An implicit and explicit assessment of morphic resonance theory using Chinese characters

Learning and memory have traditionally been assumed to be solely reliant on cortical functioning. However, the transmission of acquired habits and transgenerational memory effects challenge this assumption. A complementary view is that learning and memory may also be supported by some form of interaction, or resonance, that takes place between the individual and a wider morphic field which contains information that may be able to shape learning and memory. It has been suggested that information from such a morphic field could influence an individual’s ability to respond to an unfamiliar language which has a large number of past speakers. This has been tested using non-Chinese speaking individuals presented with real and decoy Chinese characters. However, the outcomes have been equivocal. Hence, the aim of the current study was to examine and extend this research by utilising and comparing performance from implicit and explicit tasks. The predictions were that participants should implicitly prefer real Chinese characters and explicitly identify real Chinese characters at levels greater than chance. An opportunity sample of 154 participants completed an implicit preference task and an explicit identification task online with task order counterbalanced. In each task participants were shown, in a random order, 12 pairs of characters (one real and one decoy). In the implicit task they were required to identify which of the characters they preferred and in the explicit task they were asked to identify which of the pair was the real character. Measures of belief in psi were also obtained. The results showed that, contrary to the prediction, participants significantly preferred the decoy Chinese characters. There was no difference in explicit identification rates and no correlations between performance and belief in psi. These findings fail to support the idea of morphic resonance and are more parsimoniously accounted for in terms of an aesthetic preference for the decoy characters

The effects of experimenter-participant interaction qualities in a goal-oriented nonintentional precognition task

Several recent studies, inspired by psi theories such as Stanford’s psi-mediated instrumental response (PMIR) model, have employed a tacit precognition protocol to test the notion that extrasensory perception may be nonintentional. After remarkable initial success, outcomes have been more inconsistent. One possible reason for the observed variability in results is that the studies were conducted by different experimenters. The current study therefore addressed a number of dimensions regarding participants’ interaction with either a male or female experimenter. 52 participants took part in 12 nonintentional precognition trials and a positive or negative outcome task contingent on their performance. The total number of precognitive hits was marginally above mean chance expectation but failed to reach statistical significance. There were significant positive correlations between participants’ precognition scores and their ratings of the positivity of their interaction with the experimenter, their rapport with the experimenter, and their level of relaxation. There were also notable differences between the two experimenters with respect to the relationships between their participant-experimenter interaction ratings and participants’ tacit precognition scores; all correlations were in the predicted direction for the female experimenter, but in the opposite direction for the male experimenter

Reconsidering sensory isolation in floatation tanks as a method of promoting psi-conducive imagery

Since the 1950s sensory isolation by means of floatation has been explored as to its impact on human consciousness. Similar to this, the ganzfeld has been famously used with parapsychology to investigate the psi-conducive nature of impressions perceived through sensory deprivation and homogenous stimuli. Lilly (1969) proposed that parapsychology adopt floatation tanks as a new method of exploration for psi, with some evidence of parapsychologists taking heed of such advice (e.g. Rogo, 1980). This new pilot study aimed to further explore the methodological practicalities of using such tanks with parapsychology. The authors acted as sender and receiver for a total of 12 trials that incorporated the Dalton clips as the target pool of focus. An independent judge was used to rate the mentations, while the receiver also attempted to judge their own mentations against each trial’s target and decoy clips. No statistical significance was found from the scores produced by the participant (z = 0, p = .50, one-tailed) or the independent judge (z = .33, p = .37, one tailed). However, qualitative information produced in instances of correctly identified targets (hits) demonstrated some promise in exploring the floatation tank method further. Limitations of this study are discussed, and recommendations are offered for refining the current methodological procedure. It is planned for this study to be taken forward on a larger scale with the use of a variety of participants

The neural dynamic mechanisms of asymmetric switch costs in a combined Stroop-task-switching paradigm

Switch costs have been constantly found asymmetrical when switching between two tasks of unequal dominance. We used a combined Stroop-task-switching paradigm and recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) signals to explore the neural mechanism underlying the phenomenon of asymmetrical switch costs. The results revealed that a fronto-central N2 component demonstrated greater negativity in word switch (cW) trials relative to word repeat (wW) trials, and both First P3 and P3b components over the parieto-central region exhibited greater positivity in color switch (wC) trials relative to color repeat (cC) trials, whereas a contrasting switch-related fronto-central SP effect was found to have an opposite pattern for each task. Moreover, the time-frequency analysis showed a right-frontal lower alpha band (9-11 Hz) modulation in the word task, whereas a fronto-central upper alpha band (11-13 Hz) modulation was exclusively found in the color task. These results provide evidence for dissociable neural processes, which are related to inhibitory control and endogenous control, contributing to the generation of asymmetrical switch costs

The relationship between lability and performance at intentional and non-intentional versions of an implicit PMIR-type psi task

A number of theories of psi such as Stanford’s Psi-mediated Instrumental Response (PMIR) model suggest psi can function without a person’s awareness, and that their intent to exhibit psi may be counterproductive. However, few parapsychological studies have directly compared participants’ performance at intentional and non-intentional versions of equivalent tasks. This study sought to address this issue whilst exploring the role of lability, suggested by Stanford to be predictive of a person’s propensity to respond to extrasensory stimuli. Fifty participants took part in both intentional and non-intentional versions of a 10-trial, binary, forced choice precognition task. A contingent outcome task system involving positive pictures as reward for hit trials and negative pictures as punishment for miss trials was administered on a trial-by-trial basis. Participants scored marginally fewer hits than the mean chance expectation in both versions of the task, with no tangible difference in their performance between tasks. Furthermore, no relationship was found between the number of precognitive hits they achieved and their scores on a composite psychometric measure of lability, nor its constituent elements. However, participants’ expectations that their luck could aid their performance, as well as their emotional reactivity, were positively related to their tacit psi scores

The Relationship Between Latent Inhibition and Performance at a Non-intentional Precognition Task

Context Many spontaneous cases of extra-sensory perception (ESP) seem to occur without the conscious intent of the experient to manifest any anomalous phenomena. Indeed, Stanford׳s psi-mediated instrumental response (PMIR) theory, which frames ESP as a goal-oriented function, goes as far as to suggest that such intent may be counterproductive to psi. Objectives The present study was the latest to build on the successful paradigm developed by Luke and colleagues in testing the non-intentional psi hypothesis and potential covariates of psi task success. This study focused on the ability of latent inhibition—an organism׳s cognitive tendency to filter out apparently irrelevant information—to predict an individual׳s sensitivity to psi stimuli. Method A total of 50 participants completed a two-part auditory discrimination performance measure of latent inhibition; a battery of questionnaires; and a 15-trial, binary, forced-choice, non-intentional precognition task. They were then either positively or negatively rewarded via images from subsets that they had pre-rated, seeing more images from their preferred subsets the better they performed at the psi task and vice versa. Results Participants scored a mean hit rate of 7.96 [mean chance expectation (MCE) = 7.50], which just failed to reach a statistically significant level, t(48) = 1.62, P = .06, one-tailed, ESr (effect size correlation) = 0.23. However, latent inhibition was found to be unrelated to participants׳ precognitive performance

Identifying the Core Components of Emotional Intelligence: Evidence from Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations during Resting State

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a multi-faceted construct consisting of our ability to perceive, monitor, regulate and use emotions. Despite much attention being paid to the neural substrates of EI, little is known of the spontaneous brain activity associated with EI during resting state. We used resting-state fMRI to investigate the association between the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFFs) and EI in a large sample of young, healthy adults. We found that EI was significantly associated with ALFFs in key nodes of two networks: the social emotional processing network (the fusiform gyrus, right superior orbital frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus and left inferior parietal lobule) and the cognitive control network (the bilateral pre-SMA, cerebellum and right precuneus). These findings suggest that the neural correlates of EI involve several brain regions in two crucial networks, which reflect the core components of EI: emotion perception and emotional control

The temporal dynamics of visual working memory guidance of selective attention

The biased competition model proposes that there is top-down directing of attention to a stimulus matching the contents of working memory (WM), even when the maintenance of a WM representation is detrimental to target relevant performance. Despite many studies elucidating that spatial WM guidance can be present early in the visual processing system, whether visual WM guidance also influences perceptual selection remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the electrophysiological correlates of early guidance of attention by WM in humans. Participants were required to perform a visual search task while concurrently maintaining object representations in their visual working memory. Behavioral results showed that response times (RTs) were longer when the distractor in the visual search task was held in WM. The earliest WM guidance effect was observed in the P1 component (90-130 ms), with match trials eliciting larger P1 amplitude than mismatch trials. A similar result was also found in the N1 component (160-200 ms). These P1 and N1 effects could not be attributed to bottom-up perceptual priming from the presentation of a memory cue, because there was no significant difference in early ERP component when the cue was merely perceptually identified but not actively held in working memory. Standardized Low Resolution Electrical Tomography Analysis (sLORETA) showed that the early WM guidance occurred in the occipital lobe and the N1-related activation occurred in the parietal gyrus. Time-frequency data suggested that alpha-band event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) magnitudes increased under the match condition compared with the mismatch condition. In conclusion, the present study suggests that the reappearance of a stimulus held in WM enhanced activity in the occipital area. Subsequently, this initial capture of attention by WM could be inhibited by competing visual inputs through attention re-orientation, reflecting by the alpha-band rhythm