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Plain English Summary
This landmark study, published in the respected physics journal Foundations of Physics, asked a deceptively simple question: can people influence random number generators (basically electronic coin-flippers) just by thinking at them? The researchers gathered a massive haul of 832 experiments spanning nearly three decades and 68 different investigators. The result? A tiny but stubbornly consistent effect that just wouldn't go away -- not when you weighted for study quality, not when you checked for cherry-picking. To explain this away by missing studies alone, you'd need over 54,000 unreported experiments hiding in file drawers, roughly 90 times the known database. The quality-rating system they built became the gold standard for every mind-over-matter meta-analysis that followed.
Actual Paper Abstract
Speculations about the role of consciousness in physical systems are frequently observed in the literature concerned with the interpretation of quantum mechanics. While only three experimental investigations can be found on this topic in physics journals, more than 800 relevant experiments have been reported in the literature of parapsychology. A well-defined body of empirical evidence from this domain was reviewed using meta-analytic techniques to assess methodological quality and overall effect size. Results showed effects conforming to chance expectation in control conditions and unequivocal non-chance effects in experimental conditions. This quantitative literature review agrees with the findings of two earlier reviews, suggesting the existence of some form of consciousness-related anomaly in random physical systems.
Research Notes
Foundational RNG/PK meta-analysis published in a mainstream physics journal. Established the 16-criterion quality assessment template used by all subsequent PK meta-analyses. Key finding: quality-weighted mean effect size 3.18e-4, small but robust across 68 independent investigators with failsafe N = 54,000.
Comprehensive meta-analysis of 832 experiments (597 experimental, 235 control) by 68 investigators testing whether human conscious intention correlates with the statistical output of electronic random number generators (1959-1987). Effect size (e = Z/sqrt(N)) was assessed using a 16-criterion quality rating system (inter-rater r=0.802). Control conditions conformed to chance; experimental conditions showed significant non-chance effects robust across unweighted, quality-weighted, and homogeneous analyses. No significant quality-effect size relationship was found. Filedrawer analysis estimated ~800 total studies exist with ~75% reported; the failsafe N of 54,000 is 90x the reported database. Published in Foundations of Physics.
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- Mind/Machine Interaction Consortium: PortREG Replication Experiments — Jahn, Robert G (2000)
- The MegaREG Experiment: Replication and Interpretation — Dobyns, Y. H (2004)
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- Can Parapsychology Move Beyond the Controversies of Retrospective Meta-Analyses? — Kennedy, J.E (2013)
- Biological Utilisation of Quantum NonLocality — Josephson, Brian D (1991)
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- Decision Augmentation Theory: Toward a Model of Anomalous Mental Phenomena — May, Edwin C (1995)
- Quantum Aspects of the Brain-Mind Relationship: A Hypothesis with Supporting Evidence — Kauffman, Stuart A (2023)
- Effects of Consciousness on the Fall of Dice: A Meta-Analysis — Radin, Dean I (1991)
- Entertaining Without Endorsing: The Case for the Scientific Investigation of Anomalous Cognition — Schooler, Jonathan W (2018)
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📋 Cite this paper
Radin, Dean I, Nelson, Roger D (1989). Evidence for Consciousness-Related Anomalies in Random Physical Systems. Foundations of Physics. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00732509
@article{radin_1989_evidence,
title = {Evidence for Consciousness-Related Anomalies in Random Physical Systems},
author = {Radin, Dean I and Nelson, Roger D},
year = {1989},
journal = {Foundations of Physics},
doi = {10.1007/BF00732509},
}