Searching for Neuronal Markers of Psi: A Summary of Three Studies Measuring Electrophysiology in Distant Participants
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Plain English Summary
Can one person's brain react when something happens to someone else hundreds of miles away? A German research team tested this across three EEG studies (EEG measures electrical brain activity via scalp sensors). They paired people up: one watched emotional images while the other sat separately — and in two studies, that separation was 750 to 800 kilometers, far enough to rule out electromagnetic signals leaking between them. The headline result is striking: across all three studies, the distant partner's brain showed a consistent bump in alpha waves (a rhythm linked to relaxed alertness) during emotional pictures. Combined statistically, the effect hit z=4.0 — odds of about 1 in 30,000 against chance. Importantly, this wasn't driven by a few supposed psychic superstars; the effect spread across more than two-thirds of participants. On the flip side, several other brain measures showed nothing, and a replication of another lab's experiment came up empty. The authors honestly note that analysis choices leave wiggle room, and this is a conference summary rather than a fully peer-reviewed article.
Actual Paper Abstract
The search for correlations in the brain activities of distant pairs of participants has become a popular research method over the last decade. This method can be seen as a tool for investigating the physiology of a postulated extrasensory or telepathic connection between related people. Such correlations would also support the idea of an entanglement of brain functions. The report presented here summarizes the findings of three subsequent studies conducted by the author. In two of these, brain signals simultaneously recorded in remote laboratories at a distance of about 750 km were correlated. A comparison of the study outcome shows that each study bears significant correlations. The significances were weak and only replicable for the Alpha rhythm, which was increased in non-stimulated participants during the time the co-participants were exposed to pictures with affective content. After applying a potential correction for multiple testing, most significances would probably vanish. It is discussed whether the correlations might be artefacts and how far the results may support the theory of a generalized entanglement between the brain functions of the participants.
Research Notes
Unique in the EEG correlations literature for using 750–800 km separation to rule out electromagnetic artifact. Three sequential studies by the same lab converge on a weak Alpha-band increase when one partner is shown affective images. The accumulated effect (z=4.0) survives even conservative multiple-testing corrections. Key null findings: no global ERP, no SCP, no checkerboard replication (Wackermann paradigm fails). Effect distributed across > 2/3 of participants — not driven by a few 'gifted' individuals. Author explicitly discusses both artifact explanation (analysis degrees of freedom) and generalized entanglement explanation (Walach 2005 framework). This is a conference proceedings paper, not a peer-reviewed journal article — the full study is published as Hinterberger et al. (2007) in JSPR 71:148-166 and a longer version is described as 'in press' in Int J Neuroscience.
A conference summary of three EEG correlation studies testing whether the brain activity of a 'non-stimulated' participant reflects stimulation of a remote 'stimulated' partner. Study 1 (Tübingen–Tübingen, nearby labs, N=20 pairs): significant Theta and Alpha increases for affective pictures in related pairs only. Studies 2 and 3 used 750–800 km separation (Northampton–Tübingen; Northampton–Freiburg), effectively ruling out electromagnetic signal transfer. Both distant studies replicated the Alpha band increase for affective pictures. Accumulated across all three studies: z=4.0, p=0.00003 for the alpha effect. However, no global ERP or SCP effects were found in any study, and most individual significances would not survive multiple-testing correction. The checkerboard paradigm from Wackermann et al. (2003) was not replicated.
Related Papers
Replication Of
Extends
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- Extrasensory Electroencephalographic Induction between Identical Twins — Duane, T. D (1965)
- The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox in the Brain: The Transferred Potential — Grinberg-Zylberbaum, Jacobo (1994)
- Correlations between brain electrical activities of two spatially separated human subjects — Wackermann, Jiří (2003)
- Evidence for Correlations Between Distant Intentionality and Brain Function in Recipients: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Analysis — Achterberg, J (2005)
- Correlations Between the EEGs of Two Spatially Separated Subjects − A Replication Study — Ambach, Wolfgang (2008)
- Anomalous Experiences, Psi, and Functional Neuroimaging — Acunzo, David J (2013)
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📋 Cite this paper
Hinterberger, T (2010). Searching for Neuronal Markers of Psi: A Summary of Three Studies Measuring Electrophysiology in Distant Participants. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 53rd Annual Convention.
@article{hinterberger_2010_searching,
title = {Searching for Neuronal Markers of Psi: A Summary of Three Studies Measuring Electrophysiology in Distant Participants},
author = {Hinterberger, T},
year = {2010},
journal = {Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 53rd Annual Convention},
}