A Mixed Methods Phenomenological and Exploratory Study of Channeling
📄 Original study ↗📌 Appears in:
Plain English Summary
This small but fascinating pilot study took five women who practice "full-trance channeling" -- claiming to let other beings speak through them -- and monitored a quantum noise generator (a device producing truly random data from quantum physics) during their sessions. Over four days at Mt. Shasta, California, patterns in the random data shifted during channeling compared to rest periods, and one particular "being" produced an especially strong signal surviving statistical corrections. Perhaps most striking: psychological testing showed the channelers were perfectly mentally healthy, challenging the old assumption that channeling signals mental illness. With only five participants, all female and Caucasian, the findings are preliminary but intriguing.
Research Notes
First QNG study of channeling — extends RNG paradigm from group consciousness/intention to trance mediumship. Channelers psychologically healthy (normal DES-T, CAPE-P15), countering pathological models. Exploratory design with no pre-registered hypotheses; small homogeneous sample (N = 5, all female/Caucasian). Part of Wahbeh's IONS mediumship research program alongside wahbeh_2018_exceptional and wahbeh_2018_people.
Five female full-trance channelers participated in nine channeling sessions over four days at Mt. Shasta, California. Pre-study surveys showed normal personality (BFI-10), dissociation (DES-T mean = 12.3, below clinical cut-off of 30), and psychotic symptom scores (CAPE-P15 mean = 0.37, below cut-off of 1.47), alongside high paranormal belief (30.8/36) and anomalous information reception (0.51/1.0). A custom 32-channel quantum noise generator (QNG) recorded continuously; a composite measure combining autocorrelation and mutual information differed between channeling (n = 658 samples) and control periods (n = 475 samples): z = 2.250, p = 0.024, two-tailed. One of 18 individual being-period comparisons survived FDR correction (Being #7: z = 3.431, p = 0.0006). Qualitative analysis identified 21 purported beings and five content themes. Channeling formats included traditional, sequential, simultaneous, and attempted materialization.
Related Papers
Companion
- People Reporting Experiences of Mediumship Have Higher Dissociation Symptom Scores Than Non-Mediums, But Below Thresholds for Pathological Dissociation — Wahbeh, Helané (2018)
- Measuring Extraordinary Experiences and Beliefs: A Validation and Reliability Study — Wahbeh, Helané (2019)
- Intuitive Assessment of Mortality Based on Facial Characteristics: Behavioral, Electrocortical, and Machine Learning Analyses — Delorme, Arnaud (2018)
- Exploring the Correlates and Nature of Subjective Anomalous Interactions with Objects (Psychometry): A Mixed Methods Survey — Simmonds-Moore, Christine A (2024)
- Self-Ascribed Paranormal Ability: Reflexive Thematic Analysis — Drinkwater, Kenneth Graham (2022)
Same Research Program
- Anomalous Information Reception by Research Mediums Under Blinded Conditions II: Replication and Extension — Beischel, Julie (2015)
- Exceptional Experiences Reported by Scientists and Engineers — Wahbeh, Helané (2018)
- Future Directions in Meditation Research: Recommendations for Expanding the Field of Contemplative Science — Vieten, C (2018)
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 Mediumship
Electrocortical activity associated with subjective communication with the deceased
Neuroimaging during Trance State: A Contribution to the Study of Dissociation
Some Directions for Mediumship Research
The measurement of regional cerebral blood flow during glossolalia: A preliminary SPECT study
Testing Alleged Mediumship: Methods and Results
📋 Cite this paper
Wahbeh, Helané, Carpenter, Loren, Radin, Dean (2018). A Mixed Methods Phenomenological and Exploratory Study of Channeling. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research.
@article{wahbeh_2018_mixed,
title = {A Mixed Methods Phenomenological and Exploratory Study of Channeling},
author = {Wahbeh, Helané and Carpenter, Loren and Radin, Dean},
year = {2018},
journal = {Journal of the Society for Psychical Research},
}