Searching for Neuronal Markers of Psi: A Summary of Three Studies Measuring Electrophysiology in Distant Participants
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Plain English Summary
Can one person's brain react when something happens to someone else hundreds of miles away? A German research team tested this across three EEG studies (EEG measures electrical brain activity via scalp sensors). They paired people up: one watched emotional images while the other sat separately — and in two studies, that separation was 750 to 800 kilometers, far enough to rule out electromagnetic signals leaking between them. The headline result is striking: across all three studies, the distant partner's brain showed a consistent bump in alpha waves (a rhythm linked to relaxed alertness) during emotional pictures. Combined statistically, the effect hit z=4.0 — odds of about 1 in 30,000 against chance. Importantly, this wasn't driven by a few supposed psychic superstars; the effect spread across more than two-thirds of participants. On the flip side, several other brain measures showed nothing, and a replication of another lab's experiment came up empty. The authors honestly note that analysis choices leave wiggle room, and this is a conference summary rather than a fully peer-reviewed article.
Research Notes
Unique in the EEG correlations literature for using 750–800 km separation to rule out electromagnetic artifact. Three sequential studies by the same lab converge on a weak Alpha-band increase when one partner is shown affective images. The accumulated effect (z=4.0) survives even conservative multiple-testing corrections. Key null findings: no global ERP, no SCP, no checkerboard replication (Wackermann paradigm fails). Effect distributed across >2/3 of participants — not driven by a few 'gifted' individuals. Author explicitly discusses both artifact explanation (analysis degrees of freedom) and generalized entanglement explanation (Walach 2005 framework). This is a conference proceedings paper, not a peer-reviewed journal article — the full study is published as Hinterberger et al. (2007) in JSPR 71:148-166 and a longer version is described as 'in press' in Int J Neuroscience.
A conference summary of three EEG correlation studies testing whether the brain activity of a 'non-stimulated' participant reflects stimulation of a remote 'stimulated' partner. Study 1 (Tübingen–Tübingen, nearby labs, N=20 pairs): significant Theta and Alpha increases for affective pictures in related pairs only. Studies 2 and 3 used 750–800 km separation (Northampton–Tübingen; Northampton–Freiburg), effectively ruling out electromagnetic signal transfer. Both distant studies replicated the Alpha band increase for affective pictures. Accumulated across all three studies: z=4.0, p=0.00003 for the alpha effect. However, no global ERP or SCP effects were found in any study, and most individual significances would not survive multiple-testing correction. The checkerboard paradigm from Wackermann et al. (2003) was not replicated.
Related Papers
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- Extrasensory Electroencephalographic Induction between Identical Twins — Duane, T. D (1965)
- The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox in the Brain: The Transferred Potential — Grinberg-Zylberbaum, Jacobo (1994)
- Correlations between brain electrical activities of two spatially separated human subjects — Wackermann, Jiří (2003)
- Evidence for Correlations Between Distant Intentionality and Brain Function in Recipients: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Analysis — Achterberg, J (2005)
- Correlations Between the EEGs of Two Spatially Separated Subjects − A Replication Study — Ambach, Wolfgang (2008)
- Anomalous Experiences, Psi, and Functional Neuroimaging — Acunzo, David J (2013)
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📋 Cite this paper
Hinterberger, T (2010). Searching for Neuronal Markers of Psi: A Summary of Three Studies Measuring Electrophysiology in Distant Participants. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 53rd Annual Convention.
@article{hinterberger_2010_searching,
title = {Searching for Neuronal Markers of Psi: A Summary of Three Studies Measuring Electrophysiology in Distant Participants},
author = {Hinterberger, T},
year = {2010},
journal = {Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 53rd Annual Convention},
}