BBC Horizon program
Last year I was interviewed about presentiment for a BBC Horizon program on decision-making. You can see a brief clip of the show here.
Feeling the future meta-analysis
Before Cornell University psychologist Daryl Bem published an article on precognition in the prominent Journal of Social and Personality Psychology, it had already (and ironically given the topic) evoked a response from the status quo. The New York Times was kind enough to prepare us to be outraged . It was called " craziness, pure craziness" by life-long critic Ray Hyman. Within days the news media was announcing that it was all just a big mistake . I wrote about the ensuing brouhaha in this blog . But the bottom line in science, and the key factor that trumps hysterical criticism, is whether the claimed effect can be repeated by independent investigators. If it can't then perhaps the original claim was mistaken or idiosyncratic. If it can, then the critics need to rethink their position. Now we have an answer to the question about replication. An article has been submitted to the Journal of Social and Personality Psychology and is available here . The key
Comments
I was fascinated by your appearance on "Horizon" the other night and was particularly happy to discover this blog.
I wonder if you are aware of the work of Anthony Peake and his remarkable book "Is There Life After Death - The Extraordinary Science of What Happens When You Die."
The title is somewhat misleading as the book is about consciousness, quantum theory, deja vu and his own theory of what happens to our consciousness at death.
I was constantly struck whilst watching the Horizon programme at the relevance that your work could have to Tony's theory and vica versa.
PLEASE take a look at Tony's website: www.anthonypeake.com but moreso take a look at his blogsite (where I post some of my own theories and research amongst others) where I fell certain you will find much of interest and I know Tony is keen to contact you so hopefully we can facilitate such.
http://cheatingtheferryman.blogspot.com/
A Dark Philosopher
Karl L Le Marcs
Roughly 1 in 10 to 15 people in the laboratory show a statistically significant effect (at p < 0.05) in the predicted direction. Like many subtle psychological effects this is not a massively powerful phenomenon, but based on the statistics after running 150+ people, and colleagues running 200+ more people with similar results, I have little doubt that it is a real effect.
Roughly 1 in 10 to 15 people in the laboratory show a statistically significant effect (at p < 0.05) in the predicted direction.
Are you able to consistently reproduce the effect with these people? (E.g. do they get independently significant results if you run them in a later trial also?)
the strongest one i have had recently is whilst travelling in bolivia in a bus as a passenger. i knew with absolute certainty approximately 1 minute before the coach crashed into a cliff that it would happen and exactely how it would happen. no one was seriously injured apart from the man sat in the front left hand seat which was where i was sitting up to about 1 hour before and decided to move to the other side of the bus!
i would really like to be able to work on this "ability" (??) of mine, not to win the lottery or anything but just because my husband and i find it so fascinating, and it happens to me so often that i would like to investigate it a bit more, have you any suggestions please
yesterday I saw the bbc programm on television. And I was fascinated by your experiments.
Since I am a child, I sometimes know, what will happen in future. It doesn´t happen very often, but when, I knew it for certain.
It is nothing, I can speak about with friends or familiy. But I would like so much to find some peolpe, who have made similar experiences and learn more about this and other abilities, that I have.
So I´d be very thankfull for any suggestions. (I´m from Germany and my English is not the best, sorry)
People working in science or orthodox medicine are extremely reluctant to discuss Ψ, but the internet provides the opportunity to communicate anonymously, so I hope you will tell us more about your experiences.
I wonder if you would get a high score on Dean Radin's presentiment experiment.
i would love to be in deans experiments but we are in the uk presently!
would you be interested in more of my precognisance experiences?
I am sure everyone reading this blog would be interested in reading your experiences.
Keep up the good work.
http://physorg.com/news127395619.html
they discuss a study in Nature Neuroscience (April 13th, 2008) regarding how several seconds before we consciously make decisions, the outcome can be predicted from unconscious activity in the brain. Can you explain how this relates to the presentiment tests as discussed in your book "Conscious Universe"?
It seems similar in some respects.
That paradigm differs from presentiment because in the latter the future stimulus is external and completely unpredictable, whereas in the former the response is driven by internal processes. It isn't too surprising that the brain is engaged in unconscious information processing prior to conscious decisions, but it is very surprising that the brain (or some aspect of the nervous system) is also processing information about a randomly generated stimulus that will be shown in the future!