| Abstract/Results: | ABSTRACT:
We have previously reported on the use of immersive virtual reality (IVR) as an experimental environment and medium for the study of telepathy (Murray, Simmonds and Fox, 2005; Murray, Howard, Fox, Caillette, Simmonds-Moore and Wilde, 2006). Our own Telepathy Immersive Virtual Environment (TIVE) uses three-dimensional computer graphics technology to generate artificial environments that afford real-time interaction and exploration in conjunction with head mounted displays (HMDs), sound, instrumented data gloves which allow participants to interact with virtual objects. In previous work we have suggested IVR overcomes (to a degree) the dislocation of sender and receiver and enables a more equitable balance between experimental control and ecological validity than in traditional telepathy research, as well as including multi-sensory target materials suggested by the research literature to be more conducive to higher hit rates. Here we provide the results of a test of telepathic communication using TIVE. A total of 200 participants (88 males, 112 females, mean age = 28.9, range 16-64 yrs, SD = 9.13) were tested in pairs, once as a sender and once as a receiver. This study did not find support for the psi hypothesis, either in terms of directional hitting or in a post hoc magnitude analysis, where the outcomes were no different from what would be expected by chance. As such, this indicates that the virtual reality experiment (as it is currently designed) is not conducive to above chance findings, or alternatively, that psi does not exist in the first place. For proponents of telepathy these results will be disappointing, particularly as they do not come close to the significant effect found in much ganzfeld research.
A number of potential criticisms of the present work will be discussed. For example, although we drew upon previous ganzfeld work as providing the theoretical underpinnings for much of our rationale for why immersive virtual reality may optimize the conditions expected to be conducive to observing telepathy in the laboratory, our study differs in other, perhaps more crucial ways to ganzfeld work. For instance, our study did not include any relaxation period which has been proposed by some researchers to be in part responsible for the significant effect found in some ganzfeld studies. Second, we did not select a particular ‘special’ population (e.g. ‘meditators’ and ‘creatives’) to take part in the study which previous work has suggested obtain better hit rates than student samples. A third criticism may be that, again unlike the ganzfeld where trials frequently last as long as two hours, our own trials lasted 7 minutes each. Some researchers may feel that this is too short a time to inculcate the necessary conditions for the occurrence of telepathy in the lab. A further argument maybe that in the present study participants took the role of a Receiver and Sender only once each, and an increased number of trials testing participants in the same roles might be more successful in demonstrating an effect.
Although we envisaged that IVR would provide a much more dynamic and multi-sensory rendition of target stimuli than has been achieved in previous research, and therefore provide an increased opportunity for the correct identification of the target by the Receiver, it may be that more meaningful targets might improve the potential psi-conducive nature of this type of study. The relationship of participants to the stimuli might be important in the likelihood that a correct identification will be obtained. For instance, one extension of the present work which we propose is the inclusion of people with a variety of phobias and the use of phobic material or objects such as spiders, snakes, blood and needles. The use of such participants and stimuli might be expected to increase the likelihood of correct target identification when such stimuli are the targets (or to inhibit this (psi-missing) when such material acts as a distracter).
The virtual environment itself could be modified further to include increasingly realistic objects which allow for more participant interaction. Future research dissemination will explore correlates of psi performance within the same study. This approach takes the view that the psi process may function differentially according to state of consciousness and personality factors. The null effect overall reported here may therefore reflect a systematic balance of psi hitting and psi missing.
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Reference:
| Murray, C., Fox, J., Wilde, D., Simmonds-Moore, C., & Howard, T. (2007). Testing for telepathy using an immersive virtual environment. Proceedings of the 31st International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Cardiff.
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