Doctoral Candidate, Greenwich University) will conduct a study that explores the connections between attachment among twins. Brusewitz plans to collect information through web surveys following email invitations sent to approximately 5400 UK twins. He will then analyze the responses with a focus on the subscales of anxiety and avoidance between identical and non-identical twins and between male and female twins. Additionally, the development of attachment in relation to aging will be reviewed. A question on exceptional experiences (telepathy-like experiences, remote sensing, etc.) will be meant to evoke responses that will make it possible to compare attachment with exceptional experiences, thereby linking parapsychology to psychology.

Alejandro Parra (Instituto de Psicología Paranormal of Buenos Aires) and Jorge Villanueva are conducting workshops to further understanding of the perceptual and psychophenomenological traits associated with varieties of healing practices. Parra and Villanueva seek to understand the experiences of healing practitioners who claim to have various kinds of healing practices with their clients. Another objective will be to explore correlations between these healing experiences and personality variables, such as interoceptive awareness, personality traits (empathy, extraversion, positive schizotypy) and perceptual variables (visual vividness, locus of control, psychological absorption, and sensations seeking). Parra and Villanueva predict that healing practitioners will show a higher level of corporal awareness, empathy, extroversion, and other perceptual traits.

Donations to support the mission of the PA, including the funding of research initiatives, can be made by contacting Executive Director Annalisa Ventola at annalisa@parapsych.org, or by visiting our Support Page.

About the Parapsychological Association

The PA is the international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of consciousness-related experiences and phenomena known as “psi” (or “psychic”) experiences. The primary objective of such studies is to achieve a scientific understanding of these experiences. The PA was first established in 1957 and has been an affiliated organization of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since 1969. The PA provides an international forum for scholarly exchange through annual conferences, generally held in North America or in Europe, and through the publication of its Mindfield bulletin. There are approximately 350 PA members around the world.