📌 Appears in:
Plain English Summary
This paper tackles a big question: is there real evidence for telepathy, and could quantum physics help explain it? The authors reviewed 108 ganzfeld experiments -- studies where a person in a relaxed, sensory-deprived state tries to pick up mental images sent by someone else. Across over 4,000 trials spanning decades and multiple labs, people guessed correctly 31.5% of the time when chance would predict 25%. Six separate meta-analyses all agreed, with the combined odds against this being a fluke sitting at roughly one in a hundred billion. Intriguingly, the effect only showed up when participants were in altered states of consciousness -- ordinary conditions produced nothing. The authors then make a bold theoretical move, suggesting that quantum cognition models, which already outperform classical ones for explaining certain quirks in human decision-making, could naturally accommodate this kind of nonlocal information transfer.
Research Notes
Key bridge paper connecting the ganzfeld experimental evidence base to quantum cognition theory. Co-authored by three major figures in parapsychology (Tressoldi, Storm, Radin). Directly synthesizes the six meta-analyses central to Controversy #1 (ganzfeld telepathy) and proposes quantum entanglement as a theoretical framework.
Reviewing 108 ganzfeld telepathy experiments conducted from 1974 to 2008 across laboratories worldwide, six independent meta-analyses all show significantly positive hit rates above the 25% chance baseline. The overall effect across 4,196 trials (after outlier removal) was 31.5% hits, corresponding to ES π = 0.58 (95% CI .56–.60, z = 9.9, p = 1.0 × 10⁻¹¹). Ganzfeld and other altered-state experiments yielded comparable effects (π = 0.57–0.60), while non-ASC experiments produced null results. The authors argue that quantum-inspired cognitive models—already shown to outperform classical models for conjunction fallacy, decision-making, and categorization—provide a natural theoretical framework for accommodating nonlocal information transfer.
Links
Related Papers
Cites
- Meta-Analysis of Free-Response Studies, 1992–2008: Assessing the Noise Reduction Model in Parapsychology — Storm, Lance (2010)
- Does Psi Exist? Comments on Milton and Wiseman's (1999) Meta-Analysis of Ganzfeld Research — Storm, Lance (2001)
- Does Psi Exist? Replicable Evidence for an Anomalous Process of Information Transfer — Bem, Daryl J (1994)
- Updating the Ganzfeld Database: A Victim of Its Own Success? — Bem, Daryl J (2001)
- Does Psi Exist? Lack of Replication of an Anomalous Process of Information Transfer — Milton, Julie (1999)
- Meta-Analysis That Conceals More Than It Reveals: Comment on Storm et al. (2010) — Hyman, Ray (2010)
- "Future Telling": A Meta-Analysis of Forced-Choice Precognition Experiments, 1935-1987 — Honorton, Charles (1989)
Same Research Program
- Replication Unreliability in Psychology: Elusive Phenomena or "Elusive" Statistical Power? — Tressoldi, Patrizio E (2012)
- Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence: The Case of Non-Local Perception, a Classical and Bayesian Review of Evidences — Tressoldi, Patrizio E (2011)
- Stage 2 Registered Report: Anomalous Perception in a Ganzfeld Condition - A Meta-Analysis of More Than 40 Years Investigation — Tressoldi, P.E (2024)
Also by these authors
Experimental Investigation of Precognition in Yoga Practitioners
Observer Influence on Quantum Interference: Testing the von Neumann-Wigner Consciousness-Collapse Theory
Who's Calling? Evaluating the Accuracy of Guessing Who Is on the Phone
More in Methodology
Paranormal belief, conspiracy endorsement, and positive wellbeing: a network analysis
Planning Falsifiable Confirmatory Research
Addressing Researcher Fraud: Retrospective, Real-Time, and Preventive Strategies — Including Legal Points and Data Management That Prevents Fraud
Paranormal beliefs and cognitive function: A systematic review and assessment of study quality across four decades of research
Self-Ascribed Paranormal Ability: Reflexive Thematic Analysis
📋 Cite this paper
Tressoldi, Patrizio E, Storm, Lance, Radin, Dean (2010). Extrasensory Perception and Quantum Models of Cognition. NeuroQuantology. https://doi.org/10.14704/nq.2010.8.4.291
@article{tressoldi_2010_extrasensory,
title = {Extrasensory Perception and Quantum Models of Cognition},
author = {Tressoldi, Patrizio E and Storm, Lance and Radin, Dean},
year = {2010},
journal = {NeuroQuantology},
doi = {10.14704/nq.2010.8.4.291},
}