Ganzfeld experiment

Participant in a ganzfeld experiment

A ganzfeld experiment (from the German words for "entire" and "field") is an assessment used by parapsychologists that they contend can test for extrasensory perception (ESP) or telepathy. In these experiments, a "sender" attempts to mentally transmit an image to a "receiver" who is in a state of sensory deprivation. The receiver is normally asked to choose between a limited number of options for what the transmission was supposed to be and parapsychologists who propose that such telepathy is possible argue that rates of success above the expectation from randomness are evidence for ESP. Consistent, independent replication of ganzfeld experiments has not been achieved, and, in spite of strenuous arguments by parapsychologists to the contrary, there is no validated evidence accepted by the wider scientific community for the existence of any parapsychological phenomena. Ongoing parapsychology research using ganzfeld experiments has been criticized by independent reviewers as having the hallmarks of pseudoscience.[1][2][3][4][5]

  1. ^ Frazier, Kendrick (1991). The Hundredth monkey and other paradigms of the paranormal: a Skeptical inquirer collection. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. pp. 143–148. ISBN 978-0879756550. OCLC 22909893.
  2. ^ Ray, Hyman (1996). "The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality". The Skeptical Inquirer. pp. 24–26. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
  3. ^ Smith, J.C. (2009). Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1444358940. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  4. ^ Rathus, Spencer (2011), Psychology: Concepts and Connections, Cengage Learning, p. 143, ISBN 978-1111344856
  5. ^ Marks, David; Kammann, Richard (2000), The Psychology of the Psychic, Prometheus Books, pp. 97–106, ISBN 1573927988

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