Meta-Analysis of Free-Response Studies 2009-2018: Assessing the Noise-Reduction Model Ten Years On
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Plain English Summary
This sweeping update covers 44 years of research asking whether people can pick up hidden information while in the ganzfeld — a relaxed, sensory-reduced state using halved ping-pong balls over your eyes and white noise in your ears. Combining over a hundred studies, ganzfeld participants identified hidden targets more often than chance, with roughly one-in-a-billion odds against a fluke. Unlike dream-ESP research, there's no sign the effect is fading — it has held steady for four decades. People pre-selected for psychic aptitude did better than unselected volunteers, and both traditional and Bayesian statistics agreed on every finding.
Research Notes
The most comprehensive update to the ganzfeld free-response meta-analytic tradition, spanning 44 years and 117 ganzfeld studies. Central to the ganzfeld telepathy debate (Controversy #1), it directly extends Storm et al. (2010) and responds implicitly to critiques by Hyman and Rouder et al. The absence of decline effects and convergence to ES~0.15 are frequently cited by proponents.
An update to Storm, Tressoldi, and Di Risio (2010), this meta-analysis assessed free-response ESP studies from 2009-2018 in three categories: ganzfeld (k=9, ES=0.119), nonganzfeld noise-reduction (k=19, ES=0.045), and standard free-response (k=15, ES=0.050), all with significant Stouffer Z scores. Combined with 1992-2008 databases (total k=108), ganzfeld yielded ES=0.133 (95% CI [0.071, 0.194], p=1.37x10^-9), noise-reduction ES=0.072, and standard free-response ES=0.027. No decline effect appeared across 44 years. Ganzfeld significantly outperformed standard free-response, and selected participants outperformed unselected in ganzfeld. Bayesian analysis confirmed all classical results.
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Extends
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Cites
- Does Psi Exist? Lack of Replication of an Anomalous Process of Information Transfer — Milton, Julie (1999)
- A Bayes Factor Meta-Analysis of Recent Extrasensory Perception Experiments: Comment on Storm, Tressoldi, and Di Risio (2010) — Rouder, Jeffrey N (2013)
- A Joint Communiqué: The Psi Ganzfeld Controversy — Hyman, Ray (1986)
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📋 Cite this paper
Storm, Lance, Tressoldi, Patrizio E (2020). Meta-Analysis of Free-Response Studies 2009-2018: Assessing the Noise-Reduction Model Ten Years On. Journal of Parapsychology.
@article{storm_2020_metaanalysis,
title = {Meta-Analysis of Free-Response Studies 2009-2018: Assessing the Noise-Reduction Model Ten Years On},
author = {Storm, Lance and Tressoldi, Patrizio E},
year = {2020},
journal = {Journal of Parapsychology},
}