Psychophysical Modulation of Fringe Visibility in a Distant Double-Slit Optical System
⚡ Contested ↗📌 Appears in:
Plain English Summary
This study took the "can your mind influence light?" question global -- literally. Building on two earlier experiments, researchers created an online version where anyone with internet access could try to mentally influence a double-slit optical system (a physics setup where laser light creates striped patterns). A whopping 1,479 people from 77 countries participated, generating nearly 3,000 test sessions. Meanwhile, nearly 6,000 automated robot sessions served as controls where no human was paying attention. The results were remarkable: when people concentrated on the system, the light pattern shifted in line with their intentions, with odds against chance of roughly one in a billion. The robot sessions? Dead flat, no effect at all. But here's the really juicy part. Between the 2013 and 2014 rounds, someone accidentally flipped the feedback coding -- so participants were unknowingly getting reversed signals about which direction they should push the light pattern. And the effect flipped direction too, following what participants intended rather than some passive "observation" effect. This happy accident turned out to be powerful evidence that something active and intentional was going on, not just a passive side effect of being watched. This was the largest study in the program and attracted significant scrutiny and debate from other scientists, making it a central piece in ongoing arguments about whether consciousness can genuinely reach out and nudge quantum systems.
Actual Paper Abstract
To investigate von Neumann's proposal that an "extra-physical process" is involved in the measurement of a quantum system, an online experiment was conducted using a double-slit optical system. In a counterbalanced fashion, participants focused their attention toward or away from a feedback signal linked in real time to the double-slit component of an interference pattern. A line camera continuously recorded the interference pattern at 4 Hz, and for each camera image fringe visibility was determined for the central 20 fringes. During 2013 and 2014, a total of 1479 people from 77 countries contributed 2985 test sessions. Over the same period, 5738 sessions were run as controls by a computer programmed to simulate human participants. The results showed that with human observers the fringe visibility at the center of the interference pattern deviated from a null effect by 5.72 sigma (p ¼ 1.05 108), with the direction of the deviation conforming to the observers' intentions. The same analysis applied to the control data resulted in an overall deviation of 0.17 sigma. After consideration of alternative explanations, these results were found to support von Neumann's conclusion that the mind of the observer is an inextricable part of the measurement process. This type of experiment offers a means of empirically resolving long-standing questions about the role of consciousness in the physical world.
Research Notes
Third in Radin's double-slit consciousness series (after 2012 and 2013 papers). The accidental feedback reversal between 2013 and 2014 provides unique evidence for active intentional influence versus passive observation. Central to controversy #4 (double-slit PK). Largest-N study in the program and multiply critiqued by Walleczek, Tremblay, and others.
An online experiment tested whether conscious attention directed toward a distant double-slit optical system could modulate the interference pattern fringe visibility, following von Neumann's proposal that an extra-physical factor is involved in quantum measurement. Over 2013-2014, 1,479 participants from 77 countries contributed 2,985 test sessions while 5,738 automated robot sessions served as controls. Participants alternated 30-second concentration and relaxation epochs, receiving real-time feedback linked to the double-slit spectral component. Combined analysis showed fringe visibility deviated from null by z = 5.72 (p = 1.05 x 10^-8), conforming to observers' intentions. Control sessions showed z = 0.17 (p = 0.86). A serendipitous feedback-coding error between years reversed the direction of effect, providing evidence for active intentional steering rather than passive observation.
Links
Related Papers
Cites
- A Double-Slit Diffraction Experiment to Investigate Claims of Consciousness-Related Anomalies — Ibison, Michael (1998)
- Consciousness and the Double-Slit Interference Pattern: Six Experiments — Radin, Dean (2012)
- Evidence for Consciousness-Related Anomalies in Random Physical Systems — Radin, Dean I (1989)
- Examining Psychokinesis: The Interaction of Human Intention With Random Number Generators—A Meta-Analysis — Bösch, Holger (2006)
- Reexamining Psychokinesis: Commentary on the Bösch, Steinkamp and Boller Meta-Analysis — Radin, D (2006)
- The Strange Properties of Psychokinesis — Schmidt, H (1987)
- Testing Nonlocal Observation as a Source of Intuitive Knowledge — Radin, Dean (2008)
Extends
Extended By
Precursor
Critiqued By
- Response: Commentary: False-Positive Effect in the Radin Double-Slit Experiment on Observer Consciousness as Determined With the Advanced Meta-Experimental Protocol — Walleczek, Jan (2020)
- False-Positive Effect in the Radin Double-Slit Experiment on Observer Consciousness as Determined with the Advanced Meta-Experimental Protocol — Walleczek, Jan (2019)
- Independent re-analysis of alleged mind-matter interaction in double-slit experimental data — Tremblay, Nicolas (2019)
- On the Double-Slit Experiment of Dean Radin — Pitkänen, Matti (2017)
- False-Positive Effect in the Radin Double-Slit Experiment on Observer Consciousness as Determined With the Advanced Meta-Experimental Protocol — Walleczek, Jan (2019)
Same Research Program
- Psychophysical Interactions with a Double-Slit Interference Pattern: Exploratory Evidence of a Causal Influence — Radin, D.I (2021)
- Psychophysical Interactions with Electrical Plasma: Three Exploratory Experiments — Radin, Dean I (2022)
- Psychophysical Effects on an Interference Pattern in a Double-Slit Optical System: An Exploratory Analysis of Variance — Radin, Dean (2022)
- Anomalous Entropic Effects in Physical Systems Associated with Collective Consciousness — Radin, Dean (2023)
- Observer Influence on Quantum Interference: Testing the von Neumann-Wigner Consciousness-Collapse Theory — Radin, Dean (2025)
- Commentary: False-Positive Effect in the Radin Double-Slit Experiment on Observer Consciousness as Determined With the Advanced Meta-Experimental Protocol — Radin, Dean (2020)
Also by these authors
More in Psychokinesis
New Year's Eve as a Case Study in Experimental Metaphysics: Exploring Global Consciousness in Random Physical Systems
Stock Returns and the Mind: An Unlikely Result that Could Change Our Understanding of Consciousness
Evidence for Anomalistic Correlations Between Human Behavior and a Random Event Generator: Result of an Independent Replication of a Micro-PK Experiment
Mind-Matter Interactions and the Frontal Lobes of the Brain: A Novel Neurobiological Model of Psi Inhibition
Intentional Observer Effects on Quantum Randomness: A Bayesian Analysis Reveals Evidence Against Micro-Psychokinesis
📋 Cite this paper
Radin, Dean, Michel, Leena, Delorme, Arnaud (2016). Psychophysical Modulation of Fringe Visibility in a Distant Double-Slit Optical System. Physics Essays. https://doi.org/10.4006/0836-1398-29.1.014
@article{radin_2016_double_slit,
title = {Psychophysical Modulation of Fringe Visibility in a Distant Double-Slit Optical System},
author = {Radin, Dean and Michel, Leena and Delorme, Arnaud},
year = {2016},
journal = {Physics Essays},
doi = {10.4006/0836-1398-29.1.014},
}