# data[].attributes.body
by Stuart Bishenden and Riley Laforme

# data[].attributes.body
This video is about if esp was real how it could be detected. Robert Lawrence Kuhn interviews several psychologists physicists and scientists in the field of esp. Throughout the half-hour program, Kuhn sits down with several members who are believers in ESP and some who are skeptics. One notable interview was with Lawrence M. Krauss, who believed that ESP could not be measured if you are trying to measure it and that there is a possibility of ESP.

Connection

One of the biggest parts of scientific study and skepticism is the gathering of evidence. And when looking at esp some questions come up, is it measurable? is there definitive proof? what would it look like or feel like?. In this video, the host tries to answer these questions. Personally, the biggest issue I have in believing in esp is if it does come from the brain like other brain waves shouldn't it be measurable.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Could ESP Work? | Episode 1508 | Closer To Truth

# data[].attributes.body
This article details an experiment done at Harvard University where they tested people's precognition skills. On one side of a wall they had a test subject who has an emotional connection to the second person on the other side of the wall twin, spouse etc. they would first show an image to the second person and measure the brain activity of the first person, then later show the image to the first person, and if esp worked the brain stimuli would've been the same. The test came back with negative results as the esp stimuli and the visual stimuli had different effects on the brain.

Connect

Tests on ESP have shown inconclusive results for years, yet this experiment proved that esp isn't real as there was no effect on the subject's brain activity.  In class, we learned about a simple experiment with cards that could test your telepathic skills similarly, but with advanced medical equipment, the scientists at Harvard were able to gather more evidence against esp.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Psychologists at Harvard University have developed a new method to study extrasensory perception that, they argue, can resolve the century-old debate over its existence. According to the authors, their study not only illustrates a new method for studying such phenomena, but also provides the strongest evidence yet
obtained against the existence of extrasensory perception, or ESP.

The research was led by Samuel Moulton, a graduate student in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University with Stephen Kosslyn, John Lindsley Professor of Psychology at Harvard and was published in the Jan. 2008 issue of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. The scientists used brain scanning to test whether individuals have knowledge that cannot be explained through normal perceptual processing.

"If any ESP processes exist, then participants' brains should respond differently to ESP and non-ESP stimuli," explains Moulton. "Instead, results showed that participants' brains responded identically to ESP and non-ESP stimuli, despite reacting strongly to differences in how emotional the stimuli were and showing subtle, stimulus-related effects."

Nearly half of the adults in the United States believe in the existence of ESP, which includes telepathy (direct knowledge of another person's thoughts), clairvoyance (direct knowledge of remote events), and precognition (direct knowledge of the future). People commonly report unexplained knowledge of a loved one's death or a telephone caller's identity, for example, and attribute this knowledge to paranormal mental processing.

The U.S. government lent credence to such claims when it revealed that it had spent millions of dollars recruiting and training psychic spies during the Cold War. Furthermore, research studies have been reported that appear to support the existence of ESP, including an influential series of experiments analyzed by psychologist Daryl Bem of Cornell University. These studies, however, gave little insight into the mechanisms - normal or paranormal - that produced the anomalous results. Perhaps more telling, others failed to replicate these results.

To develop a better test of ESP, the authors decided to develop a new method, which directly addressed the presumed source of ESP: namely, the brain. They argue that because the brain enables perception and stores information - even events people don't consciously perceive or information they can't consciously remember - it can offer a much more comprehensive test for ESP than self-report or behavior.

"The brain shows a suppressed response to stimuli that a person has seen before, even when those stimuli were presented subliminally, so the person wasn't consciously aware of having seen them; furthermore, it shows an enhanced response to stimuli that a person is expecting," says Moulton. "Because knowledge and expectation bias brain activation, neuroimaging offers us a uniquely powerful test of subtle perceptual or cognitive processes."

To study whether or not ESP exists, Moulton and Kosslyn presented participants with two types of visual stimuli: ESP stimuli and non-ESP stimuli. These two types of stimuli were identical with one exception: ESP stimuli were not only presented visually, but also were presented telepathically, clairvoyantly, and precognitively to participants.

To present stimuli telepathically, the researchers showed the photographs to the participants' identical twin, relative, romantic partner, or friend, who was seated in another room. To present stimuli clairvoyantly, the researchers displayed the photographs on a distant computer screen. And to present stimuli precognitively, the researchers showed participants the photographs again in the future.

Does this conclusively prove that ESP does not exist? "No," says Moulton. "You cannot affirm the null hypothesis. But at the same time, some null results are stronger than others. This is the best evidence to date against the existence of ESP. Perhaps most important, this study offers scientists a new way to study ESP that avoids the pitfalls of past approaches."

This research was supported by the Bial Foundation and the Richard Hodgson Memorial Fund.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Neuroimaging fails to demonstrate ESP is real

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Psychologists at Harvard University have developed a new method to study extrasensory perception that, they argue, can resolve the century-old debate over its existence. According to the authors, their study not only illustrates a new method for studying such phenomena, but also provides the strongest evidence yetobtained against the existence of extrasensory perception, or ESP.

# data[].attributes.body
This article talks about the publishing of a paper by Daryl Bem who is a psychologist at Cornell University, in the paper he claims he has found evidence of precognition (the ability to see future events). One of the findings he found was “he had volunteers look at a computer screen that showed two curtains and asked them to guess which one had an erotic photo behind it……Fifty-three percent of the time, Bem reports in his paper, the volunteers picked the curtain behind which the computer then happened to place the racy picture. When the pictures were less enticing, he said, the volunteers' guesses were 50-50” (ABC, P10-11) Bem found this proof of some kind of precognition event. The article also highlighted the skeptics who believe that this kind of science shouldn't be taken seriously let alone published.

Connection.

Although there is evidence in Bem's study I dont believe it can be seen as significant as it is only a 3% increase. This article does show good contrast between the skeptics who are breaking down Bem’s arguments and Bem's legitimate science. In Bem's defence, there were 1000 volunteers in this study which is a large group.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ESP Study Gets Published in Scientific Journal

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A Cornell University psychology professor has done a study on extrasensory perception -- ESP -- and had it accepted for publication in a journal run by the American Psychological Association. Legitimate scientific research? Or just a great way to get attention?

# data[].attributes.body
This article firstly brings up real examples of what people have considered esp, like if you think of someone they will call you, or you believe ina sports team they will win. It also brings up examples of 2 studies and how they tried to find out if esp is real or not. The first study was by Daryl Bem who tried to prove esp was real with 9 studys with over 1000 volunteers. The other study was done by Piers Howe and Margaret Webb, both of the University of Melbourne who did a similar study to disprove esp. The article also gave two contrasting conclusions for both studys one pro esp, and one disproving the phenomenon.

Connection;

This article is intressiing because it provides insite to both sides of the studys. Both provide evidence that can be entirprited has both pro esp and anti esp. using critical thinking one can interpret this data with a bias. They may have one reason or another to believe that esp is rea or not and arent looking at the data as a skeptic.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ESP Is Put to the Test—Can You Foretell the Results?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Researchers at the University of Melbourne, Australia, debunk ESP.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
This is a website that uses various scientific results as long with beliefs and faiths. This
website has many different resources that it has got information from. It explains if ESP is real,
facts to prove its real, it also stats experiences people have had as to why or why not they
believe it is real.
Conclusion:
Well there is much skepticism on ESP, there is certain methods/technology that has proven that
some human brains can send certain frequencies to others that prove to makes ESP real. There are also
cultures that believe that this kind of power/skill is in certain people. There is not much limitations to
this website as to all the links given is from reliable sources, scientific research and facts, also
government financial resource to further study how/why that ESP works.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Extrasensory perception (ESP) is an unproven paranormal phenomenon in which people allegedly receive information about, or exert control over, their environment in ways that don't use the five senses. Also known as "the sixth sense" or "psi," ESP refers to a wide range of purported abilities, including telepathy (mind reading), psychokinesis (moving objects without physical contact) and precognition (predicting the future).

ESP violates our understanding of basic scientific principles. Still, estimates suggest that around two-thirds of people in the United States believe in its existence, according to a 2019 study published in Europe's Journal of Psychology. Even in academia, ESP has inspired serious scientific debate. While some psychologists argue that the subject deserves consideration, skeptics point out that the evidence is weak at best, and fraudulent at worst.

History of ESP

Fascination with ESP is rooted in the spiritualist movement of 19th-century Britain and the United States, according to the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Members of the fashionable elite would hold séances, in which mediums would attempt to communicate with spirits. By the end of the 19th century, scientists and other thinkers were joining research societies devoted to studying not only communication with spirits, but a whole host of so-called "psychic" phenomena, including telepathy and hypnosis (which, unlike telepathy and séances, is now backed by science). In 1882, the Society for Psychical Research emerged in London, and in 1885, people founded a corresponding society in the United States. (Both still exist today.)

The term "extrasensory perception" was not widely used until the 1930s, when Duke University psychologist J.B. Rhine opened a lab devoted to studying the sixth sense. Rhine became famous for his work with decks of "Zener cards," each of which was marked with one of five symbols. He would flip through a deck containing 25 of these cards and have study participants identify the symbol on each without seeing the card itself, according to the American Psychological Association. Theoretically, the average person had a 1 in 5, or 20%, chance of guessing the identity of each card. But Rhine found that people consistently guessed the correct card more than 20% of the time. Based on this result, he surmised that he had found evidence for ESP, Terence Hines wrote in the book "Pseudoscience and the Paranormal" (Prometheus, 2003).

Rhine's research, which he published in a book titled "Extrasensory Perception" (Boston Society for Psychic Research, 1934), generated both criticism and interest. One review of the book, published that same year in the journal , insinuated that Rhine's strong belief in ESP might have biased his results. But Rhine's research also fueled the growth of the new field of parapsychology. In 1957, he formed the Parapsychological Association, an organization devoted to studying psychic experiences, which still exists today.

(Image credit: Getty Images/Hulton Archive)

Does extrasensory perception exist?

Since parapsychology took off, some scientists have devoted their careers to investigating the existence of ESP. This research hasn't just taken place on the fringes; between 1972 and 1995, the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), spent $20 million on ESP-related research efforts conducted largely at Stanford Research Institute, according to a 2015 article published in the journal . The program, later nicknamed "," was devoted to ESP applications in the Cold War.

Today, ESP research appears alongside orthodox psychology research in high-profile, peer-reviewed journals, including American Psychologist and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Many of these studies appear to provide evidence for the existence of ESP.

In the 1970s, researchers began conducting ganzfeld experiments, in which participants would sit in darkened rooms with their eyes covered, listening to white noise. The goal was to deprive the participants of sensory stimuli, making it easier to focus on ESP messages.

The researchers would ask participants to focus on whatever images floated into their minds while a "sender," sitting in another room, viewed a "target" video clip or image and attempted to transmit the information to the participant. Afterward, the study participants would view a set of images, one of which was the target. If they selected the target image, it was considered a "hit." Similar to the results of Rhine's earlier research, a review article aggregating the results of dozens of these studies found that people consistently selected the target more often than one would expect based on chance.

One of the best-known and most controversial figures in ESP research today is Daryl Bem, a professor of psychology at Cornell University. In 2011, he published a paper in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that appeared to demonstrate evidence for precognition, or the ability to predict the future. He conducted nine standard psychological experiments, with well-established psychological effects - but did them in reverse.

For example, he would show participants a long list of words, and would have them memorize as many as possible and then repeat what they remembered. Later, he would give them a subset of those words to "practice" by copying them out. Participants remembered more of the words they would later practice than those they didn't. In other words, it appeared that precognition helped participants "remember" words based on their future practice. Bem has since received widespread for using study methods known to encourage false positive results.

Scientific controversy over ESP

There's a major problem with ESP research: You can't replicate it. "In science, if you discover something and claim it as a fact, then other scientists following similar procedures should find the same thing," said James Alcock, a professor of psychology at York University in Toronto. "[That] never happens with ESP."

Sometimes, it may seem as if certain results - such as those from ganzfeld experiments - can be replicated, Alcock told Live Science. But if you look closely at these studies, you'll find slight differences in both the methods and the results. For example, one set of experiments might find that ganzfeld experiments work with photographs, and another study might add videos and find that the participants guess the videos correctly but not the photographs. No one seems to be able to repeat the exact same experiment and get identical results. "Scientists can't do it again," Alcock said. "They can't do it when the conditions are tight."

In addition, skeptics point out that results that appear to provide evidence for ESP aren't actually much different from what you'd expect based on chance. For example, one of Bem's studies asked participants to select one of two windows, both of which were hidden behind curtains. Behind one window was a screen showing pornography. Bem hypothesized that if ESP were real, participants would pick that window more than half of the time. And they did - but only by a small margin: They selected the window hiding pornography 53% of the time, to be exact.

This type of result is consistent across parapsychological research, said Jeffrey Rouder, a cognitive psychologist at the University of California, Irvine. "If you really have ESP, you should be able to get it right maybe 65%, 80% of the time," Rouder said. After all, 3% better than chance is rather unremarkable. "At some point, you want to say, 'Hey, if this is real, just hit it out of the park!"

Why so many people believe in ESP

Laypeople who believe in ESP typically cite anecdotal accounts and personal experiences as evidence for the phenomenon. People say they had visions of events that later happened or prophetic dreams; they claim that they always can predict when a particular family member is about to call. Some historical accounts, such as a that appeared to predict the sinking of the Titanic, also seem to provide anecdotal evidence for ESP's existence.

But well-understood cognitive biases likely explain these accounts, according to a 2008 article published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. For example, people tend to perceive patterns in random series of events. So, when your best friend calls just moments after she popped into your mind, it feels like a sign - even though having two seemingly connected events occurring close in time has a high chance of happening randomly.

People also look for examples to support the beliefs they already hold - a phenomenon called confirmation bias. Consciously or subconsciously, they disregard evidence to the contrary - such as the thousands of times your friend called when you weren't thinking of her or the times you were thinking of your friend and she didn't call.

So, the next time you're leaving on a trip and are suddenly overcome with an ominous feeling, don't jump to the conclusion that your anxiety is a premonition. Despite anecdotes of people predicting disasters, there's no evidence that your feeling is a warning about the future. And if a lesser disaster does happen - such as your flight getting canceled, leaving you stuck in the airport - that's not really precognition. That's just life.

Additional resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
(Image credit: Getty Images) Extrasensory perception (ESP) is an unproven paranormal phenomenon in which people allegedly receive information about, or exert control over, their environment in ways that don't use the five senses . Also known as "the sixth sense" or "psi," ESP refers to a wide range of purported abilities, including telepathy (mind reading), psychokinesis (moving objects without physical contact) and precognition (predicting the future).

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
This is a visual picture show one person trying to read another person’s mind or trying
to send signals to that person.
Conclusion:
There is a lot of people in this world that think mind reading is not real. This is because
there is a lack of proof/evidence. The main reason why I think people do not believe it has to do
with the magicians. Magicians say they can read minds or predict futures, but they all have
certain tricks or props to persuade you to choose one thing or another. So there is a lot of
limitations to mind reading as there is not enough proof to try and convince people that it is
real.

# data[].attributes.body
Description:
This is a article that is a summary of Erin Moriarty of &quot;48 Hours&quot; and her research of
ESP.
Conclusion:
After reading through this article, it seems to have lots of book references and personal
experiences to people she has interviewed. It also talks about a secret program that the
government is running. This website red flags are that the information could have got
misunderstood as it is all here say. The reporter did not do the research them selves and it is
her job to make the viewers of the show to stay interested. So therefore, the information could
have been tampered with to insure viewers interest in the show.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Many people claim (and many others question) the existence of ESP -- Extra Sensory Perception. Erin Moriarty of "48 Hours" has gone searching for answers:
In the 1970s, a handsome ex-Israeli army paratrooper popularized extrasensory perception, or ESP. Uri Geller claimed he could bend spoons with his mind, see inside sealed containers, and even read other people's minds.

It was great television. But off-stage, Geller had also caught the eye of the intelligence community.

"This is where it got very interesting, because scientists would consider, 'Wait a minute, maybe we can read the minds of other government officials; maybe we can see inside a nuclear facility in Russia,'" said national security reporter Annie Jacobsen.

It sounds incredible, but it's true. Relying on now-declassified documents, Jacobsen has written about the U.S. government's decades-long to attempts to use Uri Geller, and others like him, for psychic espionage.

"It's sort of like a highly-classified black program inside of a black program," Jacobsen said. "One, because you don't want the Russians or the Chinese to know what we are doing; and two, because a lot of scientists didn't want their colleagues to know what they were doing, because of the embarrassment factor."

And there had long been reports, said Jacobsen, that the Kremlin was also experimenting with ways to weaponize people with ESP.

"There's a declassified report that talks about the Pentagon's real fear -- citing Uri Geller by name -- that if he was able to bend metal with his mind, he might be able to use his mind to interfere with the delicate electronic systems on a nuclear-tipped ICBM," Jacobsen said.

But Uri Geller's skills turned out to be unreliable, as on his now-infamous appearance on "The Tonight Show" in 1973.

Johnny Carson: "Uri was telling me, you don't feel, what, strong tonight? Is that..."
Geller: "I don't feel strong. I can't..."
Carson: "Well, I'm not trying to pressure you. I'm really not."

Still, that didn't stop the government experiments. In the 1980s, the Defense Intelligence Agency began "Project Star Gate," which was, according to Dean Radin, a scientist who worked on the program, top secret. "It's actually beyond top secret."

The program employed about a dozen psychics and mediums. Its aim: espionage.

Moriarty asked, "To see whether someone in the United States could spy on other countries from here, just using their minds?"

"Right."

"Did it work?"

"It did work, yeah," Radin replied.

Angela Ford was with Project Star Gate for nine years. She calls herself a medium; the Defense Department preferred "remote viewer." "I was good at finding people," she said. "I was good at locating things."

Moriarty asked, "In a sense, were you hired as a psychic spy?"

"I guess, yes!" she laughed.

Her assignment? To look for missing hostages and fugitives without ever leaving a building at Fort Meade in Maryland.

She recalled one assignment, in 1989, when she says she was able to psychically track down a former customs agent who had allegedly gone rogue.

"I was called into session," Ford said. "My boss asked me, 'Where is Charles Jordan?' I said, 'The man is in Lowell, Wyoming.' And I spelled it: L-O-W-E-L-L."

Ford was off by one letter -- it was Lovell, Wyoming.

"Well, when my boss went to Customs and said, 'We're still getting the Wyoming feeling,' Customs said, 'As we are speaking, we are apprehending Charles Jordan, 100 miles west of Lovell, Wyoming.'"

"So you were right?"

Ford said, "We were right."

There is no obvious explanation for how Ford obtained the intel that turned out to be accurate. But could it have been ESP?

Not according to physicists like Cal Tech's Sean Carroll. When asked if there is such a thing as extrasensory perception, Carroll replied, " No. I think we know enough about the brain to say, no, it really doesn't work that way. We'd be able to test that, be able to put a little receiver next to your head and pick up those signals if they were actually coming."

Angel's Ford's response: "They can't detect it yet."

Moriarty asked her, "But you believe ESP exists?"

"Yes, it does. Yeah, of course."

In 1995, Project Star Gate was shut down. But government interest in the paranormal has not been completely abandoned. Writer Annie Jacobsen says the military is working to see if certain soldiers have "enhanced perception," or "precognition" -- sensing what will happen before it does.

Dean Radin, now at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (which studies ESP), put Moriarty through a test: "This experiment is going to see if your body responds before you see an emotional picture as compared to before a calm picture."

If the pupils of Moriarty's eyes dilate before the disturbing pictures appear on the screen, that's precognition.

Does she have any special powers? Yes! She reacts five seconds before seeing an emotional picture.

"Whoa -- I sure didn't see that coming ... which is why I have my doubts," Moriarty said.

But those who have seen people like Uri Geller and Angela Ford in action say you can't dismiss the idea that some people may have ESP.

Radin said, "What we're talking about is something like a talent, similar to musical talent or sports talent. So, there will be some people who are at the Olympic level; most of us aren't there."

Journalist Annie Jacobsen said, "There's instances of unusual situations, but there is no proof. It does not pass scientific muster."

For more info:
Story produced by Kay Lim.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ESP: Inside the government's secret program of psychic spies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many people claim (and many others question) the existence of ESP -- Extra Sensory Perception. Erin Moriarty of "48 Hours" has gone searching for answers: In the 1970s, a handsome ex-Israeli army paratrooper popularized extrasensory perception, or ESP. Uri Geller claimed he could bend spoons with his mind, see inside sealed containers, and even read other people's minds.

# data[].attributes.body
1. What did you learn about the topic that most surprised you?

One thing that surprised me researching this topic is the amount of dispute among the scientific world about it. I understand it is related to the brain and we dont understand that fully but there are so many studies and brilliant minds taking on the topic.

1. Provide a real-life example of how this topic is relevant or interesting for you.

There are so many things in our daily lives that feelmlike esp, when we think of someone and all of a sudden have an interaction with them, or when youre dream comes true. I feel like a lot of the precognition part of esp is mistaken for dejsa vu alot. There have also been many psychics who claim they have harnessed their esp powers and are capable of mind control, fortune telling and telekenesis.

1. Which research did you find most interesting?  Why?

The article i found most fascinating was the harvard test down by Daryl Bem (Post#2) it outlines an experiment that proved that esp is not real, but it was published in 2008 and we are still debating on whether its real or not.

1. What are you most likely to remember from this research?

From doing research on this topic I have learned that there is not a lot of factual evidence. I

read in one website that “ESP can be studied scientifically, but scientific studies have found no evidence supporting the idea that it exists.” So, in that sense, I took each fact into consideration that not all of ESP facts can be proven, even by science.

1. Having completed all the course content, which pseudoscience belief do you think is most harmful?  Which is least harmful?

After going through course content throughout this semester I have myself set on that

witchcraft would be the most harmful to me. I think this because knowing that someone can harm you with out them being present or anywhere near you is scary. The least harmful I think would be ESP. There is a couple reason why I think this but to me it isn’t as scary having someone read my mind and or predict my future in a sense.

1. If you could pass on your knowledge to a family member or friend, what do you think is the most important thing to pass on?

the most important thing that I would pass on to a peer is that do not believe everything you read. I am a big believer in that I must see it or experience it in some sort of nature in able forme to fully believe something to be true.