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2007, Volume 7(1), pp. 8-32
ABSTRACT: Parapsychologists purport to apply scientific method to the
investigation of the bases of commonly reported parapsychological
experiences such as extrasensory perception. Despite over a hundred years of
associated research effort the status of parapsychology as a scientific
endeavour is disputed by a substantial section of the contemporary
mainstream scientific community. This paper identifies some of the major
chronological shifts in the rationale for dismissing parapsychology as
nonscientific, examining several historical attempts by parapsychologists to
establish the scientific legitimacy of their discipline and the concomitant
strategies of orthodox scientists to marginalise the findings of
parapsychological research as rejected knowledge.
2007, Volume 7(1), pp. 33-46
ABSTRACT: Research was conducted on the relations between humans and animals
to find out about animal behaviour and the types of beliefs associated with
it. A survey in the form of personal interviews was carried out between
February and March 2000, and comprised 1014 participants from five different
regions of Portugal. R. Sheldrake’s (Brown & Sheldrake, 1998) questionnaire
was used to examine pet owners’ beliefs about “psychic experiences” and the
behaviour of their animals. Results showed that the majority of
participants: (1) don’t agree that their pets get agitated before a family
member arrives home, (2) recognise that their animals know they’re going to
leave, and (3) disagree that their pets respond to their thoughts or silent
commands. We advance the hypothesis that biases in environmental stimuli
explain these alleged psychic experiences between owners and their pets.
2007, Volume 7(1), pp. 47-51
ABSTRACT: Since it is alleged that astrology provides a method of gaining
information about the personality of an individual, that might include
advice and forecasts about future actions, the possibility exists that
astrology depends on an anomalous process—a process that takes place outside
the human brain, but nonetheless affects the human brain in ways so far
undetermined. This short article is an introduction to the idea that ESP and
astrology may be related.
2007, Volume 7(1), pp. 52-71
ABSTRACT: In one of his careful astro-statistical studies, Arno Müller and
Günter Menzer (1993) reported correlations between infants’ deaths in
families of German nobles and Saturn positions at the infants’ birth hours.
This result went unnoticed. Another neglected result of a well-controlled
study is that of Timm and Köberl (1986) on astrologers. These major authors
admitted that their participants’ interpretations of horoscopes were better
than chance. They deemed this success due to paranormal (psi) effects. A
recent case study on an astrologer’s efficiency at chart interpretation lead
me to suspect that here, too, psi might be involved. Emergent phenomena like
these should be taken as a challenge for further research.
2007, Volume 7(1), pp. 72-76
ABSTRACT: I am prompted to comment on some issues raised by Suitbert Ertel’s
2004 paper reprinted in Australian Journal of Parapsychology (Ertel, 2007).
The first of his hopeful findings raises the question of a physical
mechanism for parapsychological effects in general, an issue to which
Spottiswoode (1997) and May (2001) have attached great importance. While
looking at possible geophysical mechanisms we should not forget the equal
need for a neurochemical pathway to explain such phenomena.
2007, Volume 7(1), pp. 77-79
ABSTRACT: Speculations about mechanisms as expounded by Douglas (2007) are
encouraging, but they also need to be thought over carefully and run through
the appropriate tests. A connection between Gauquelin-type correlations of
“neo-astrology” (Gauquelin, 1988) and Chizhevsky-type correlations of
“helio-biology” (Chizhevsky, 1971) may exist. Neo-astrological correlations
manifest themselves with birth peaks of eminent professionals after the rise
or culmination of Mars (e.g., athletes), Jupiter (e.g., actors), and Saturn
(e.g., physicians). Helio-biological correlations appear with peaks of
social unrest and cultural-political revolutions during periods of high
sunspot activity. I found sufficient evidence for neo-astrological (Ertel &
Irving, 1996) as well as for helio-biological correlations (Ertel, 1996,
1997). But to my disappointment, I missed a connection between the two.
Between the planetary and the solar or correlated geomagnetic processes no
connection could be unearthed (Ertel, 1989).
2007, Volume 7(1), pp. 80-85
ABSTRACT: The article by Craig Murray and Jezz Fox (2006)—”From Dreams to
(Virtual) Reality: Exploring Behavioural Embodiment in Out-Of-Body
Experients”—is an example of how one question alone has been used for
studying a key variable in parapsychological research. As a referee for that
article, it has led to a crucial debate. Is this approach legitimate? More
powerful would be a series of questions to establish whether the subjects’
experiences purport to what it should, and if it does not, to be able to
establish why not.
2007, Volume 7(2), pp.
112-133
ABSTRACT:
Using the ProComp+ neuro-feedback apparatus, intermittent feedback
was given to eight participants as they performed an alternating bimodal
(i.e., normal and paranormal) task, switched at irregular intervals. During
normal modes, participants were required to keep EEG alpha rhythm above
threshold, and/or EMG amplitude below threshold, in order to elicit positive
feedback of a ‘Spinning Man’ animation. The man spun only when one or both
threshold contingencies were met. During paranormal modes, regardless of
alpha and/or EMG amplitudes, the participants were required to keep the man
spinning, but they were blind to the fact that their attempts could only
elicit micro-PK changes (i.e., ‘anomalous perturbations’) on a single frame
taken from the Spinning Man animation sequence. If psi was elicited during
this mode, anomalies were expected as a result of participants’ focussed
attention. It was hypothesised that (i) video anomalies might occur during
the paranormal modes, and (ii) EEG alpha amplitude might be higher, and/or
integrated EMG amplitude might be lower, during paranormal modes. Stills of
the video frame caught during paranormal modes were later analysed. No
evidence was found for (i) or (ii). Three un-hypothesised ‘anomalous’
effects occurred during the running of the experiment but, on parsimonious
grounds, these were attributed to software flaws. It is argued that lack of
biofeedback during paranormal modes may have been psi-inhibitive. Previous
meditation and biofeedback experience had no effect on EEG alpha amplitude
or EMG. Some participants showed evidence of waveform training.
Transliminality correlated with alpha and EMG in the directions
hypothesised, but only approached significance in the Transliminality/alpha
correlation.
2007, Volume 7(2), pp.
134-163
ABSTRACT:
The concept of the longbody traces its origin to the language
and spiritual tradition of Native American tribal cultures, particularly
that of the Iroquois Indians. Within these cultures, it represents a
worldview quite different from that of Western cultures, in that it posits a
broad degree of spiritual interconnection between all things in the natural
world, living and material alike. From this view, a tribal member’s
experience of self is not solely limited to their individual living body,
but also includes other family and tribal members (both living and
deceased), the objects they possess, and the geographical locations that
they inhabit or consider sacred. These can all be seen as extensions of the
individual small body and the self that, when taken as a whole, comprise the
larger tribal “longbody.” The concept was first introduced to parapsychology
by Christopher Aanstoos (1986), and was adopted by William Roll (1987, 1989,
2005) as a metaphorical way to understand the interconnection between mind
and matter that is suggested in one form or another by all the known types
of psi phenomena. The concept does not seem to be unique only to the
Iroquois; several Indian tribes of the American Southwest also have aspects
of their oral-based spiritual tradition that reflect something very similar
to the longbody. In this paper, the similar aspects from four Southwest
tribes (the Hopi, the Navajo, Laguna Pueblo, and Zuni Pueblo) are reviewed,
and their implications for tribal psi experiences and Roll’s longbody
hypothesis are discussed. It is suggested that tribal oral tradition, which
is based in memory, opens the way for psi as a means to ensure the survival
of the tribes and their respective longbodies across space-time. It is
further suggested that the geophysical properties of the location of certain
Pueblos and sacred tribal sites may display anomalous activity similar to
that observed in investigations of reportedly haunted sites, which may aid
in giving rise to tribal psi through their possible energetic effects on the
brain. Possible directions for future research are also offered.
2007, Volume 7(2), pp.
164-171
ABSTRACT:
Sometimes people in psychotic episodes purport that their
identity has changed, and the most famous personage to whom there is a
change is Jesus Christ. Clearly, even if true, the person has not arrived on
Earth by celestial spectacle, but rather by being born in the normal way.
This fact suggests that such people may be more likely to believe in
reincarnation. In this research project belief in reincarnation was
correlated with belief that one has on at least one occasion experienced
being literally a famous person, such as Jesus Christ. The evidence, using a
questionnaire approach and a total of 1,025 people, is that there is a
positive and significant association between the two variables, r(1023)
= .083, p = .008, but it is extremely small and must therefore act in
concert with other more important variables to produce the assumption of
grand identity.
2007, Volume 7(2), pp.
172-181
ABSTRACT:
In the previous issue of the Australian Journal of
Parapsychology [A.J.Para.], Vernon Neppe presented a critique of
the use of a single item to differentiate a sample into out-of-body
experients and non-experients (Neppe, 2007). Although this is a discussion
generally meriting attention, Neppe’s critique is made directly in response
to his experience of reviewing our earlier paper, and of its subsequent
inclusion in the December 2006 issue of A.J.Para. (Murray & Fox,
2006). Indeed he states that “As a referee of that article, it has led to a
crucial debate. Is this approach legitimate?” (Neppe, 2007, p. 80).
2007, Volume 7(2), pp.
182-183
ABSTRACT:
Neppe’s (2007) criticism of Murray and
Fox’s (2006) “From Dreams to (Virtual) Reality: Exploring Behavioural
Embodiment in Out-Of-Body Experients” is correct but somewhat misleading.
That is, Neppe (2007) is absolutely correct when he states that “No matter
how well a single question is fashioned it could create both false negatives
and false positives due to misinterpretation” (p. 82), and he correctly
notes that the use of multiple questions give greater assurance that “what
is subjectively measured is as appropriate a measure of the subjective
phenomenon as possible” (p. 82). In some cases a single question might well
suffice (e.g., “Did you ever get legally married?”), whereas establishing
the presence of Out-of-Body Experiences might indeed require more than one
question.
2007, Volume 7(2), pp.
184-188
Peer
Review and Phenomenological Analyses in Research
ABSTRACT:
I was asked by the editor to contribute a
response to Murray and Fox (2007) whose scientific work I respect. I comment
on two issues: Peer review and phenomenology.
Peer review
is important. The object is to improve the quality of the submitted article
and the quality of the current research and sometimes impact on future
studies. Peer reviewers should not be regarded as the only experts. They are
there to assist having been selected generally because, like the submitting
authors, they, too, have expert knowledge in that discipline. Peer review
optimally assists the authors in improving articles and their future
research. Refereeing processes are not intended to be rewrites of articles.
Certain interchanges in the review process are made available to authors,
others only to the editor himself.
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