Mental Connection at Distance: Useful for Solving Difficult Tasks?

Abstract

Aim of this study is to provide a demonstration of the non-local property of the human mind to connect at distance, that is, without the classical means of communication. In the first experiment, 40 participants were requested to identify in two separate sessions, 10 real and 10 false Chinese ideograms presented randomly, trying to connect mentally with the research assistant sending correct suggestions at distance that is without any possibility to communicate with them by conventional means. As control condition, in one of these two sessions the helper did not send any suggestion although the receiver believed the contrary. In the session without suggestion, the hits’ mean score was 10.55; conversely, in the condition where a research assistant tried to suggest the correct identification at distance, the hits’ mean score was 11.33. Both a frequentist and a Bayesian statistical analysis approach, allows to reject the Null Hypothesis supporting the alternative one, that is, the possibility of mental connection at distance exploiting the non-local properties of the human mind. A second experiment aimed at increasing the efficiency of this mental connection taking into account task complexity and the level of Absorption of participants as a personality trait deemed favorable to non-local communication. However the results were similar to the first experiment. Although mental connection at distance seems feasible, variables which positively moderate this kind of communication are still to be identified.

Share and Cite:

Tressoldi, P. , Massaccesi, S. , Martinelli, M. & Cappato, S. (2011). Mental Connection at Distance: Useful for Solving Difficult Tasks?. Psychology, 2, 853-858. doi: 10.4236/psych.2011.28130.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Achterberg, E., Cooke, K., Richards, T., Standish, L.J., Kozak, L., & Lake, J. (2005). Evidence for correlations between distant intentionality and brain function in recipients: A functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis. Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 11, 965-971.
[2] American Psychological Association. (2010). The publication manual of the American psychological association (6th ed.). Washington, DC.
[3] Bem, D. J. (2011). Feeling the future: Experimental evidence for anomalous retroactive influences on cognition and affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 1-19.
[4] Clarke, C.J.S. (1995). The non-locality of mind. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2, 3, 231-240.
[5] Miller, W.B. & Rodgers, J.L. (2001). The Ontogeny of Human Bonding Systems: Evolutionary Origins, Neural Bases, and Psychological Manifestations. New York: Springer.
[6] Radin, D. (2006). Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality. Paraview Pocket Books, N.Y.
[7] Richards, T. L., Kozak, L.,Johnson, L. C., & Standish, L.J. (2005). Replicable functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence of correlated brain signals between physically and sensory isolated subjects. Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 11, 955-963.
[8] Rouder, J. N. (2011). Bayes factor for a binomially distributed observation. Retrieved from http://pcl.missouri.edu/bfbinomial
[9] Rouder, J. N., Speckman, P. L., Sun, D., Morey, R. D., & Iverson,G. (2009). Bayesian t tests for accepting and rejecting the null hypothesis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 225-237.
[10] Satprakashananda, Swami (2005).Methods of Knowledge According to Advaita Vedānta. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
[11] Schmidt, S., Schneider, R., Utts,J., & Walach, H. (2004). Distant intentionality and the feeling of being stared at: Two meta-analyses. British Journal of Psychology, 95, 235-247.
[12] Sheldrake, R. & Beharee, A. (2009). A Rapid Online Telepathy Test. Psychological Reports, 104, 957-970.
[13] Sheldrake, R. & Smart, P. (2005). Testing for telepathy in connection with e-mails. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 101, 771-786.
[14] Storm, L., Tressoldi, P. E., & Di Risio, L. (2010). Meta-Analysis of Free-Response Studies, 1992–2008: Assessing the Noise Reduction Model in Parapsychology. Psychological Bulletin, 136(4), 471-485. doi: 10.1037/a0019457
[15] Storm, L., Tressoldi, P. E., and Di Risio, L. (under revision). Meta-analysis of ESP studies, 1987-2010, assessing the success of the forced-choice design in parapsychology.
[16] Tellegen, A., & Atkinson, G. (1974). Openness to absorbing and self-altering experiences (“absorption”), a trait related to hypnotic susceptibility. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 83, 268-277.
[17] Terhune, D. B. & Smith, M. (2006). The Induction of Anomalous Experiences in a Mirror-Gazing Facility: Suggestion, Cognitive Perceptual Personality Traits and Phenomenological State Effects. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 194, 6, 415-421. doi: 10.1097/01.nmd.0000221318.30692.a5
[18] Tressoldi, P. E. (2011). Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence: the case of non-local perception, a classical and Bayesian review of evidences. Frontiers in Psychology, 2(117), 1-5. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00117
[19] Velmans, M. (2009) Understanding Consciousness, Edition 2. London: Routledge/Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.
[20] Wackermann, J., Seiter, C., Keibel, H., & Walach, H. (2003). Correlations between brain electrical activities of spatially separated human beings. Neuroscience Letters, 336, 60-64.
[21] Wetzels, R., Raaijmakers, J.G.W., Jakab, E. and Wagenmakers,EJ. (2009). How to quantify support for and against the null hypothesis: A flexible WinBUGS implementation of a default Bayesian t test. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16 (4), 752-760. doi:10.3758/PBR.16.4.752

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.