Psychokinesis

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Psychokinesis

• Mind-matter interactions

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Psychokinesis (PK)mind-movement

• broadly defined...
• direct mental influence on state or motion of a
  physical object or system
• macro-PK
• strong effects observable by naked eye
• e.g., levitation, metal-bending
• micro-PK
• weak effects needing statistical analysis
• e.g., influencing roll of dice

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Macro-PK

• extremely rare
• generally limited to gifted subjects and
  poltergeist cases
• big problem of fraud
• experimental methods can be used if phenomena are
  voluntary and repeatable
• variety of macro-PK abilities
• testing relies upon subject's abilities

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Macro-PKcase studies

• Nina Kulagina (1960s)
• Soviet (died 1990)
• movement of small objects
• Felicia Parise (1970s)
• American
• early 1970s
• worked at Maimonides Medical Centre
• saw film of Kulagina and tried to copy...

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Macro-PKcase studies

• Uri Geller
• Israeli
• began around 1965
• many anecdotal accounts - few well-controlled
  experiments
• best known for metal bending
• difficult to control against normal bending and
  substitution
• studies of mini-Gellers
• so-called Geller effect

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Macro-PKcase studies

• Ted Serios
• thoughtography
• produced approx. 1000 images
• sitter-group phenomena
• table-tilting
• Philip group (Toronto)

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Micro-PKtargets and testing procedures

• dice test
• developed by Rhine
• task was to make dice land with predetermined
  face uppermost
• used electromechanical device to release dice
• placement test
• other mechanical targets
• e.g., Cascade (PEAR lab)

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Micro-PKtargets and testing procedures

• random event generators (REG)
• originated with Schmidt machines
• based on true random source (e.g., radioactive
  decay)
• can link to computers with graphic displays
• (Note computer randomisation procedures are
  pseudo-random)
• biological systems
• referred to as Bio-PK or Direct Mental
  Interactions between Living Systems)
• e.g., influencing another persons physiology
  from a distance
• relevance to healing

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Variations in testing procedures

• covert tasks
• subjects not told key feature of experiment
• (e.g., which dice face to be uppermost)
• incorporate REGs into computer games
• time-displaced PK
• future PK
• subject attempts to influence target sequence in
  advance of its production
• retro-PK
• target sequence generated (but not observed)
• later... sequence displayed to subject who
  attempts to influence sequence

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Micro-PKSome findings

• Radin Ferrari meta-analysis (1991)
• PK effects with dice
• Reviewed 148 experiments published 1935-1987
• Converted hit-rates to compare with 50 MCE
• Control trials 50.02
• Experimental trials 51.2 (highly significant!)
• Radin Nelson meta-analysis (1989)
• RNG PK effects
• 832 studies published 1959-1987
• Results comparable to dice effects

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Micro-PKRecent updates

• Bösch, Steinkamp, Boller meta-analysis (2006)
• 380 studies reviewed
• Small but significant overall effect
• Concluded it could be explained by publication
  bias
• Radin et al. (2006) question interpretation of
  findings
• Wilson Shadish (2006) question importance of
  such a small effect

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PK some conceptual issues

• are macro-PK and micro-PK the same thing?
• can both be explained in the same way?
• are ESP and PK distinct phenomena?
• Data Augmentation Theory (May, et al.)
• general preference for the term psi

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Useful references
Radin, D. I. Ferrari, D. C. (1991). Effects of
consciousness on the fall of dice A
meta-analysis. Journal of Scientific Exploration,
5, 61-84. Radin, D. I. Nelson, R. D. (1989).
Evidence for consciousness-related
anomalies in random physical systems. Foundations
of Physics, 19, 1499-1514. Bösch, H., Steinkamp,
F., Boller, E. (2006). Examining psychokinesis
The interaction of human intention with
random number generators - A meta- analysis.
Psychological Bulletin, 132, 497-523. Radin, D,
Nelson, R., Dobyns, Y., Houtkooper, J. (2006).
Reexamining psychokinesis Comment on Bösch,
Steinkamp, and Boller (2006).  Psychological
Bulletin. 132, 529-532. Wilson, D. B. Shadish,
W. R. (2006). On blowing trumpets to the tulips
To prove or not to prove the null
hypothesis--Comment on Bösch, Steinkamp, and
Boller (2006).  Psychological Bulletin, 132,
524-528.