2008: Volume 8

Abstracts from Australian Journal of Parapsychology

2008,

Volume 8(1), pp. 29–46

Telepathy as a Process Mediated by Quantum Teleportation Between Remote Neurons

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL

ABSTRACT: This paper explores the possibility that the quantum state of a given neuron may be teleported to the neuron of a remote brain, thereby initiating normal cognitive activity in that brain and comprising a process known as telepathy, the understanding of which may also help to explain the processing of ordinary sensory stimuli. An attempt is made to relate various aspects of the proposed process to some characteristics of telepathy, such as the apparent ability to transfer information devoid of any discernable movement of mass and/or energy; relating quantum entanglement to the biological similarity of twins and others; and how the introduction of information to neurons ultimately yields cognition within a frame of reference unique to the individual, as reported in cited instances of telepathy.

2008,

Volume 8(1), pp. 47–57

Reading Faces: An Experimental Exploration of Psychometry Using Photographs and Names

ALEJANDRO PARRA & JUAN CARLOS ARGIBAY

ABSTRACT: Psychometry describes a type of anomalous cognition which permits a psychic to experience such impressions using a physical object. A number of psychics have gained a reputation as psychic detectives using such things as photographs, a town map, or a piece of clothing. In fact, many people seem to have a high opinion of the abilities of psychics, but a person’s face is an important source of information for identifying others, and conveys significant social information, probably due to its important role in the psychological processes involved in social interaction. The aim of the present study was to compare a group of ordinary people (non-psychics) with self-claimed psychics in order to determine if participants were capable of distinguishing between living and dead people from photographs of same. The sample consisted of 169 participants divided into two groups: “psychics” (N = 74) and “non-psychics” (N = 95). No significant differences were found. Those participants who claimed to have psychometric ability (that is, were able to pick up impressions from an object by being in physical contact with it) neither obtained psi hitting, nor demonstrated greater variability in their psi hits. One possible interpretation would be that some of the participants in this group had difficulties with correctly interpreting the psi signal.

2008,

Volume 8(1), pp. 58–88

Looking into Higher Dimensions: Research with Joseph McMoneagle

RONALD BRYAN

ABSTRACT: A world-class remote viewer, Joseph McMoneagle, offered to work with me in my particle-physics research program. I readily consented, as I thought that he might be able to see neutrinos, resolve particles’ features at nuclear distances, and see into higher dimensions. To “calibrate” McMoneagle, I asked him three things (in sealed envelopes which he did not open): to look inside an electron, examine a radioactive source, and describe a quantum-mechanical wave function. He gave credible or useful information on all three targets. We were now ready to look at a real mystery, how a cosmic ray could have arrived over Dugway Flats, Utah in 1991 with an energy E = (3.2 ± 0.9) × 10²⁰eV, as measured by the Fly’s Eye Detector from the size of the atmospheric shower that the cosmic ray produced. With an energy this high, the cosmic ray should have scattered off the 3 degree Kelvin photons left over from the Big Bang until its energy dropped below about 0.5 × 10²⁰eV, the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz’min (GZK) bound. Instead the ray arrived with six times this energy, indicating that it had travelled less than a few hundred million light years in the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) soup. Yet looking along the direction from whence it came revealed no possible sources within that distance. Using his “inner” senses, McMoneagle zeroed in on the shower and saw that it had the pointed shape of a shock wave corresponding to a velocity several times that of light. With a speed this high, the ray had to have come from outside our four local dimensions of spacetime, suggesting that it entered our local space right over Utah and never ran the gauntlet of Big Bang photons.

2008,

Volume 8(2), pp. 103-127

Investigations of the I Ching: I. Relationships between Psi and Time Perspective, Paranormal Belief and Meaningfulness

LANCE STORM

ABSTRACT: The I Ching is an ancient Chinese system of divination. The user throws three coins, six times, to generate one of 64 possible six-line symbols or hexagrams, and then consults the associated divinatory reading. It is conjectured that the I Ching process is underscored by a paranormal process the cause ofwhich is likely to be the individual user. Past research has produced mixed results—in five studies, effects have ranged from chance, to significantly above chance, but no effect significantly below chance has been found. In a study by L. Storm (2006) it was theorised that hexagram targeting may accord with the participant’s time perspective—a present time perspective (PTP) refers to immediate events; a future time perspective (FTP) refers to what fate has in store. PTP and FTP types are determined from scores on the Time Perspective Inventory (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). In Storm’s (2006) study and the present study it was hypothesised that PTP types prefer first-hexagrams, and FTP types prefer second hexagrams. Storm (2006) produced results that were in the directions hypothesized. In this replication study (N = 150), hit rates for PTP types on first-hexagram hitting (30%) did exceed hit rates for FTP types (25%) as hypothesised, although the difference was not significant. The hit rate for FTP types on second-hexagram hitting (22%) did not exceed the hit rate for PTP types (27%). Hit rates were above chance on first-hexagram hitting (25.3%), but below chance on second-hexagram hitting (24.6%). Neither effect was significant. First-hexagram hitters rated their readings significantly higher on meaningfulness than first-hexagram missers. This effect was interpreted as fulfilling a theoretical condition that defines “meaningful coincidence” or synchronicity (Jung, 1960). Correlations between pro attitude and hexagram hit rates were not significant, but a significant sheep-goat effect was found. A just-significant aggregated hexagram hit rate across the six studies was found: 27% (p = .057).

2008,
Volume 8(2), pp. 128-156

Re-Examining Current Neuroscience Research Controversies

VERNON M. NEPPE

ABSTRACT: Recent findings in the neurosciences have attempted to correlate subjective experiences with specific brain findings. This paper reviews the most important research in this regard involving stimulating areas of the brain to produce out of body experiences, attempted correlations of near-death experiences with REM intrusion and other phenomena, the links of the temporal lobe of the brain with subjective paranormal experience and the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging to clarify extrasensory perception and the interactive role of non-conscious processes between two individuals. Correlations should not be regarded as causal and the author proposes a new bidirectional approach for causality. Also, results of brain findings neither confirm nor deny the veridicality of the subjective event, which may have origins in the brain or outside, but may reflect a link in the event with that specific area of the brain. The author applies a baseball analogy, written in farce, to illustrate the double-standards sometimes applied to such research.

2008,
Volume 8(2), pp. 157-179

Quantitative Analysis of Research Mediums’ Conscious Experiences during a Discarnate Reading versus a Control Task: A Pilot Study

ADAM ROCK & JULIE BEISCHEL

ABSTRACT: Mediums claim to be able to report accurate and specific information about the deceased loved ones (termed discarnates) of living people (termed sitters) even without any prior knowledge about the sitters or the discarnates and in the complete absence of any sensory feedback. Despite recent proof-focused experimental research investigating this phenomenon (e.g., Beischel & Schwartz, 2007), no published studies have attempted to quantify the phenomenological effects of discarnate readings. The aim of the present study was, thus, to investigate experimentally the phenomenological differences that arose psychologically in accordance with the demands of a discarnate reading task versus a control task. Seven mediums were administered counter-balanced sequences of a discarnate reading and control condition. The discarnate reading condition consisted of a phone reading including questions about a discarnate where only a blinded medium and a blinded experimenter were on the phone. The control condition consisted of a phone conversation between the medium and the same experimenter in which the medium was asked similar questions regarding a living person s/he (i.e., the medium) knew. Mediums’ phenomenology during each condition was retrospectively assessed using the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI). Phenomenology associated with the discarnate reading condition appeared to be significantly different from phenomenology associated with the control condition. Future research might use the PCI to address whether the phenomenology reported by mediums during discarnate readings is quantitatively different from their experiences during psychic telepathy readings for the living.