Sheldrake, R. (1998). The sense of being stared at - experiments in schools. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 62, 311-323. [PDF]
Sheldrake, R. (1999). The sense of being stared at confirmed by simple experiments. Biology Forum, Vol. 92, 53-76. [PDF]
Sheldrake, R. (2000). The "sense of being stared at" does not depend on known sensory clues. Biology Forum, Vol. 93, 209-224. [PDF]
Sheldrake, R. (2000). Follow-up: Research on the feeling of being stared at. Skeptical Inquirer, 58-61. [PDF]
Sheldrake, R. (2001). Experiments on the sense of being stared at The elimination of possible artefacts Journal of the Society for Psychical Research Vol. 65, 122-137. [PDF]
Sheldrake, R. (2005).The sense of being stared at. Part 1: Is it real or illusory? Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol. 12, No. 6, 12-31. [PDF]
Sheldrake, R. (2005). The sense of being stared at. Part 2: Its implications for theories of vision. Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol. 12, No. 6, 32-49. [PDF]
Sheldrake, R. (2005). The non-visual detection of staring. Response to commentators. Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol. 12, No. 6, 117-126. [PDF]
Schwartz, G.E.R., & Russek, L.G.S. (1999). Registration of actual and intended eye gaze: Correlation with spiritual beliefs and experiences. Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 13, No. 2, 213–229. [PDF]
Wiseman, R. & Schlitz, M. (1998). Experimenter effects and the remote detection of staring. Journal of Parapsychology, Vol. 61, No. 3, 197-208. [PDF]
Monday 26 January 2009
Wednesday 20 February 2008
NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES
A doctor in Southampton has been given ethical approval for a large scale trial to investigate what happens when patients have a "near death experience".
A pilot project at the city's general hospital suggested that a small proportion of patients who had a cardiac arrest and survived, reported some kind of unusual experience while they were clinically brain dead.
These ranged from walking down a tunnel towards a bright light to seeing spinning gargoyles.
In addition, a soon-to-be-published opinion poll of 1,000 people, released to BBC Radio 4's PM Programme, found that one in 10 people said they'd had an "out of body experience".
Patrick Tierney's is one case to be examined by the project.
It was beautiful, one of the most wonderful things I've ever seen
Patrick Tierney His heart stopped ten years ago. He can't remember how long the cardiac arrest lasted. But what happened while he was unconcious he remembers vividly.
He told the BBC: "I felt what was like a pinch in the chest and the next minute I was in a tunnel similar to a medieval house it had wooden panels, very very dark.
We know very little about the dying process scientifically and therefore, how can we make decisions about euthanasia scientifically when we don't know about the science behind it?
Dr Sam Parnia, Southampton General Hospital "I floated or walked down the tunnel moved in to another tunnel - it wasn't very long - and I stood there and I saw a huge mass of colour.
"Iit could of been a garden, it could have just been colour, but it was beautiful, one of the most wonderful things I've ever seen."
Like many people who believe they've had what's known as a 'near death experience' Patrick has hardly told anyone over the years for fear of the reaction he might get.
Clinically dead
"They'd laugh at you they'd think you were making it up. I think I was dying and for some reason my time hadn't come my name had been wiped out of the books and I was sent back."
In a pilot project, Dr Sam Parnia, a registrar at Southampton General Hospital, studied sixty three patients who were resuscitated after cardiac arrests in the casualty department.
All were clinically dead as staff tried to get their heart started again.
They weren't breathing, had no heartbeat and there appeared to be no brain activity.
No beliefs
Yet four of Dr Parnia's patients reported vivid abnormal experiences, journeys down tunnels, or encounters with dead relatives.
None of those involved was particularly religious or had a history of psychiatric problems.
There appeared to be no chance that the drugs administered during resuscitation could have caused the unusual events.
I don't think this research is going to be any proof of life after death
Dennis Cobell, atheist Dr Parnia said: "There are some of those people who are able to recall specific details of the resuscitation attempts, so in other words a form of consciousness has had to have been present for them to come back and tell us what was happening to them.
"This may therefore imply that the mind is a separate entity to the brain."
Dr Parnia is now looking for funding for a much wider study involving 25 hospitals.
He said: "We know very little about the dying process scientifically and therefore, how can we make decisions about euthanasia scientifically when we don't know about the science behind it?"
Dennis Cobell, a confirmed atheist, believes the work done in Southampton is interesting, but unlikely to threaten his beliefs.
He said: "I suppose a lot of us would like to think that life might continue and if you have lost a loved one perhaps you would like the idea that you were going to meet up with that person again.
"But I don't think this research is going to be any proof of life after death."
A pilot project at the city's general hospital suggested that a small proportion of patients who had a cardiac arrest and survived, reported some kind of unusual experience while they were clinically brain dead.
These ranged from walking down a tunnel towards a bright light to seeing spinning gargoyles.
In addition, a soon-to-be-published opinion poll of 1,000 people, released to BBC Radio 4's PM Programme, found that one in 10 people said they'd had an "out of body experience".
Patrick Tierney's is one case to be examined by the project.
It was beautiful, one of the most wonderful things I've ever seen
Patrick Tierney His heart stopped ten years ago. He can't remember how long the cardiac arrest lasted. But what happened while he was unconcious he remembers vividly.
He told the BBC: "I felt what was like a pinch in the chest and the next minute I was in a tunnel similar to a medieval house it had wooden panels, very very dark.
We know very little about the dying process scientifically and therefore, how can we make decisions about euthanasia scientifically when we don't know about the science behind it?
Dr Sam Parnia, Southampton General Hospital "I floated or walked down the tunnel moved in to another tunnel - it wasn't very long - and I stood there and I saw a huge mass of colour.
"Iit could of been a garden, it could have just been colour, but it was beautiful, one of the most wonderful things I've ever seen."
Like many people who believe they've had what's known as a 'near death experience' Patrick has hardly told anyone over the years for fear of the reaction he might get.
Clinically dead
"They'd laugh at you they'd think you were making it up. I think I was dying and for some reason my time hadn't come my name had been wiped out of the books and I was sent back."
In a pilot project, Dr Sam Parnia, a registrar at Southampton General Hospital, studied sixty three patients who were resuscitated after cardiac arrests in the casualty department.
All were clinically dead as staff tried to get their heart started again.
They weren't breathing, had no heartbeat and there appeared to be no brain activity.
No beliefs
Yet four of Dr Parnia's patients reported vivid abnormal experiences, journeys down tunnels, or encounters with dead relatives.
None of those involved was particularly religious or had a history of psychiatric problems.
There appeared to be no chance that the drugs administered during resuscitation could have caused the unusual events.
I don't think this research is going to be any proof of life after death
Dennis Cobell, atheist Dr Parnia said: "There are some of those people who are able to recall specific details of the resuscitation attempts, so in other words a form of consciousness has had to have been present for them to come back and tell us what was happening to them.
"This may therefore imply that the mind is a separate entity to the brain."
Dr Parnia is now looking for funding for a much wider study involving 25 hospitals.
He said: "We know very little about the dying process scientifically and therefore, how can we make decisions about euthanasia scientifically when we don't know about the science behind it?"
Dennis Cobell, a confirmed atheist, believes the work done in Southampton is interesting, but unlikely to threaten his beliefs.
He said: "I suppose a lot of us would like to think that life might continue and if you have lost a loved one perhaps you would like the idea that you were going to meet up with that person again.
"But I don't think this research is going to be any proof of life after death."
Saturday 6 October 2007
Ghosts 'all in the mind'
By Arran Frood
By Arran Frood
Ghosts are the mind's way of interpreting how the body reacts to certain surroundings, say UK psychologists.
Dr Wiseman's team used hundreds of volunteersA chill in the air, low-light conditions and even magnetic fields may trigger feelings that "a presence" is in a room - but that is all they are, feelings.
This explanation of ghosts is the result of a large study in which researchers led hundreds of volunteers around two of the UK's supposedly most haunted locations - Hampton Court Palace, England, and the South Bridge Vaults in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Dr Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, and his colleagues say their work has thrown up some interesting data to suggest why so many people can be spooked in the same building but provides no evidence that ghosts are real.
Clustered experiences
In Hampton Court - alleged to contain the ghost of the executed Catherine Howard, 5th wife of Henry VIII - the volunteers were asked to face their fear.
UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES
Dr Wiseman's team used hundreds of volunteersA chill in the air, low-light conditions and even magnetic fields may trigger feelings that "a presence" is in a room - but that is all they are, feelings.
This explanation of ghosts is the result of a large study in which researchers led hundreds of volunteers around two of the UK's supposedly most haunted locations - Hampton Court Palace, England, and the South Bridge Vaults in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Dr Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, and his colleagues say their work has thrown up some interesting data to suggest why so many people can be spooked in the same building but provides no evidence that ghosts are real.
Clustered experiences
In Hampton Court - alleged to contain the ghost of the executed Catherine Howard, 5th wife of Henry VIII - the volunteers were asked to face their fear.
UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES
The top image was taken in South Bridge Vault 9
The bottom image was taken just five minutes later
How does one explain the white fuzz? An artefact of processing? They had to record any unusual experiences, such as hearing footsteps, feeling cold or a presence in the room, as well as marking the location and intensity of the experience on a floor plan.
Before this, candidates were also asked to reveal any prior knowledge of hauntings at the site.
The researchers then examined the distribution of unusual experiences.
In a "normal" setting, you would expect the ghostly encounters to be evenly spaced, but in classic haunting, they would be clustered around certain places.
The results were striking: participants did record a higher number of unusual experiences in the most classically haunted places of Hampton Court, areas such as the Georgian rooms and the Haunted Gallery.
And in the Edinburgh vaults, the result was the same - the vaults considered most haunted were the locations where the most unusual encounters occurred during the study.
Environmental cues
The researchers interpret this as evidence that hauntings are a real phenomenon because they are concentrated in specific places over time.
How does one explain the white fuzz? An artefact of processing? They had to record any unusual experiences, such as hearing footsteps, feeling cold or a presence in the room, as well as marking the location and intensity of the experience on a floor plan.
Before this, candidates were also asked to reveal any prior knowledge of hauntings at the site.
The researchers then examined the distribution of unusual experiences.
In a "normal" setting, you would expect the ghostly encounters to be evenly spaced, but in classic haunting, they would be clustered around certain places.
The results were striking: participants did record a higher number of unusual experiences in the most classically haunted places of Hampton Court, areas such as the Georgian rooms and the Haunted Gallery.
And in the Edinburgh vaults, the result was the same - the vaults considered most haunted were the locations where the most unusual encounters occurred during the study.
Environmental cues
The researchers interpret this as evidence that hauntings are a real phenomenon because they are concentrated in specific places over time.
THE ROLE OF MAGNETISM
When we measure houses where pervasive haunts occur, the place where the occupants find they can sleep, by trial and error, has the most consistent and normal field strengths
Indeed, it is known for people from different cultures to consistently report similar experiences over perhaps hundreds of years.
"Hauntings exist, in the sense that places exist where people reliably have unusual experiences," Dr Richard Wiseman told BBC News Online. "The existence of ghosts is a way of explaining these experiences."
But are the ghosts real? Dr Wiseman and his colleagues are not so sure.
They claim, somewhat paradoxically, that the hauntings exist but the ghosts do not.
"People do have consistent experiences in consistent places, but I think that this is driven by visual factors mainly, and perhaps some other environmental cues," he said.
Sensitive people
Making detailed measurements at each place, such as temperature, light intensity and room space, Dr Wiseman thinks that people are responding unconsciously to environmental cues and the general "spookiness" of their surroundings.
HAVE YOUR SAY
To the believer no proof is required, to the sceptic, no proof is sufficient
Doug, UK
He cites examples of mediums successfully indicating haunted areas of buildings with no prior knowledge of them.
Spiritualists interpret this as evidence that the ghosts are there, but another explanation is that the mediums are simply more sensitive to the environmental cues that result in haunted feelings - not sensitivity to the ghosts themselves.
Sceptics have long maintained that ghostly encounters are influenced by a person's knowledge of the place and its history, the "prior knowledge hypothesis".
But this study refutes that explanation, as the statistics showed that prior knowledge did not affect the areas in which strange experiences were recorded.
"We found little if no evidence that people's prior knowledge mattered," said Dr Wiseman. "If anything, it made them veer away from having experiences in the known haunted sites."
Dr Wiseman and colleagues report their data in the British Journal of Psychology.
When we measure houses where pervasive haunts occur, the place where the occupants find they can sleep, by trial and error, has the most consistent and normal field strengths
Indeed, it is known for people from different cultures to consistently report similar experiences over perhaps hundreds of years.
"Hauntings exist, in the sense that places exist where people reliably have unusual experiences," Dr Richard Wiseman told BBC News Online. "The existence of ghosts is a way of explaining these experiences."
But are the ghosts real? Dr Wiseman and his colleagues are not so sure.
They claim, somewhat paradoxically, that the hauntings exist but the ghosts do not.
"People do have consistent experiences in consistent places, but I think that this is driven by visual factors mainly, and perhaps some other environmental cues," he said.
Sensitive people
Making detailed measurements at each place, such as temperature, light intensity and room space, Dr Wiseman thinks that people are responding unconsciously to environmental cues and the general "spookiness" of their surroundings.
HAVE YOUR SAY
To the believer no proof is required, to the sceptic, no proof is sufficient
Doug, UK
He cites examples of mediums successfully indicating haunted areas of buildings with no prior knowledge of them.
Spiritualists interpret this as evidence that the ghosts are there, but another explanation is that the mediums are simply more sensitive to the environmental cues that result in haunted feelings - not sensitivity to the ghosts themselves.
Sceptics have long maintained that ghostly encounters are influenced by a person's knowledge of the place and its history, the "prior knowledge hypothesis".
But this study refutes that explanation, as the statistics showed that prior knowledge did not affect the areas in which strange experiences were recorded.
"We found little if no evidence that people's prior knowledge mattered," said Dr Wiseman. "If anything, it made them veer away from having experiences in the known haunted sites."
Dr Wiseman and colleagues report their data in the British Journal of Psychology.
Sunday 10 June 2007
What is Parapsychology?
Parapsychology or ‘PSI’ involves scientific research into paranormal psychological phenomena. This research includes an examination of the evidence for telepathy, mediums, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, ghosts and other scientifically ‘unexplained’ phenomena.
In this blog we will be examining the psychological evidence for and against various paranormal phenomena and opening up the issue for debate.
We will also provide links to various relevant sites, including some that include actual on-line experiments into the paranormal in which you can participate.
Please feel free to comment on any article posted.
Welcome to the study of the Paranormal.
Karen S. Wrighton BSc hons, MSc
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