Recent advances in brain imaging technology have been exploited in several lines of parapsychological research.
Presentiment
In a 2002 study by Bierman and Scholten, presentiment effects in the brain were probed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Ten subjects viewed randomly-ordered sequences of emotional and neutral images. Female subjects exhibited significant differences in brain activity before being exposed to frightening images as compared to neutral images (p = 0.05). When males were tested, they showed increased brain activity before seeing erotic images (p = 0.05).
Bierman independently demonstrated presentiment of erotic images (p = 0.01).1Bierman & Scholten (2002).
Testing Psychics
Gerard Senehi
In 2008, a group of Indian researchers examined the brain activity of Gerard Senehi, a 46-year-old Indian psychic, using fMRI. The claimant attempted to describe a picture being drawn by an experimenter in a different room, and this was found to be significantly more accurate than a description given by a non-psychic control person. Additionally, the psychic’s fMRI scan revealed significantly more activity in the right parahippocampal gyrus than normal. This brain area is associated with spatial awareness and memory, indicating which processes were active during testing.2Venkatasubramanian et al. (2008).
Ingo Swann
In the late 1990s, Ingo Swann was extensively tested by Michael A Persinger, who probed for neural correlates of successful remote viewing performance. An initial EEG test revealed a notable spike in the 7-Hz range measured from the occipital lobes was found. Following this, magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of his brain found unusual features within the parieto-occipital region of the right hemisphere. Further testing showed that Swann’s remote viewing ability could be enhanced by applying a magnetic field.3Persinger, et al. (2002).
Brain to Brain
Leanna Standish at Bastyr University conducted experiments with emotionally bonded pairs, such as couples and twins. In her first experiment, EEG spikes in neural activity in one individual were found to synchronize with those in the EEG readout of another remotely located person when that person was exposed to a flashing light or loud noise.4Standish et al. (2004).
These findings were replicated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). One member of a participant couple, having been electrically and magnetically shielded, received a stimulus in the form of a flickering checkerboard pattern. The other was placed in a scanner wearing sensory isolating goggles and monitored for changes in brain activity. Correlations between the two were found at a statistically significant level (p = 0.001).5Standish et al. (2005).
Moulton and Kosslyn
Harvard psychologist Stephen Kosslyn and Samuel Moulton published a high profile study investigating telepathy. Nineteen pairs of individuals sharing an emotional bond were recruited, one acting as the ‘sender’, the person who transmits an emotional target to the other, the ‘receiver’. Near the end of the session, the receiver chooses which of the two images is the target. Guessing accuracy was almost exactly at chance (49.9%), and there were no significant differences in brain activity between hits and misses. One person demonstrated quite pronounced brain differences (p = 0.001) but this was dismissed as artifactual.6Moulton & Kosslyn (2008).
Brain Damage and Psi
Morris Freedman is a Toronto-based neurologist who has carried out experiments suggesting that psi effects may be prevalent in individuals with frontal lobe brain damage. In previous research he provided robust evidence for a PK-enhancing effect of frontal lobe lesions, thought to occur through reduced self-awareness.7Freedman, et al. (2003). In a second major study done more than a decade after the original work, Freedman and his colleagues attempted to identify specific frontal brain regions that may inhibit psi expression. Similar to the previous research, the experimental task was to influence the output of a random event generator translated into movement of an arrow on a computer screen, either to the right or left. In two participants who showed a significant PK effect in moving the arrow to the right, frontal volume loss was determined using brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The primary area of lesion overlap in both patients was in the left medial middle frontal region, which corresponds closely to frontal lobe brain regions associated with self-awareness. The significant PK effect in moving the arrow to the right was contralateral to the side of the primary lesion.
Notably, the effect sizes were much larger in participants with frontal lobe damage compared to normal participants. Freedman and colleagues concluded that the medial frontal lobes may act as a biological filter to inhibit psi through mechanisms related to self-awareness.8Freedman (2018).
Review
A review of neuroimaging psi data was carried out in 2013 by Rabeyron, Evrard and Acunzo. They considered six functional neuroimaging studies of distant intentionality/telepathy, where a remotely-located individual attempts to send information to, or simply focus on, a receiver; they also reviewed a brain imaging precognition study. They found the overall evidential base to be quite high, with only one negative study, but conclude that general methodological quality is low. They make several suggestions for improving experimental rigor, including the introduction of counter-balancing of trials, proper randomization techniques, adequate shielding between receiver and outside environment, and recruiting enough subjects to achieve sufficient statistical power.9Acunzo, et al. (2013).
Division of Perceptual Studies
The Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) at the University of Virginia has established a state-of-the-art EEG lab, the Ray Westphal Neuroimaging Laboratory, under the direction of Edward Kelly and Ross Dunseath. This facility includes an electromagnetically shielded chamber and advanced neuroimaging technology. Researchers are planning to use it to study altered states and psi, out-of-body experience, advanced meditation and psi, trance mediumship, and PK in talented individuals.10https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/our-research/neuroimaging-studies-of-psi/
Michael Duggan
Literature
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