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JohnA
21st December 2009, 07:50 PM
Michael Persinger certainly has had an interesting career. For being a materialist, he sure seems to enjoy exploring esoteric topics. While I may not always agree with his conclusions, I definitely respect the work.

Near the end of this interview, he describes some recent studies he performed with his students that seem to demonstrate some form of quantum entanglement / telepathic form of communication between individuals.

http://www.skeptiko.com/michael-persing ... thic-link/ (http://www.skeptiko.com/michael-persinger-discovers-telepathic-link/)

Unfortunately, I can't find any additional details on the study yet. Nothing on his web site / CV or on Google Scholar (nothing recent for: telepathy author:persinger). If anyone finds more info, I would definitely be interested.

Best,

John

Sinera
20th July 2010, 10:12 PM
I have just discovered that this is the topic I had already researched about a while ago and sent some links and cites to some interested users here via pm. I can now add it here again. Persinger's experiment is in here, too. As you see, his experiment is by far not the first and only one of this kind, actually it has been done for decades - with the same striking results.

I copy what I gathered below inside this thread.

Btw, I think that these experimental results are one of the best strategies and arguments to bring into discussions with hard core skeptics, as it shows MACHINE-MEASURABLE hard facts, instead of relying on "anecdotal evidence" by people's accounts.
Furthermore, it is generally carried out by respected scientists (mostly physicists, some parapsychologists) at universities or renowned institutes. Any artifacts or flaws in the process were never detected. It is almost water/fire/bullet/skeptic-proof. :wink: "Old" classic Newtonian physics and materialist/reductionist belief system cannot explain these findings.
Skeptics normally tend to ignore these findings or experiments. I hardly doubt they know about it at all, but I suggest it's also because they don't want to.

In short: This beats the hell out of materialism. :mrgreen:

--------------------

Example 1:

Abstract:
"Alpha rhythms have been elicited in one of a pair of identical twins as a result of evoking these rhythms in a conventional manner solely in the other."

Source:
Duane TD, Behrendt T. (Department of Ophthalmology, Jefferson Medical College. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania):
"Extrasensory Electroencephalographic Induction between Identical Twins". Science 1965;150:367.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/a ... 0/3694/367 (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/150/3694/367)

http://www.pap-imi.de/twins.jpg


Example 2:

"Objective: To determine whether correlated event-related potentials (ERPs) can be detected between the brains of spatially and sensory isolated human subjects.
Design and setting: Simultaneous digitized electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded from the occipital area in pairs of human subjects placed in sound attenuated rooms separated by 10 meters. One person relaxed in one of the rooms while the other received visual stimulation while in the other room. Prior to each experiment, members of the pair were randomly designated as sender and receiver. Sessions were subsequently repeated with subjects reversing their roles. Previous to each session, the sender was instructed "to attempt sending an image/thought." The receiver was instructed "to remain open to receive any image/thought from his/her partner." Alternating stimulus-on/stimulus-off conditions were presented throughout the session to the sender, while a stimulus-off condition was presented to the receiver.
Subjects: Thirty-seven (37) female, and 23 male subjects (n = 60; 30 pairs) participated in the study. Subjects knew each other well and claimed to have previous experience of being emotionally/psychologically connected to one another.
Outcome measures: A Runs test was applied to compare EEG "hits" in the receiver's EEG during the sender' stimulus-on condition versus sender's stimulus-off conditions. Test results at p < 0.01 were considered evidence of correlated brain signals. Pairs in whom at least one member had significant results were invited back for replication.
Results: Of the 60 subjects tested, 5 (4 women/1 man) showed significantly higher brain activation (p < 0.01) during their sending partner's stimulus-on condition as compared to stimulus-off condition. Using the Stouffer z meta-analytic method all receiver EEG results across all 60 subjects were combined by transforming the individual session p values into z scores. Data analyses showed overall significant results for EEG data recorded during the flickering condition (z =-3.28, p = 0.0005) as well as nonsignificant results for data recorded during the static condition (z = 0.35, p = 0.64). Four pairs participated in a replication experiment during which one pair replicated the effect.
Conclusions: These results indicate that in some pairs of human subjects a signal may be detected in the brain of a distant member of the pair when the brain of the other member is visually stimulated. These data support the findings of similar studies performed in seven laboratories reported in the peer-reviewed literature since 1963. Research in this area should now proceed with investigation of its physical and biologic mechanism, its generalizability to varying populations and relationships, and its clinical application."

Source:
Leanna J. Standish, Leila Kozak, L. Clark Johnson, Todd Richards: "Electroencephalographic Evidence of Correlated Event-Related Signals Between the Brains of Spatially and Sensory Isolated Human Subjects"
The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. April 2004, 10(2): 307-314. doi:10.1089/107555304323062293.
Bastyr University/University of Washington Consciousness Science Laboratory, Bastyr University, Kenmore, WA.

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10 ... 4323062293 (http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/107555304323062293)


Example 3:

"Objectives: Previous electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments
have suggested that correlated neural signals may be detected in the brains of individuals who are
physically and sensorily isolated from each other. Functional MRI and EEG methods were used in the present
study in an attempt to replicate these findings.
Design/settings: Subjects were electrically and magnetically shielded because of the characteristic surroundings of the scanner room. During the experiment, the nonstimulated subject was placed in the scanner with sensory isolating goggles covering the subject’s eyes. The stimulated subject was placed 30 feet away and sat in front of a video monitor that presented an alternating schedule of six stimulus-on/stimulus-off conditions. The stimulus- on condition consisted of a flickering checkerboard pattern whereas the stimulus-off condition consisted of a static checkerboard. Stimulus-on/-off conditions were presented in the sequence on/off/on/off/on/off. The duration of these intervals was randomly assigned but consistently provided a total of 150 seconds of flicker and 150 seconds of static. Sessions were repeated twice to assess possible replication of the phenomenon.
Outcome measures: Changes in fMRI brain activation (relating to blood oxygenation) and EEG signals were measured in the nonstimulated subjects. Changes occurring during stimulus-on conditions were statistically compared to changes occurring during the stimulus-off conditions.
Results: Statistically significant changes in fMRI brain activation and EEG signals were observed when comparing the stimulus-on condition to the stimulus-off condition in nonstimulated subjects (p 0.001, corrected
for multiple comparisons). For fMRI, these changes were observed in visual brain areas 18 and 19 (Brodmann
areas). One of the subjects replicated the results.
Conclusions: These data replicate previous findings suggesting that correlated neural signals may be detected
by fMRI and EEG in the brains of subjects who are physically and sensorily isolated from each other."

Source:
2005, Richards / Kozak / Standish - "Replicable Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evidence of Correlated Brain Signals Between Physically and Sensory Isolated Subjects"
THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE; Volume 11, Number 6, 2005, pp. 955-963

http://www.scribd.com/doc/25805973/MRI- ... hards-2005 (http://www.scribd.com/doc/25805973/MRI-and-Sensory-Isolation-Richards-2005)


Example 4:

"Under certain conditions, the EEG of a sensorially isolated human subject can become correlated
with event-related potentials in a distant person's EEG. This suggests the presence of an unknown form of energetic or informational interaction.
(...)
The central hypothesis in this experiment is that there is some form of unknown informational or energetic connection between isolated people. To test this idea, it is necessary to exclude all known sensory linkages. This was accomplished through the use of a heavily shielded chamber, and through controls for artifacts. We therefore know that the observed correlation was not caused by EEG amplifier cross-talk, or to participants’ anticipatory responses, or to spontaneous EEG correlations that may arise between isolated autocorrelated sequences, or to biases introduced through subjective identification of EEG artifacts.
If not because of known facts or artifacts, how else may we understand this correlation? One approach is to look for physical principles that might provide theoretical support for the observed connections. In that spirit, the relationship observed in this study is reminiscent of quantum entanglement (QE). This refers to a class of properties in which isolated physical systems display correlated behavior indicating that they are not as separate as they appear to be (Kwiat et al., 2001; Pan et al., 2000; Rowe et al., 2001). If macroscopic physical objects, including the brain, can exhibit QE properties for even short periods of time, as suggested by Hagan et al., (2002), Josephson and Pallikari-Viras (1991), Stapp (1988, 1997) and others, then it is conceivable that entangled brains might support correlations like those observed in this experiment." - Dean Radin

Source:
THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE
Volume 10, Number 2, 2004, pp. 315-323

http://www.psiarcade.com/research/EEGcorrelations.pdf


Example 5:

"Our results indicate macroscopic entanglement may be conspicuously evident during simultaneous quantitative electroencephalographic activity of two brains separated by substantial distance and being observed simultaneously by two experimenters."

Source:
Blake T. Dotta, Bryce P. Mulligan, Mathew D. Hunter and Michael A. Persinger: "Evidence of Macroscopic Quantum Entanglement During Double Quantitative Electroencephalographic Measurements of Friends vs Strangers"
NeuroQuantology | December 2009 | Vol 7 | Issue 4| Page 548-551
Biophysics Section, Behavioural Neuroscience Laboratory,
Departments of Biology and Psychology, Laurentian University

(link takes some time since adobe pdf has problems with it, but it loads!)
http://parapsykologi.se/Notiser/Persingeretal.pdf

Example 6:

"The results indicate that at times when the senders are stimulated with photic flashes the EEG of the receivers shows changes in α-power in the same direction as that seen when participants are themselves stimulated with photic flashes, i.e. phase-locked α-power increases during the post-stimulus period.
Assensory stimulation for the receivers is homogenous throughout the experimental period, the significant difference between remote photic stimulation epochs and control epochs in log-ratios of post-/prestimulus α-power, suggests the presence of an anomalous effect during the remote photic stimulation periods. The lack of such a difference in the group of receivers who were not paired with a sender, further suggests that this effect is dependent on sensory stimulation of another participant, and cannot be attributed to a general methodological flaw, or to direct extra-sensory perception of the remote stimuli. The parietal/occipital locus of the effect is consistent with what would be expected from the alpha component of a visual evoked response, and further suggests the presence of a remote response.."

Source:
DISTANT PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL INTERACTION EFFECTS
BETWEEN RELATED AND UNRELATED PARTICIPANTS
Marios Kittenis, Peter G. Caryl, & Paul Stevens Koestler,
Parapsychology Unit, University of Edinburgh, Psychology Department, University of Edinburgh

http://www.parapsych.org/papers/06.pdf


Example 7:

"The experiment conducted by neurophysiologist Grinberg-Zylberbaum ... demonstrate[s] the existence of a macroscopic quantum system in the human brain through the demonstration of ... non-local correlation between brains ... In this experiment two subjects ... meditated together for twenty minutes. A total of seven pairs of subjects of both sexes, with ages from 20-44 years participated in the study. After meditation and while maintaining their "direct communication" (without speech), they were placed in semi-silent, electro-magnetically shielded chambers separated by 45 feet. ... Both subjects were connected to EEG instruments and 100 random flashes of light were presented to subject A, while both remained reclined with semi-closed eyes. Subject B was not told when the light was flashed for subject A, and control correlation checks were also made at random times with no light flashes. The results indicated that, "after a meditative interaction between two people who were instructed to maintain direct communication (i.e. to feel each other's presence even at a distance), in about one out of four cases when one of the subjects was stimulated in such a way that his/her brain responded clearly (with a distinct evoked potential), the brain of the nonstimulated subject also reacted and showed a transferred potential of a similar morphology...." - F. Thaheld

Source: V. Lommel 2008 / F. Thaheld

http://arxiv.org/ftp/q-bio/papers/0510/0510039.pdf

http://www.valdostamuseum.org/hamsmith/ ... ml#grinzyl (http://www.valdostamuseum.org/hamsmith/QuantumMind2003.html#grinzyl)


Example 8:

"(...) there may be subtle correlations between brain states of two separated subjects (a) caused by a yet unknown mechanism and (b) manifesting themselves when one of the brains responds to an environmental stimulus (...)"

http://www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/iuk/li ... anjo_2.pdf (http://www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/iuk/live/forschung/publikationen/naranjo_2.pdf)

http://www.mindmatter.de/mmpdf/wackermann.pdf


Sources:
Wackermann J, Seiter C, Keibel H, Walach H: "Correlations between brain electrical activities of two spatially separated human subjects", Neurosci Lett, 2003; 336: 60-64
"Dyadic Correlations between Brain Functional States: Present Facts and Future Perspectives"
Jiri Wackermann, Department of Empirical and Analytical Psychophysics
Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Freiburg, Germany

"In spite of its fundamental importance for our concepts of communication/interaction between living systems, the problem is virtually ignored by the mainstream of neuroscience. (...) Many researchers working in this field are obviously biased towards positive findings of brain state correlations, since these seemingly provide "objective" support for their preconceived notions ("telepathy" in parapsychology,"connectedness" in transpersonal psychology, or the diffuse notion of "non-locality" used in particular theories of consciousness")"

"We are facing a phenomenon which is neither easy to dismiss as a methodical failure or a technical artefact nor understood as to its nature."