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			{{Short description\|Psychic ability}}
	'''Telepathy''' (from the ] τηλε, ''tele'', "distant"; and πάθεια, ''patheia'', "feeling") is the claimed ability of humans and other creatures to communicate information from one mind to another, without the use of extra tools such as speech or body language. Considered a form of ] or ], telepathy is often connected to various paranormal phenomena such as ], ] and ].
			{{Other uses}}

			{{Redirect\|Telepath\|the American musician\|Telepath (musician)}}
	While there have been numerous ]s into telepathy over the years, no positive result has ever resisted scrutiny to the satisfaction of skeptical scientists. Positive results have been demonstrated to be the result of flawed methodology, statistically erroneous conclusions, or could simply not be replicated by independent researchers.<ref>
			]s that aimed to demonstrate telepathy have been criticized for lack of replication and poor controls.<ref>]; Kammann, Richard. (2000). '']''. Prometheus Books. pp. 97–106. {{ISBN\|1573927988}}</ref><ref>]. ''Evaluating Parapsychological Claims''. In Robert J. Sternberg, Henry L. Roediger, Diane F. Halpern. (2007). ''Critical Thinking in Psychology''. ]. pp. 216–231. {{ISBN\|978-0521608343}}</ref>]]
	"Most academic psychologists do not yet accept the existence of psi..."
			{{Paranormal\|main}}
			'''Telepathy''' ({{etymology\|grc\|''{{wikt-lang\|grc\|τῆλε}}'' ({{grc-transl\|τῆλε}})\|distant\|\|''{{wikt-lang\|grc\|πάθος}}/{{wikt-lang\|grc\|-πάθεια}}'' ({{grc-transl\|πάθος/-πάθεια}})\|], ], ], ], ]}})<ref>{{cite Collins Dictionary\|telepathy}}</ref><ref>Following the model of ] and ].</ref> is the purported ] transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar ],<ref name=hamilton121>{{cite book \| title=Immortal Longings: F.W.H. Myers and the Victorian search for life after death \| first=Trevor \| last=Hamilton \| publisher=Imprint Academic \| year=2009 \| isbn=978-1845402488 \| page=121}}</ref> a founder of the ] (SPR),<ref name=skepdic1>
	{{cite web		{{cite web
	\| url = http://~~www~~.~~dina.kvl.dk/~abraham~~/~~psy1~~.html		\| url = http://skepdic.com/telepath.html
	\| title = ~~Does~~ ~~Psi~~ ~~Exist?~~		\| title = The Skeptic's Dictionary; Telepathy
	\| author = ~~Bem~~, ~~Daryl~~ ~~J. and Honorton, Charles~~		\| author = Carroll, Robert Todd
	\| year = ~~1994~~		\| year = 2005
	\| publisher = ~~Psychological Bulletin, Vol~~. ~~115, No. 1, 4-18~~		\| publisher = Skepdic.com
	\| ~~accessdate~~ = 2006-09-13		\| access-date = 2006-09-13
			}}</ref> and has remained more popular than the earlier expression ''thought-transference''.<ref name=skepdic1/><ref name=parasocie1> {{webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927060915/http://parapsych.org/glossary_s_z.html \|date=2006-09-27 }} – ]. Retrieved December 19, 2006.</ref>
	}}</ref>

			Telepathy experiments have historically been criticized for a lack of proper controls and repeatability. There is no good evidence that telepathy exists, and the topic is generally considered by the ] to be ].<ref name="Planer1980">Felix Planer. (1980). ''Superstition''. Cassell. p. 218. {{ISBN\|0304306916}} "Many experiments have attempted to bring scientific methods to bear on the investigation of the subject. Their results based on literally millions of tests, have made it abundantly clear that there exists no such phenomenon as telepathy, and that the seemingly successful scores have relied either on illusion, or on deception."</ref><ref name="Dalkvist1994">{{cite book\|author=Jan Dalkvist\|title=Telepathic Group Communication of Emotions as a Function of Belief in Telepathy\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhsRAQAAIAAJ\|access-date=5 October 2011\|year=1994\|publisher=Dept. of Psychology, Stockholm University\|quote=Within the scientific community however, the claim that psi anomalies exist or may exist is in general regarded with skepticism. One reason for this difference between the scientist and the non scientist is that the former relies on his own experiences and anecdotal reports of psi phenomena, whereas the scientist at least officially requires replicable results from well controlled experiments to believe in such phenomena—results which according to the prevailing view among scientists, do not exist.}}</ref><ref name="Drees1998">{{cite book\|author=Willem B. Drees\|title=Religion, Science and Naturalism\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BxmcHWCv2c4C&pg=PA242\|access-date=5 October 2011\|date=28 November 1998\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|isbn=978-0521645621\|pages=242–\|quote=Let me take the example of claims in parapsychology regarding telepathy across spatial or temporal distances, apparently without a mediating physical process. Such claims are at odds with the scientific consensus.}}</ref><ref>Spencer Rathus. (2011). ''Psychology: Concepts and Connections''. Cengage Learning. p. 143. {{ISBN\|978-1111344856}} "There is no adequate scientific evidence that people can read other people's minds. Research has not identified one single indisputable telepath or clairvoyant."</ref> Telepathy is a common theme in ].
	== Early investigations==
	] scientific investigation of telepathy is generally recognized as having begun with the initial program or research of the ]. The apex of their early investigations was the report published in ] as the two-volume work ''Phantasms of the Living''. It was with this work that the term "telepathy" was introduced, replacing the earlier term "thought transference". Although much of the initial investigations consisted largely of gathering ] accounts with follow-up investigations, they also conducted ]s with some of those who claimed telepathic abilities. However, their experimental protocols were not very strict by today's standards.

			==Origins of the concept==
	In ], psychologist John E. Coover from ] conducted a series of telepathy tests involving transmitting/guessing playing cards. His participants were able to guess the identity of cards with overall odds against chance of 160 to 1; however, Coover did not consider the results to be significant enough to report this as a positive result.
			According to historians such as ] and ] the origin of the concept of telepathy in ] can be traced to the late 19th century and the formation of the ].<ref>]. (1985). ''The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850–1914''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 135–249. {{ISBN\|978-0521265058}}</ref><ref name="Luckhurst2002">]. (2002). ''The Invention of Telepathy, 1870–1901''. Oxford University Press. pp. 9–51. {{ISBN\|978-0199249626}}</ref> As the physical sciences made significant advances, scientific concepts were applied to mental phenomena (e.g., ]), with the hope that this would help to understand ] phenomena. The modern concept of telepathy emerged in this context.<ref name="Luckhurst2002"/>

			Psychical researcher ] criticized SPR founding members ] and ] for trying to "prove" telepathy rather than objectively analyze whether or not it existed.<ref>]. (1985). ''The Need for Responsibility in Parapsychology: My Sixty Years in Psychical Research''. In ''A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology''. Prometheus Books. pp. 161–174. {{ISBN\|0879753005}} "Let me give an example, such as thought-transference, which is as good as any. When the British SPR was founded, the public was led to believe that at least a scientific survey was to be made, and I have no doubt that even some of those closely associated with the early days thought so too. But Myers, among others, had no such intention and cherished no such illusion. He knew that the primary aim of the Society was not objective experimentation but the establishment of telepathy. (...) What was wanted was proof that mind could communicate with mind apart from the normal avenues, for if mental sharing was a fact when the persons concerned were incarnate it could plausibly be suggested that the same mechanism might operate when death had occurred. Thus the supernatural might be proved by science, and psychical research might become, in the words of Sir William Barrett, a handmaid to religion."</ref>
	The best-known early telepathy experiments were those of ] and his associates at ], beginning in the ] using the distinctive ''ESP Cards'' of ] (see also ]s). These involved more rigorous and systematic experimental protocols than those from the ], used what were assumed to be 'average' participants rather than those who claimed exceptional ability, and used new developments in the field of statistics to evaluate results. Results of these and other experiments were published by Rhine in his popular book ''Extra Sensory Perception'', which popularized the term "ESP".

			==Thought reading==
	Another influential book about telepathy in its day was ''Mental Radio'', published in ] by the ]-winning author ] (with foreword by ]). In it Sinclair describes the apparent ability of his wife at times to reproduce sketches made by himself and others, even when separated by several miles, in apparently informal experiments that are reminiscent of some of those to be used by ] researchers in later times. They note in their book that the results could also be explained by more general ], and they did some experiments whose results suggested that in fact no sender was necessary, and some drawings could be reproduced ].
			In the late 19th century, the magician and mentalist ] would perform "thought reading" demonstrations. Bishop claimed no ] powers and ascribed his powers to ] (reading thoughts from unconscious bodily cues).<ref>Roger Luckhurst. (2002). ''The Invention of Telepathy: 18701901''. Oxford University Press. p. 63. {{ISBN\|978-0199249626}}</ref> Bishop was investigated by a group of scientists including the editor of the '']'' and the ] ]. Bishop performed several feats successfully, such as correctly identifying a selected spot on a table and locating a hidden object. During the experiment, Bishop required physical contact with a subject who knew the correct answer. He would hold the hand or wrist of the helper. The scientists concluded that Bishop was not a genuine telepath but was instead using a highly trained skill to detect ].<ref>]. (2011). ''Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There''. Macmillan. pp. 140–142. {{ISBN\|978-0230752986}}</ref>

			Another famous thought reader was the magician ]. He was famous for performing ]ed feats such as identifying a hidden object in a room that a person had picked out or asking someone to imagine a murder scene and then attempt to read the subject's thoughts and identify the victim and reenact the crime. Cumberland claimed to possess no genuine psychic ability and his thought-reading performances could only be demonstrated by holding the hand of his subject to read their muscular movements. He came into dispute with psychical researchers associated with the ] who were searching for genuine cases of telepathy. Cumberland argued that both telepathy and communication with the dead were impossible and that the minds of people cannot be read through telepathy, but only by ].<ref name="BownBeer2004">{{cite book \|editor1=Nicola Bown \|editor2=Carolyn Burdett \|editor3=Pamela Thurschwell \|editor4=Gillian Beer \|title=The Victorian Supernatural \|last=Thurschwell \|first=Pamela \|chapter=Chapter 4: George Eliot's Prophecies: Coercive Second Sight and Everyday Though Reading \|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zkQV_718ROkC&q=%22Cumberland+himself+always+insisted+that+his+readings%22&pg=PA89 \|year=2004 \|publisher=Cambridge University Press \|isbn=978-0521810159 \|pages=87–108}}</ref>
	By the 1960s, many parapsychologists had become dissatisfied with the ''forced-choice'' experiments of J. B. Rhine, partly because of boredom on the part of test participants after many repetitions of monotonous card-guessing, and partly because of the observed "decline effect" where the accuracy of card guessing would decrease over time for a given participant, which some parapsychologists attributed to this boredom.

			==Case studies==
	Some parapsychologists turned to ''free response'' experimental formats where the target was not limited to a small finite predetermined set of responses (e.g., Zener cards), but rather could be any sort of picture, drawing, photograph, movie clip, piece of music etc.
			] conducted early telepathy experiments.]]

			In the late 19th century the Creery Sisters (Mary, Alice, Maud, Kathleen, and Emily) were tested by the ] and believed to have genuine psychic ability. However, during a later experiment they were caught utilizing signal codes and they confessed to ].<ref>]. (1989). ''The Elusive Quarry: A Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research''. Prometheus Books. pp. 99–106</ref><ref>]. (1996). ''The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal''. Prometheus Books. p. 688</ref> ] and ] were claimed to be genuine psychics by the Society for Psychical Research but Blackburn confessed to fraud:
	==Notable experiments==
	The following is a list of some notable experiments done on telepathy in modern history. Many experiments on telepathy fail to achieve notoriety because of inconclusive results. That is, they fail to confirm the hypothesis that telepathy exists.

			<blockquote>For nearly thirty years the telepathic experiments conducted by Mr. G. A. Smith and myself have been accepted and cited as the basic evidence of the truth of thought transference...
	===Zener Card experiments===

			...the whole of those alleged experiments were bogus, and originated in the honest desire of two youths to show how easily men of scientific mind and training could be deceived when seeking for evidence in support of a theory they were wishful to establish.<ref>Neher, Andrew. (2011). ''Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological Examination''. Dover Publications. p. 220. {{ISBN\|0486261670}}</ref></blockquote>
	'''Dates run:''' 1930's

			Between 1916 and 1924, ] conducted 236 experiments into telepathy and reported 36% as successful. However, it was suggested that the results could be explained by ] as he could hear what was being said by the sender.<ref>Payne, Kenneth Wilcox. (1928). ''Is Telepathy all Bunk?'' '']''. p. 119</ref><ref>Couttie, Bob. (1988). ''Forbidden Knowledge: The Paranormal Paradox''. Lutterworth Press. p. 129. {{ISBN\|978-0718826864}} "In the early 1900s Gilbert Murray, who died in 1957, carried out some experiments in ESP in which he was in one room and the sender in a hallway, often with an open door between them. These experiments were successful. Most of the time the target was spoken aloud. When it was not, there were negative results. This is suggestive of a hyperacuity of hearing, especially since on at least one occasion Murray complained about noise coming from a milk-cart in the street next to the one in which the experiments were being carried out."</ref><ref>Mauskopf, Seymour H; McVaugh, Michael Rogers. (1980). ''The Elusive Science: Origins of Experimental Psychical Research''. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 331. {{ISBN\|978-0801823312}}</ref><ref>]; Jones, Warren H. (1989). ''Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. p. 155. {{ISBN\|978-0805805079}}</ref><ref>Anderson, Rodger. (2006). ''Psychics, Sensitives and Somnambules: A Biographical Dictionary with Bibliographies''. McFarland. p. 126. {{ISBN\|0786427701}}</ref> Psychologist ] had carried out experiments in telepathy at ] which were reported in 1917.<ref>]. (1971). ''ESP, Seers & Psychics''. Crowell. p. 19. {{ISBN\|978-0690268157}}</ref><ref>Berger, Arthur S. (1988). ''Lives and Letters in American Parapsychology: A Biographical History, 1850–1897''. McFarland. p. 66. {{ISBN\|0899503454}}</ref><ref>]. (2002). ''The Invention of Telepathy: 1870–1901''. Oxford University Press. p. 269. {{ISBN\|978-0199249626}}</ref><ref>Hannan, Caryn. (2008 edition). ''Connecticut Biographical Dictionary''. State History Publications. p. 526. {{ISBN\|1878592726}} "On his return to Harvard in 1916, one of his first enterprises was an investigation of telepathy in the psychology laboratory, which gave negative results."</ref> The subjects produced below chance expectations.<ref>Asprem, Egil. (2014). ''The Problem of Disenchantment: Scientific Naturalism and Esoteric Discourse, 1900–1939''. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 362–364. {{ISBN\|978-9004251922}}</ref>
	'''Experimental philosophy:''' A ] deck is created, which consists of five cards each of five different symbols. The deck is shuffled, and the possible ] is asked to guess the identity of each card as it is drawn and viewed by a sender. In this experiment, telepathy is assumed to be weak, and only expected to give a small deviation towards correct answers.

			] and ] were duped into believing ] had genuine psychic powers. Both Doyle and Stead wrote that the Zancigs performed telepathy. In 1924, Julius and Agnes Zancig confessed that their ] act was a trick and published the secret code and all the details of the trick method they had used under the title of ''Our Secrets!!'' in a London newspaper.<ref>]. (1986). ''Psychic Paradoxes''. Prometheus Books. p. 8</ref>
	'''Experimental design:''' ], the experimenter, would sit across a table from the subject. He would shuffle the Zener Card deck, and draw cards one at a time. For each card, he would look at it and ask the psychic to guess its identity by reading his mind. A hit rate of more than 20% was taken as evidence of telepathy. Additionally, Rhine claimed that hit rates significantly below 20% were also evidence of telepathy. These were supposedly caused by a subject who didn't like him guessing incorrectly on purpose in order to spite him.

			In 1924, Robert H. Gault of ] with ] conducted the first American radio test for telepathy. The results were entirely negative. One of their experiments involved the attempted thought transmission of a chosen number between one and one-thousand. Out of 2,010 replies, none was correct. This is below the ] of two correct replies in such a situation.<ref>Gault, Robert H. (August, 1924). ''Telepathy Put to the Test''. '']''. pp. 114–115</ref>
	'''Results:''' Rhine claimed to have found many subjects who performed significantly above chance, and used this as evidence for telepathy. He also noted some subjects who performed significantly below chance, and this was also used as evidence for telepathy. He noted, however, that this experiment couldn't adequately distinguish telepathy from ].<ref>
	{{cite book
	\| last =
	\| first =
	\| author = Randi, James
	\| authorlink =
	\| coauthors =
	\| year = 1995
	\| title = An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural
	\| publisher = St. Martin's Press
	\| location =
	\| id = ISBN 0-312-15119-5
	}}</ref>

			In February 1927, with the co-operation of the ] (BBC), V. J. Woolley, who was at the time the Research Officer for the SPR, arranged a telepathy experiment in which radio listeners were asked to take part. The experiment involved 'agents' thinking about five selected objects in an office at ], whilst listeners on the radio were asked to identify the objects from the BBC studio at ]. 24,659 answers were received. The results revealed no evidence of telepathy.<ref>Mauskopf, Seymour H; McVaugh, Michael Rogers. (1980). ''The Elusive Science: Origins of Experimental Psychical Research''. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 36–38. {{ISBN\|978-0801823312}}</ref><ref>Edmunds, Simeon. (1965). ''Miracles of the Mind: An Introduction to Parapsychology''. C. C. Thomas. pp. 26–28</ref>
	'''Criticisms:'''

			A famous experiment in telepathy was recorded by the American author ] in his book '']'' which documents Sinclair's test of psychic abilities of ], his second wife. She attempted to duplicate 290 pictures which were drawn by her husband. Sinclair claimed Mary successfully duplicated 65 of them, with 155 "partial successes" and 70 failures. However, these experiments were not conducted in a controlled scientific laboratory environment.<ref name="Gardner1957">], '']'' (Courier Dover Publications, 1957) Chapter 25: ''ESP and PK'', ; accessed July 25, 2010.</ref> Science writer ] suggested that the possibility of ] during the experiment had not been ruled out:
	''Use of negative results as evidence:'' By the laws of probability, it is expected that in a large group of subjects, some will be found to perform significantly above chance, and some will be found to perform significantly below chance. In a sample of one hundred subjects, around 5 will show 95% significance of being over chance, and about 5 will show 95% significance of being under chance. Rhine did not take this into account, and assumed that these extreme scores always indicated a telepath.

			{{blockquote\|In the first place, an intuitive wife, who knows her husband intimately, may be able to guess with a fair degree of accuracy what he is likely to draw—particularly if the picture is related to some freshly recalled event the two experienced in common. At first, simple pictures like chairs and tables would likely predominate, but as these are exhausted, the field of choice narrows and pictures are more likely to be suggested by recent experiences. It is also possible that Sinclair may have given conversational hints during some of the tests—hints which in his strong will to believe, he would promptly forget about. Also, one must not rule out the possibility that in many tests, made across the width of a room, Mrs. Sinclair may have seen the wiggling of the top of a pencil, or arm movements, which would convey to her unconscious a rough notion of the drawing.<ref name="Gardner1957"/>}}
	''Possibility of cheating:'' Rhine was accused by skeptics of making the controls too lax in early experiments, allowing the subjects to cheat in some manner (though he was never accused of cheating himself). For instance, the cards used in early experiments were partially transparent, allowing the subject to get an idea of the image by focusing on the back of the card. When his phenomenal subjects were retested under stricter conditions or under the observation of a ], they reverted to scores that weren't significantly above chance.
			] who was investigated by the ] in the late 1930–1940s.]]
			The Turner-Ownbey long distance telepathy experiment was discovered to contain flaws. May Frances Turner positioned herself in the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory whilst Sara Ownbey claimed to receive transmissions 250 miles away. For the experiment Turner would think of a symbol and write it down whilst Ownbey would write her guesses.<ref name="Sladek 1974">]. (1974). The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Sciences and Occult Beliefs. Panther. pp. 172–174</ref> The scores were highly successful and both records were supposed to be sent to ]; however, Ownbey sent them to Turner. Critics pointed out this invalidated the results as she could have simply written her own record to agree with the other. When the experiment was repeated and the records were sent to Rhine the scores dropped to average.<ref name="Sladek 1974"/><ref>]. (1954). ''The Spoor of Spooks: And Other Nonsense''. Knopf. p. 24</ref><ref>]. (1989). ''The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited''. Prometheus Books. pp. 56–58. {{ISBN\|0879755164}}</ref>

			Another example is the experiment carried out by the author ] with the explorer ] who carried out their own experiment in telepathy for five and a half months starting in October 1937. This took place when Sherman was in ] and Wilkins was in the ]. The experiment consisted of Sherman and Wilkins at the end of each day to relax and visualise a mental image or "thought impression" of the events or thoughts they had experienced in the day and then to record those images and thoughts on paper in a diary. The results at the end when comparing Sherman's and Wilkins' diaries were claimed to be more than 60 percent.<ref>Simon Nasht. (2006). ''The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins, Hero of the Great Age of Polar Exploration''. Arcade Publishing. pp. 267–268</ref>
	''Statistical assumptions:'' While any individual card in a Zener Card deck has a 20% chance of being each of the symbols, as the cards are drawn, the probabilities are altered. If the subject were guessing perfectly randomly, the expected hit rate would still be 20%, but the psychology involved changes this. Particularly, humans are unlikely to guess the same symbol twice in a row, which combines with the effect of having a deck that causes symbol changes to be more frequent than the expected 80% to increase the chance hit rate to around 25%.<ref>
	{{cite web
	\| url = http://www.skepdic.com/zener.html
	\| title = Zener ESP Cards
	\| author = Carroll, Todd
	\| authorlink =
	\| coauthors =
	\| date = 2006-02-17
	\| year =
	\| month =
	\| format =
	\| work =
	\| publisher = The Skeptic's Dictionary
	\| pages =
	\| language =
	\| archiveurl =
	\| archivedate =
	\| accessdate = 2006-07-18
	}}</ref>

			The full results of the experiments were published in 1942 in a book by Sherman and Wilkins titled ''Thoughts Through Space''. In the book, both Sherman and Wilkins had written they believed they had demonstrated that it was possible to send and receive thought impressions from the mind of one person to another.<ref>], ]. (2004). ''Thoughts through Space: A Remarkable Adventure in the Realm of Mind''. Hampton Roads Publishing. {{ISBN\|1571743146}}</ref> The magician ] wrote that the experiment was not an example of telepathy as a high percentage of misses had occurred. Booth wrote it was more likely that the "hits" were the result of "coincidence, law of averages, subconscious expectancy, logical inference or a plain lucky guess".<ref>]. (1986). ''Psychic Paradoxes''. Prometheus Books. p. 69</ref> A review of their book in the '']'' cast doubt on their experiment, noting "the study was published five years after it was conducted, arouses suspicion on the validity of the conclusions.<ref>Steiner, Lee R. (1942). ''Review of Thoughts Through Space''. '']'' 12 (4): 745.</ref>
	===The Soal-Goldney experiments===

			In 1948, on the BBC radio ] made the claim that he could demonstrate telepathy. This intrigued the journalist Arthur Helliwell who wanted to discover his methods. He found that Fogel's mind reading acts were all based on trickery as he relied on information about members of his audience before the show started. Helliwell exposed Fogel's methods in a newspaper article. Although Fogel managed to fool some people into believing he could perform genuine telepathy, the majority of his audience knew he was a showman.<ref name="Lamont 2013">]. (2013). ''Extraordinary Beliefs: A Historical Approach to a Psychological Problem''. Cambridge University Press. p. 220. {{ISBN\|978-1107019331}}</ref>
	'''Dates run:''' 1941-1943

			In a series of experiments ] and his assistant ] examined 160 subjects over 128,000 trials and obtained no evidence for the existence of telepathy.<ref name="Reznek 2010">Lawrie Reznek. (2010). ''Delusions and the Madness of the Masses''. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers . pp. 54–55</ref> Soal tested Basil Shackleton and Gloria Stewart between 1941 and 1943 in over five hundred sittings and over twenty thousand guesses. Shackleton scored 2890 compared with a chance expectation of 2308 and Gloria scored 9410 compared with a chance level of 7420. It was later discovered the results had been tampered with. Gretl Albert who was present during many of the experiments said she had witnessed Soal altering the records during the sessions.<ref name="Reznek 2010"/> Betty Marwick discovered Soal had not used the method of random selection of numbers as he had claimed. Marwick showed that there had been manipulation of the score sheets and all experiments reported by Soal had thereby become discredited.<ref>]. (1980). ''ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Reevaluation''. Prometheus Books. p. 165</ref><ref>Betty Markwick. (1985). ''The establishment of data manipulation in the Soal-Shackleton experiments''. In ]. ''A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology''. Prometheus Books. pp. 287–312</ref>
	'''Experimental philosophy:''' The possible ] is asked to guess the image on cards viewed by a sender. Answers are also compared to cards one or two places before and after the current card, checking for temporal displacement effects. In this experiment, telepathy is assumed to be weak, and only expected to give a small deviation towards correct answers.<ref>
	{{cite book
	\| last =
	\| first =
	\| author = Hansel, C.E.M.
	\| authorlink =
	\| coauthors =
	\| year = 1989
	\| title = The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited
	\| publisher = Prometheus Books
	\| location =
	\| id = ISBN 0-87975-533-4
	}}</ref><!--Cointainly there's a template for books! :-) -->

			In 1979 the physicists ] and Eduardo Balanovski wrote the only scientifically feasible explanation for telepathy could be electromagnetism (EM) involving ]. In a series of experiments the EM levels were many orders of magnitude lower than calculated and no paranormal effects were observed. Both Taylor and Balanovski wrote their results were a strong argument against the validity of telepathy.<ref>{{cite journal \| last1 = Taylor \| first1 = J. G \| last2 = Balanovski \| first2 = E. \| year = 1979 \| title = Is There Any Scientific Explanation of the Paranormal? \| journal = Nature \| volume = 279 \| issue = 5714\| pages = 631–633 \| doi=10.1038/279631a0\| pmid = 450111 \| bibcode = 1979Natur.279..631T \| s2cid = 2885230 }}</ref>
	'''Experimental design:''' The experimenter and sender sit in one room, which is adjoining to another room in which the receiver (the possible ]) sits. The door is left ajar, allowing aural communication but not giving the receiver a line of sight to the experimenter or sender. Five cards, with pictures of an elephant, giraffe, lion, pelican, and zebra are shuffled and then placed in a box that can be accessed by the sender, but which cannot be viewed by the experimenter or any observers. The experimenter and sender are separated by a screen, which has a small square hole in it.

			Research in ] has discovered that in some cases telepathy can be explained by a ]. In an experiment (Schienle ''et al''. 1996) 22 believers and 20 skeptics were asked to judge the covariation between transmitted symbols and the corresponding feedback given by a receiver. According to the results the believers overestimated the number of successful transmissions whilst the skeptics made accurate hit judgments.<ref>{{cite journal \| last1 = Schienle \| first1 = A. \| last2 = Vaitl \| first2 = D. \| last3 = Stark \| first3 = R. \| year = 1996 \| title = Covariation bias and paranormal belief \| journal = Psychological Reports \| volume = 78 \| issue = 1\| pages = 291–305 \| doi=10.2466/pr0.1996.78.1.291\| pmid = 8839320 \| s2cid = 34062201 }}</ref> The results from another telepathy experiment involving 48 undergraduate college students (Rudski, 2002) were explained by ] and ] biases.<ref>{{cite journal \| last1 = Rudski \| first1 = J. M. \| year = 2002 \| title = Hindsight and confirmation biases in an exercise in telepathy \| journal = Psychological Reports \| volume = 91 \| issue = 3\| pages = 899–906 \| doi=10.2466/pr0.2002.91.3.899\| pmid = 12530740 \| s2cid = 24242574 }}</ref>
	The experimenter would consult a list of random digits from 1 to 5 for each trial, and then hold up a card with that number printed on it to the hole in the screen, allowing the sender to see it. The sender would then select the card in his box corresponding to that number (the card farthest to the left was 1, and they ascended to the right), and then attempt to mentally send that image to the receiver. After a few moments, the experimenter would call out to the receiver and ask for a guess. The guess is recorded, and at the end of the run (generally 50 guesses), the sender reveals their cards, and the guesses are converted into their corresponding numbers.

			==In parapsychology==
	The guesses are compared to the random digits for each trial, and a statistical analysis is performed. Any significant, positive deviation from chance is assumed to be caused by telepathy. This is then repeated by comparing the guesses to the random digits one and two places ahead of and behind that trial.<ref>''ibid''</ref>
			Within ], telepathy, often along with ] and ], is described as an aspect of ] (ESP) or "anomalous cognition" that parapsychologists believe is transferred through a hypothetical psychic mechanism they call "]".<ref name=parasoc2> {{webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110111023207/http://parapsych.org/glossary_e_k.html \|date=2011-01-11 }}, ]. Retrieved December 19, 2006.</ref> Parapsychologists have reported experiments they use to test for telepathic abilities. Among the most well known are the use of ]s and the ].

			===Types===
	'''Results:''' In Soal's first experiment, he was not searching for displacement effects, and found no subjects who exhibited a better-than-chance hit rate. When advised by a colleague to check for displacement effects, he rechecked the data and found two subjects who scored significantly better than chance at predicting the card that would be chosen after the one they were supposed to be guessing. Soal then designed a new experiment which declared displacement effects as part of the tested data, per scientific procedure.<ref>
			Several forms of telepathy have been suggested:<ref name=parasocie1/>
	{{cite web
			* '''Latent telepathy''', formerly known as "deferred telepathy",<ref name=sciam1>Rennie, John (1845), "Test for Telepathy", '']'', V3#1 (1847-09-25)</ref> describes a transfer of information with an observable time-lag between transmission and reception.<ref name=parasocie1/>
	\| url = http://www.survivalafterdeath.org/researchers/soal.htm
			* '''Retrocognitive, precognitive, and intuitive telepathy''' describes the transfer of information about the past, future or present state of an individual's mind to another individual.<ref name=parasocie1/>
	\| title = Biography of S.G. Soal
			* '''Emotive telepathy''', also known as remote influence<ref>Plazo, Joseph R., (2002) "Psychic Seduction." pp. 112–114 {{ISBN\|0978592239}}</ref> or emotional transfer, describes the transfer of kinesthetic sensations through altered states.
	\| author = Haynes , Renée
			* '''Superconscious telepathy''' describes use of the supposed ]<ref>St. Claire, David., (1989) "Instant ESP." pp. 40–50</ref> to access the collective wisdom of the human species for knowledge.
	\| authorlink =
	\| coauthors =
	\| date = 1982
	\| year =
	\| month =
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	\| publisher = The Society for Psychical Research
	\| pages =
	\| language =
	\| archiveurl =
	\| archivedate =
	\| accessdate = 2006-06-26
	}}</ref>

			===Zener cards===
	In many of the sittings in the second experiment, the receiver performed significantly above chance. In one sitting, the odds against chance of these results were calculated to be 10<sup>35</sup> to 1. The results were so striking that some skeptics immediately accused Soal of fraud without any evidence.<ref>
			{{Main\|Zener cards}}
	{{cite journal
			]
	\| author = Price, G.R.
			] are marked with five distinctive symbols. When using them, one individual is designated the "sender" and another the "receiver". The sender selects a random card and visualizes the symbol on it, while the receiver attempts to determine that symbol telepathically. Statistically, the receiver has a 20% chance of randomly guessing the correct symbol, so to demonstrate telepathy, they must repeatedly score a success rate that is significantly higher than 20%.<ref name="Skepdic2">{{cite web \|url=http://www.skepdic.com/zener.html \|title=Zener ESP Cards \|author=Carroll, Robert \|date=2006-02-17 \|publisher=] \|access-date=2006-07-18 }}</ref> If not conducted properly, this method is vulnerable to sensory leakage and ].<ref name="Skepdic2"/>
	\| year = 1955
	\| month = April
	\| title = Science and the Supernatural
	\| journal = Science
	\| volume =
	\| issue =
	\| pages =
	\| doi =
	\| id =
	\| url =
	\| format =
	\| accessdate =
	}}</ref>

			]'s experiments with Zener cards were discredited due to the discovery that ] or cheating could account for all his results such as the subject being able to read the symbols from the back of the cards and being able to see and hear the experimenter to note subtle clues.<ref>Jonathan C. Smith. (2009). . Wiley-Blackwell. {{ISBN\|978-1405181228}}. "Today, researchers discount the first decade of Rhine's work with Zener cards. Stimulus leakage or cheating could account for all his findings. Slight indentations on the backs of cards revealed the symbols embossed on card faces. Subjects could see and hear the experimenter, and note subtle but revealing facial expressions or changes in breathing."</ref> Once Rhine took precautions in response to criticisms of his methods, he was unable to find any high-scoring subjects.<ref>]. (1970). ''ESP, Seers & Psychics''. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. p. 28</ref> Due to the methodological problems, parapsychologists no longer utilize card-guessing studies.<ref>]. (2011). . '']''. "Despite Rhine's confidence that he had established the reality of extrasensory perception, he had not done so. Methodological problems with his experiments eventually came to light, and as a result parapsychologists no longer run card-guessing studies and rarely even refer to Rhine's work."</ref>
	'''Criticism:''' The criticism of these results was very focused, and claimed simply that Soal had ] in order to increase the hit rate. The following is evidence used to back up this claim:
	*Soal claimed to have developed his lists of target numbers randomly, but no one was ever allowed to see how he did it.
	*In one sitting, the sender accused Soal of changing 1's to 4's and 5's on the target sheet.<ref>
	{{cite book
	\| last =
	\| first =
	\| author =Alcock, James E.
	\| authorlink =
	\| coauthors =
	\| year = 1981
	\| title = Parapsychology: Science or Magic?
	\| publisher = Pergamon Press
	\| location =
	\| id = ISBN 0-08-025772-0
	}}</ref>
	*In 1973, Scott and Haskell tested these claims by examining the target and guess lists. They theorized that if the accusations were true, they would find:
	**An excess of 4's and 5's in the target list
	**A deficiency of 1's in the target list
	**An excess of hits on 4's, and 5's
	**A relative excess of hits on 1's
	*All of these were found in the data for the sitting in which the accusation took place, as well as two other sittings with different senders.<ref>
	{{cite journal
	\| author = Scott, C. & Haskell, P.
	\| year = 1973
	\| month = September
	\| title = "Normal" explanation of the Soal-Goldney experiments in extrasensory perception
	\| journal = Nature
	\| volume =
	\| issue = 245
	\| pages = 52 - 54
	\| doi =10.1038/245052a0
	\| id =
	\| url =
	\| format =
	\| accessdate =
	}}</ref>
	*The target lists used by Soal were later matched by computer with strings of digits found in log tables, except the target lists often had a 4 or 5 where the log tables had a 1.<sup title="Needs citation" class="noprint">[]]</sup>{{#if:{{NAMESPACE}}\|<!--null string-->\|}}

			===Dream telepathy===
	'''Notes:'''
	*Due to the strength of the evidence for fraud in this experiment, it is generally considered to be the case today that Soal did indeed alter his data.
	*This experiment was offered by ] when questioned on why he believed in telepathy, saying that this had proved it. He was apparently unaware of the significant evidence of fraud in the experiment.

			Parapsychological studies into ] were carried out at the ] in ] led by ] and ]. They concluded the results from some of their experiments supported dream telepathy.<ref name=ullmanweb>{{cite book\|title=Psychoanalysis and the paranormal: lands of darkness\|series=Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series\|editor1-first=Nick\|editor1-last=Totton\|publisher=Karnac Books\| pages= 14–46\|year=2003\|isbn=978-1855759855\|first=Montague\|last=Ullman\|author-link=Montague Ullman\|chapter=Dream telepathy: experimental and clinical findings}}</ref> However, the results have not been independently replicated.<ref>Parker, Adrian. (1975). ''States of Mind: ESP and Altered States of Consciousness''. Taplinger. p. 90. {{ISBN\|0800873742}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal \| last1 = Clemmer \| first1 = E. J. \| year = 1986 \| title = Not so anomalous observations question ESP in dreams \| journal = ] \| volume = 41 \| issue = 10\| pages = 1173–1174 \| doi=10.1037/0003-066x.41.10.1173.b}}</ref><ref>]. (1986). "Maimonides dream-telepathy experiments". ''Skeptical Inquirer'' 11: 91–92.</ref><ref>Neher, Andrew. (2011). ''Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological Examination''. Dover Publications. p. 145. {{ISBN\|0486261670}}</ref> The psychologist ] has written the dream telepathy experiments at Maimonides have failed to provide evidence for telepathy and "lack of replication is rampant."<ref>{{cite journal \| last1 = James \| first1 = Alcock \| author-link = James Alcock \| year = 2003 \| title = Give the Null Hypothesis a Chance: Reasons to Remain Doubtful about the Existence of Psi \| journal = Journal of Consciousness Studies \| volume = 10 \| pages = 29–50 }}</ref>
	===Randi Challenge attempts===

			The picture target experiments that were conducted by Krippner and Ullman were criticized by ]. According to Hansel there were weaknesses in the design of the experiments in the way in which the agent became aware of their target picture. Only the agent should have known the target and no other person until the judging of targets had been completed, however, an experimenter was with the agent when the target envelope was opened. Hansel also wrote there had been poor controls in the experiment as the main experimenter could communicate with the subject.<ref>] ''The Search for a Demonstration of ESP''. In ]. (1985). ''A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology''. Prometheus Books. pp. 97–127. {{ISBN\|0879753005}}</ref>
	''(Main article: ])''

			An attempt to replicate the experiments that used picture targets was carried out by Edward Belvedere and David Foulkes. The finding was that neither the subject nor the judges matched the targets with dreams above chance level.<ref>{{cite journal \| last1 = Belvedere \| first1 = E. \| last2 = Foulkes \| first2 = D. \| year = 1971 \| title = Telepathy and Dreams: A Failure to Replicate \| journal = Perceptual and Motor Skills \| volume = 33 \| issue = 3\| pages = 783–789 \| doi=10.2466/pms.1971.33.3.783\| pmid = 4331356 \| s2cid = 974894 }}</ref> Results from other experiments by Belvedere and Foulkes were also negative.<ref>]. (1989). ''The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited''. Prometheus Books. pp. 141–152. {{ISBN\|0879755164}}</ref>
	'''Dates run:''' 1964 to present

			===Ganzfeld experiment===
	'''Experimental Philosophy:''' The challenge has offered a $1,000,000 prize to any applicant who can empirically prove paranormal abilities. The belief is that if these do exist in some people, they will come forward, prove it, and claim the money. Note that the challenge allows for a large variety of paranormal ability beyond telepathy to be claimed.
			When using the ] to test for telepathy, one individual is designated as the receiver and is placed inside a controlled environment where they are ], and another person is designated as the sender and is placed in a separate location. The receiver is then required to receive information from the sender. The nature of the information may vary between experiments.<ref name="Conscious Universe">''The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena'' by Dean I. Radin Harper Edge, {{ISBN\|0062515020}}</ref>

			The Ganzfeld experiment studies that were examined by ] and ] had methodological problems that were well documented. Honorton reported only 36% of the studies used duplicate target sets of pictures to avoid handling cues.<ref>Julie Milton, ]. (2002). ''A Response to Storm and Ertel (2002)''. The Journal of Parapsychology. Volume 66: 183–186.</ref> Hyman discovered flaws in all of the 42 Ganzfeld experiments and to access each experiment, he devised a set of 12 categories of flaws. Six of these concerned statistical defects, the other six covered procedural flaws such as inadequate ], randomization and security as well as possibilities of sensory leakage.<ref name="Hyman2007">]. ''Evaluating Parapsychological Claims'' in Robert J. Sternberg, Henry L. Roediger, Diane F. Halpern. (2007). ''Critical Thinking in Psychology''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 216–231. {{ISBN\|978-0521608343}}</ref> Over half of the studies failed to safeguard against sensory leakage and all of the studies contained at least one of the 12 flaws. Because of the flaws, Honorton agreed with Hyman the 42 Ganzfeld studies could not support the claim for the existence of psi.<ref name="Hyman2007"/>
	'''Experimental Design:''' Each individual claim generally has a different experiment designed for it, which is agreed upon by both the applicant and the ] as being an appropriate test. A full list of applicants and the experiments designed for them can be found .

			Possibilities of sensory leakage in the Ganzfeld experiments included the receivers hearing what was going on in the sender's room next door as the rooms were not soundproof and the sender's fingerprints to be visible on the target object for the receiver to see.<ref>], Matthew Smith, Diana Kornbrot. (1996). ''Assessing possible sender-to-experimenter acoustic leakage in the PRL autoganzfeld''. Journal of Parapsychology. Volume 60: 97–128.</ref><ref>]. (2014). " in ].</ref>
	'''Results:''' To date, no applicant has made it past the preliminary testing of the challenge.

			Hyman also reviewed the autoganzfeld experiments and discovered a pattern in the data that implied a visual cue may have taken place:
	'''Criticism:''' As the JREF has a vested monetary interest in not paying out the million dollars, many critics claim they may be unfair in their judgments. However, the JREF points out that the money currently exists in the form of bonds from ] and is specifically held for the challenge. It is thus not accessible to them or anyone else, so they would be no worse off financially if the money were payed out.<ref>
	{{cite web
	\| url = http://www.randi.org/research/faq.html
	\| title = The JREF Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge "FAQ"
	\| author = The James Randi Educational Foundation
	\| authorlink = http://www.randi.org
	\| coauthors =
	\| date = 2006
	\| year =
	\| month =
	\| format =
	\| work =
	\| publisher =
	\| pages =
	\| language =
	\| archiveurl =
	\| archivedate =
	\| accessdate = 2006-07-07
	}}</ref>

			{{blockquote\|The most suspicious pattern was that the hit rate for a given target increased with the frequency of occurrence of that target in the experiment. The hit rate for the targets that occurred only once was right at the chance expectation of 25%. For targets that appeared twice the hit rate crept up to 28%. For those that occurred three times it was 38%, and for those targets that occurred six or more times, the hit rate was 52%. Each time a videotape is played its quality can degrade. It is plausible then, that when a frequently used clip is the target for a given session, it may be physically distinguishable from the other three decoy clips that are presented to the subject for judging. Surprisingly, the parapsychological community has not taken this finding seriously. They still include the autoganzfeld series in their meta-analyses and treat it as convincing evidence for the reality of psi.<ref name="Hyman2007"/>}}
	===Ganzfeld experiments===

			Hyman wrote the autoganzfeld experiments were flawed because they did not preclude the possibility of sensory leakage.<ref name="Hyman2007"/> In 2010, Lance Storm, Patrizio Tressoldi, and Lorenzo Di Risio analyzed 29 ganzfeld studies from 1997 to 2008. Of the 1,498 trials, 483 produced hits, corresponding to a hit rate of 32.2%. This hit rate is ] with p < .001. Participants selected for personality traits and personal characteristics thought to be psi-conducive were found to perform significantly better than unselected participants in the ganzfeld condition.<ref name=StormEtAl2010>
	''(Main article: ])''
			{{cite journal \| url=http://www.psy.unipd.it/~tressold/cmssimple/uploads/includes/MetaFreeResp010.pdf \| journal=Psychological Bulletin \| date=July 2010 \| title=Meta-Analysis of Free-Response Studies, 1992–2008: Assessing the Noise Reduction Model in Parapsychology \| last1=Storm \|first1=Lance \|last2=Tressoldi \|first2=Patrizio E. \|last3=Di Risio \|first3=Lorenzo \| volume=136 \| issue=4 \| pages=471–85 \| access-date=2010-08-18 \| pmid=20565164 \| doi=10.1037/a0019457 \| url-status=dead \| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110124055506/http://www.psy.unipd.it/~tressold/cmssimple/uploads/includes/MetaFreeResp010.pdf \| archive-date=2011-01-24 }}</ref> Hyman (2010) published a rebuttal to Storm ''et al''. According to Hyman "reliance on meta-analysis as the sole basis for justifying the claim that an anomaly exists and that the evidence for it is consistent and replicable is fallacious. It distorts what scientists mean by confirmatory evidence." Hyman wrote the ganzfeld studies have not been independently replicated and have failed to produce evidence for telepathy.<ref>Hyman, R. (2010). {{webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103081111/http://drsmorey.org/bibtex/upload/Hyman%3A2010.pdf \|date=2013-11-03 }}. (2010). Psychological Bulletin, 136. pp. 486–490.</ref> Storm ''et al''. published a response to Hyman claiming the ganzfeld experimental design has proved to be consistent and reliable but parapsychology is a struggling discipline that has not received much attention so further research on the subject is necessary.<ref>{{cite journal \| last1 = Storm \| first1 = L. \| last2 = Tressoldi \| first2 = P. E. \| last3 = Di Risio \| first3 = L. \| year = 2010 \| title = A meta-analysis with nothing to hide: Reply to Hyman (2010) \| journal = Psychological Bulletin \| volume = 136 \| issue = 4\| pages = 491–494 \| doi=10.1037/a0019840\| pmid = 20565166 \| s2cid = 21103309 }}</ref> Rouder ''et al''. 2013 wrote that critical evaluation of Storm ''et al''.'s meta-analysis reveals no evidence for telepathy, no plausible mechanism and omitted replication failures.<ref>{{cite journal \| last1 = Rouder \| first1 = J. N. \| last2 = Morey \| first2 = R. D. \| last3 = Province \| first3 = J. M. \| year = 2013 \| title = A Bayes factor meta-analysis of recent extrasensory perception experiments: Comment on Storm, Tressoldi, and Di Risio (2010) \| journal = Psychological Bulletin \| volume = 139 \| issue = 1\| pages = 241–247 \| doi=10.1037/a0029008\| pmid = 23294092 }}</ref> A 2016 paper examined questionable research practices in the ganzfeld experiments.<ref>{{citation\|title=Testing for Questionable Research Practices in a Meta-Analysis: An Example from Experimental Parapsychology\|last1=Bierman\|first1=DJ\|last2=Spottiswoode\|first2=JP\|last3=Bijl\|first3=A\|year=2016\|journal=PLOS ONE\|volume=11\|issue=5\|page=1\|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0153049\|quote=We consider in the context of a meta-analysis database of Ganzfeld–telepathy experiments from the field of experimental parapsychology. The Ganzfeld database is particularly suitable for this study, because the parapsychological phenomenon it investigates is widely believed to be nonexistent.\|pmid=27144889\|pmc=4856278\|bibcode=2016PLoSO..1153049B\|doi-access=free}}</ref>

			===Twin telepathy===
	'''Dates run:''' 1974 to present

			Twin telepathy is a belief that has been described as a ] in psychological literature. Psychologists Stephen Hupp and Jeremy Jewell have noted that all experiments on the subject have failed to provide any scientific evidence for telepathy between ]s.<ref name="Hupp 2015">Hupp, Stephen; Jewell, Jeremy. (2015). ''Great Myths of Child Development''. Wiley. pp. 10–16. {{ISBN\|978-1118521229}}</ref> According to Hupp and Jewell there are various behavioral and genetic factors that contribute to the twin telepathy myth "identical twins typically spend a lot of time together and are usually exposed to very similar environments. Thus, it's not at all surprising that they act in similar ways and are adept at anticipating and forecasting each other's reactions to events."<ref name="Hupp 2015"/>
	'''Experimental philosophy:''' The possible ] is placed in sensory deprivation, in hopes that this will make it easier to receive and notice incoming telepathic signals. In this experiment, telepathy is assumed to be weak, and only expected to give a small deviation towards correct answers.<ref>
	{{cite web
	\| url = http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~abraham/psy1.html
	\| title = Does Psi Exist?
	\| author = Bem, Daryl J. and Honorton, Charles
	\| last =
	\| first =
	\| authorlink =
	\| coauthors =
	\| date =
	\| year = 1994
	\| month =
	\| format =
	\| work =
	\| publisher = Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 115, No. 1, 4-18
	\| pages =
	\| language =
	\| archiveurl =
	\| archivedate =
	\| accessdate = 2006-06-23
	}}</ref>

			A 1993 study by ] investigated the claims of twin telepathy. In an experiment with six sets of twins one subject would act as the sender and the other the receiver. The sender was given selected objects, photographs or numbers and would attempt to psychically send the information to the receiver. The results from the experiment were negative, no evidence of telepathy was observed.<ref>]. (2011). ''Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There''. Macmillan. p. 54. {{ISBN\|978-0230752986}}</ref>
	'''Experimental design:''' The receiver (a possible ], who is being tested) is placed in a soundproof room and sits reclining in a comfortable chair. They wear headphones which play continuous ] or ]. Halves of ]s are placed over their eyes, and a red light is shined onto their face. These conditions are designed to cause the receiver to enter a state similar to being in a ] chamber.

			The skeptical investigator ] has noted that "Despite decades of research trying to prove telepathy, there is no credible scientific evidence that psychic powers exist, either in the general population or among twins specifically. The idea that two people who shared their mother's womb—or even who share the same DNA—have a mysterious mental connection is an intriguing one not borne out in science."<ref>. Retrieved 2014-06-06.</ref>
	The sender is seated in another soundproof room, and is assigned one of four potential targets, randomly selected. Typically, these targets are pictures or video clips. The sender attempts to telepathically "send" information about the target to the receiver. The receiver is generally asked to speak throughout the sending process, and their voice is piped to the sender and experimenter. This is to assist the sender in determining if their method of "sending" information about the target is working, and adjust it if necessary. Breaks may be taken, and the sending process may be repeated multiple times.

			=== Autism Telepathy ===
	Once the sending process is complete, the experimenter removes the receiver from isolation. The receiver is then shown the four potential targets, and asked to choose which one they believe the sender saw. In order to avoid potential confounding factors, the experimenter should remain in the dark about which target was chosen until the receiver makes their choice, and multiple sets of the pictures of videos should be used in order to avoid handling cues (evidence, such smudges on a picture, that the picture was handled by the sender).
			There are multiple reports<ref>{{Cite web \|last=Dickens \|first=Ky \|title=The Telepathy Tapes \|url=https://thetelepathytapes.com/ }}</ref> in the "Telepathy Tapes" podcast of people on the autistic spectrum transferring information telepathically.

			==Scientific reception==
	A statistical analysis of the number of correct guesses is performed, and any significant deviation from chance is attributed to telepathy using the ]. Note that certain experimenters may also attribute a hit rate significantly below chance to telepathy as well, attributing it the negative attitude of the sender to telepathy.<ref>''ibid''</ref>

			A variety of tests have been performed to demonstrate telepathy, but there is no scientific evidence that the power exists.<ref name="Dalkvist1994"/><ref>Simon Hoggart, Mike Hutchinson. (1995). ''Bizarre Beliefs''. Richard Cohen Books. p. 145. {{ISBN\|978-1573921565}} "The trouble is that the history of research into psi is littered with failed experiments, ambiguous experiments, and experiments which are claimed as great successes but are quickly rejected by conventional scientists. There has also been some spectacular cheating."</ref><ref>Robert Cogan. (1998). ''Critical Thinking: Step by Step''. University Press of America. p. 227. {{ISBN\|978-0761810674}} "When an experiment can't be repeated and get the same result, this tends to show that the result was due to some error in experimental procedure, rather than some real causal process. ESP experiments simply have not turned up any repeatable paranormal phenomena."</ref><ref>]. (2003). ''Pseudoscience and the Paranormal''. Prometheus Books. p. 144. {{ISBN\|978-1573929790}} "It is important to realize that, in one hundred years of parapsychological investigations, there has never been a single adequate demonstration of the reality of any psi phenomenon."</ref> A panel commissioned by the ] to study paranormal claims concluded that "despite a 130-year record of scientific research on such matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy or 'mind over matter' exercises... Evaluation of a large body of the best available evidence simply does not support the contention that these phenomena exist."<ref>]. (1993). ''How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life''. Free Press. p. 160</ref> The scientific community considers ] a pseudoscience.<ref>Daisie Radner, Michael Radner. (1982). ''Science and Unreason''. Wadsworth. pp. 38–66. {{ISBN\|0534011535}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal \| last1 = Bunge \| first1 = Mario \| author-link = Mario Bunge \| year = 1987 \| title = Why Parapsychology Cannot Become a Science \| journal = Behavioral and Brain Sciences \| volume = 10 \| issue = 4\| pages = 576–577 \| doi=10.1017/s0140525x00054595\| doi-broken-date = 1 November 2024 }}</ref><ref>Michael W. Friedlander. (1998). ''At the Fringes of Science''. Westview Press. p. 119. {{ISBN\|0813322006}} "Parapsychology has failed to gain general scientific acceptance even for its improved methods and claimed successes, and it is still treated with a lopsided ambivalence among the scientific community. Most scientists write it off as pseudoscience unworthy of their time."</ref><ref>], ]. (2013). ''Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem''. University Of Chicago Press p. 158. {{ISBN\|978-0226051963}} "Many observers refer to the field as a "pseudoscience". When mainstream scientists say that the field of parapsychology is not scientific, they mean that no satisfying naturalistic cause-and-effect explanation for these supposed effects has yet been proposed and that the field's experiments cannot be consistently replicated."</ref> There is no known mechanism for telepathy.<ref>Charles M. Wynn, Arthur W. Wiggins. (2001). ''Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins''. Joseph Henry Press. p. 165. {{ISBN\|978-0309073097}} "One of the reasons scientists have difficulty believing that psi effects are real is that there is no known mechanism by which they could occur. PK action-at-a-distance would presumably employ an action-at-a-distance force that is as yet unknown to science... Similarly, there is no known sense (stimulation and receptor) by which thoughts could travel from one person to another by which the mind could project itself elsewhere in the present, future, or past."</ref> Philosopher and physicist ] has written that telepathy would contradict ] and the claim that "signals can be transmitted across space without fading with distance is inconsistent with physics".<ref>]. (1983). ''Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Volume 6: Epistemology & Methodology II: Understanding the World''. Springer. pp. 225–226. {{ISBN\|978-9027716347}}
	'''Results:''' Many ] performed on multiple Ganzfeld experiments claim a hit rate of between 30% and 40%, which is significantly higher than the 25% expected by chance. They then use the ] to claim that this is evidence for telepathy.<ref>''ibid''</ref><ref>
			* "Precognition violates the principle of antecedence ("causality"), according to which the effect does not happen before the cause. Psychokinesis violates the principle of conservation of energy as well as the postulate that mind cannot act directly on matter. (If it did no experimenter could trust his own readings of his instruments.) Telepathy and precognition are incompatible with the epistemological principle according to which the gaining of factual knowledge requires sense perception at some point."
	{{cite web
			* "Parapsychology makes no use of any knowledge gained in other fields, such as physics and physiological psychology. Moreover, its hypotheses are inconsistent with some basic assumptions of factual science. In particular, the very idea of a disembodied mental entity is incompatible with physiological psychology; and the claim that signals can be transmitted across space without fading with distance is inconsistent with physics."</ref>
	\| url = http://www.csicop.org/si/9603/claims.html
	\| title = The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality
	\| author = Hyman, Ray
	\| authorlink =
	\| coauthors =
	\| date = March/April, 1996
	\| year =
	\| month =
	\| format =
	\| work =
	\| publisher = Skeptical Inquirer
	\| pages =
	\| language =
	\| archiveurl =
	\| archivedate =
	\| accessdate = 2006-06-23
	}}</ref>
	These positive results contributed to the continuation and and validity of ] and the ]. Here, at the cost of 20 million dollars, the evidence for psi from gifted subjects dwindled to 2% above chance.<ref>
	Utts and Josephson, (1996) ''The Paranormal: The Evidence and Its Implications for Consciousness''</ref>

			Physicist ] has written that the experiments that have been claimed by parapsychologists to support evidence for the existence of telepathy are based on the use of shaky statistical analysis and poor design, and attempts to duplicate such experiments by the scientific community have failed. Taylor also wrote the arguments used by parapsychologists for the feasibility of such phenomena are based on distortions of ] as well as "complete ignorance" of relevant areas of physics.<ref>]. (1980). ''Science and the Supernatural: An Investigation of Paranormal Phenomena Including Psychic Healing, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and Precognition by a Distinguished Physicist and Mathematician''. Temple Smith. p. 84. {{ISBN\|0851171915}}.</ref>
	'''Criticisms:'''

			Psychologist ] wrote that cases of telepathy can be explained by people underestimating the probability of ]s. According to Sutherland, "most stories about this phenomenon concern people who are close to one another—husband and wife or brother and sister. Since such people have much in common, it is highly probable that they will sometimes think the same thought at the same time."<ref>]. (1994). ''Irrationality: The Enemy Within''. p. 314. Penguin Books. {{ISBN\|0140167269}}</ref> ], a specialist in ], noted that experiments into telepathy often involve the subject relaxing and reporting the 'messages' to consist of colored geometric shapes. Reed wrote that these are a common type of ] and not evidence for telepathic communication.<ref>]. (1988). ''The Psychology of Anomalous Experience''. Prometheus Books. pp. 38–42. {{ISBN\|0879754354}}</ref>
	''Isolation'' - Not all of the studies used soundproof rooms, so it is possible that when videos were playing, the experimenter (or even the receiver) could have heard it, and later given involuntary cues to the receiver during the selection process.

			Outside of parapsychology, telepathy is generally explained as the result of fraud, self-delusion and/or self-deception and not as a paranormal power.<ref name="Planer1980"/><ref>. Retrieved February 22, 2007.</ref> Psychological research has also revealed other explanations such as ], ], ], ], and ].<ref>Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones. (1989). ''Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking''. Psychology Press. {{ISBN\|978-0805805086}}</ref> Virtually all of the instances of more popular psychic phenomena, such as ], can be attributed to non-paranormal techniques such as ].<ref>]. (1998). ''The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading''. Ian Rowland Limited: 4th Revised edition. {{ISBN\|978-0955847608}}</ref><ref>]. (2007). ''Tricks of the Mind''. Channel 4: New edition. {{ISBN\|978-1905026357}}</ref> Magicians such as ] and ] have demonstrated techniques and results similar to those of popular psychics, albeit without claiming paranormal skills. They have identified, described, and developed psychological techniques of cold reading and ].
	''Handling cues'' - Only 36% of the studies performed used duplicate images or videos, so handling cues on the images or degradation of the videos may have occurred during the sending process.<ref>
	{{cite web
	\| url = http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc99/7_31_99/fob4.htm
	\| title = ESP findings send controversial message
	\| author = Carpenter, S.
	\| authorlink =
	\| coauthors =
	\| date = July 31, 1999
	\| year =
	\| month =
	\| format =
	\| work =
	\| publisher = Science News
	\| pages =
	\| language =
	\| archiveurl =
	\| archivedate =
	\| accessdate = 2006-06-23
	}}</ref>

			==Psychiatry==
	''Randomization'' - When subjects are asked to choose from a variety of selections, there is an inherent bias to not choose the first selection they are shown. If the order in which are shown the selections is randomized each time, this bias will be averaged out. However, this was often not done in the Ganzfeld experiments.<ref>
	{{cite journal
	\| author = Hyman, Ray
	\| year = 1985
	\| month =
	\| title = The ganzfeld psi experiment: A critical appraisal
	\| journal = Journal of Parapsychology
	\| volume =
	\| issue = 49
	\| pages = 3-49
	\| doi =
	\| id =
	\| url =
	\| format =
	\| accessdate =
	}}</ref><ref>
	{{cite journal
	\| author = Honorton, C
	\| year = 1985
	\| month =
	\| title = Meta-analysis of psi ganzfeld research: A response to Hyman
	\| journal = Journal of Parapsychology
	\| volume =
	\| issue = 49
	\| pages = 51-91
	\| doi =
	\| id =
	\| url =
	\| format =
	\| accessdate =
	}}</ref>

			The notion of telepathy is not dissimilar to three clinical concepts: ] of ]/] and ]. This similarity might explain how an individual might come to the conclusion that he or she were experiencing telepathy. Thought insertion/removal is a symptom of ], particularly of ], ] or ].<ref>]. (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders''. Facts on File. p. 359. {{ISBN\|978-0816064052}}</ref> Psychiatric patients who experience this symptom falsely believe that some of their thoughts are not their own and that others (e.g., other people, aliens, demons or fallen angels, or conspiring intelligence agencies, or artificial intelligences) are putting thoughts into their minds (thought insertion). Some patients feel as if thoughts are being taken out of their minds or deleted (thought removal). Schizophrenic patients suffering from the form of alleged telepathy known as thought broadcasting believe that their private thoughts are being broadcast to other people against their informed consent. Along with other symptoms of psychosis, delusions of thought insertion may be reduced by ] medication. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists believe and empirical findings support the idea that people with ] and ] are particularly likely to believe in telepathy.<ref>Graham Pickup. (2006). ''Cognitive Neuropsychiatry''. Volume 11, Number 2, Number 2/March 2006. pp. 117–192</ref><ref>Andrew Gumley, Matthias Schwannauer. (2006). ''Staying Well After Psychosis: A Cognitive Interpersonal Approach to Recovery and Relapse Prevention''. Wiley. p. 187. {{ISBN\|978-0470021859}} "Schizotypy refers to a normal personality construct characterised by an enduring tendency to experience attenuated forms of hallucinatory (e.g. hearing one's own thoughts) and delusional experiences (e.g. beliefs in telepathy)."</ref><ref>Mary Townsend. (2013). ''Essentials of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing: Concepts of Care in Evidence-Based Practice''. F. A. Davis Company. p. 613. {{ISBN\|978-0803638761}} "Individuals with schizotypal personality disorder are aloof and isolated and behave in a bland and apathetic manner. Magical thinking, ideas of reference, illusions, and depersonalization are part of their everybody world. Examples include superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or "six sense;" and beliefs that "others can feel my feelings."</ref>
	''The psi assumption'' - The assumption that any statistical deviation from chance is evidence for telepathy is highly controversial, and often compared to the ] argument. Strictly speaking, a deviation from chance is only evidence that either this was a rare, statistically unlikely occurrence that happened by chance, or ''something'' was causing a deviation from chance. Flaws in the experimental design are a common cause of this, and so the assumption that it must be telepathy is ]. This does not rule out, however, that it could be telepathy.<ref>
	{{cite web
	\| url = http://skepdic.com/psiassumption.html
	\| title = The Skeptic's Dictionary: Psi Assumption
	\| author = Carroll, Robert Todd
	\| authorlink =
	\| coauthors =
	\| date =
	\| year = 2005
	\| month =
	\| format =
	\| work =
	\| publisher =
	\| pages =
	\| language =
	\| archiveurl =
	\| archivedate =
	\| accessdate = 2006-06-23
	}}</ref>

			==Use in fiction==
	==Non-classical science==
			{{Category see also\|Fiction about telepathy\|Fictional telepaths}}
	In seeking a scientific basis for telepathy, some psi proponents have looked to aspects of ] as a possible explanation of telepathy. In general, psi theorists have made both general and specific analogies between the "unaccepted unknowns" of religion and parapsychology, and the "accepted unknowns" in the quantum sciences.
			Telepathy is a common theme in ].<ref name="SFETelepathy">{{Cite encyclopedia \|year=2021 \|title=Telepathy \|encyclopedia=] \|url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/telepathy \|access-date=2024-03-30 \|edition=4th \|author1-last=Langford \|author1-first=David \|author1-link=David Langford \|author2-last=Nicholls \|author2-first=Peter \|author2-link=Peter Nicholls (writer) \|author3-last=Stableford \|author3-first=Brian \|author3-link=Brian Stableford \|editor1-last=Clute \|editor1-first=John \|editor1-link=John Clute \|editor2-last=Langford \|editor2-first=David \|editor2-link=David Langford \|editor3-last=Sleight \|editor3-first=Graham \|editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}</ref>

			==See also==
	However, physicists state that quantum mechanical effects apply only to objects at sub-nanometer scales, and since the physical components of the mind are all much larger than this, these quantum effects must be negligible. Still, the true definition of what is "negligible" is perhaps unclear (''see'' ]). Some physicists, such as Nick Herbert , have pondered whether quantum mechanical effects would permit forms of communication, perhaps including telepathy, that aren't dependent on "classical" mechanisms such as electromagnetic radiation. Experiments have been conducted (by scientists such as Gao Shen at the Institute of Quantum Physics in Beijing, China) to study whether quantum entanglements can be verified between human minds. Such experiments usually include monitoring for synchronous EEG patterns between two hypothetically "entangled" minds. Thus far, no conclusive evidence has been revealed.
			{{cols\|colwidth=35em}}

			* ]
	== Technologically-assisted telepathy ==
			* ], the concept that things frequently used by the mind become part of it.
	Some scientists and intellectuals, occasionally referred to by themselves or by others as "]", believe that technologically enabled telepathy, coined "]," will be the inevitable future of humanity. ] of the ], ] is one of the leading ] proponents of this view, and has based all of his recent ] R&D around developing practical, safe devices for directly connecting human nervous systems together with computers and with each other. He believes techno-enabled telepathy will become the sole or at least the primary form of human communication in the future. He asserts that this should happen by means of the principle of ], which he predicts will force nearly everybody to make use of the technology for economic and social reasons once it becomes available to all.
			* ], traditional Japanese concept of unspoken mutual understanding, sometimes translated as "telepathy".

			* ], a horse that appeared to answer questions.
	==Telepathy in Fiction==
			* ] for hearing and ] for speaking.
	<!--Please don't add specific examples of telepathy in books/stories/movies/comics/games here. There are too many such examples and the section would grow indefinitely -->
			* ]
	Telepathy is commonly used by ]es and ]s, and figures in many science fiction novels, etc. Notable telepaths include ] of ]; ], ], and the rest of the ] of ]; ] of '']''; and ], ], and ] of ].
			{{colend}}

	The mechanics of telepathy in fiction vary widely. Some fictional telepaths are limited to receiving only thoughts that are deliberately sent by other telepaths, or even to receiving thoughts from a specific other person. For example, in ]'s 1956 novel ], certain pairs of twins are able to send telepathic messages to each other. Some telepaths can read the thoughts only of those they touch. At the opposite end of the spectrum, some telepathic characters continuously sense the thoughts of those around them and may control this ability only with difficulty, or not at all. In such cases, telepathy is often portrayed as a mixed blessing or as a curse.

	Some fictional telepaths possess ] abilities, which can include "pushing" thoughts, feelings, or hallucinatory visions into the mind of another person, or completely taking over another person's mind and body (similar to ]). Characters with this ability may or may not also have the ability to read thoughts.

	==Notes==		==Notes==
			{{Reflist\|29em}}
	<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->
	<references/>

			==Further reading==
			* ]. (1981). ''Parapsychology: Science or Magic? A Psychological Perspective''. Pergamon Press. {{ISBN\|0080257720}}
			* ]. (1945). ''.'' Methuen & Co.
			* ]. (1954). ''The Spoor of Spooks: And Other Nonsense''. Knopf.
			* ]. (1989). ''The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited''. Prometheus Books. {{ISBN\|0879755164}}
			* Walter Mann. (1919). . Rationalist Association. London: Watts & Co. Chapter XII. pp. 131–191.
			* ]. (2000). '']'' (2nd Edition). Prometheus Books. {{ISBN\|1573927988}}
			* Kenneth Wilcox Payne. (1928). '']''.
			* Felix Planer. (1980). ''Superstition''. Cassell. {{ISBN\|0304306916}}
			* ]. (1988). ''The Psychology of Anomalous Experience''. Prometheus Books. {{ISBN\|0879754354}}
			* ]. (1994). ''Irrationality: The Enemy Within''. Penguin Books. {{ISBN\|0140167269}}

	==External links==		==External links==
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			* {{Webarchive\|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720073802/https://dana.org/article/the-intuitive-magician/ \|date=2021-07-20 }} ]
			* – ]
			* – a critical evaluation of the Soal-Goldney Experiment, which claimed to prove the existence of telepathy
			* – article in Science and Psychoanalysis

			{{Parapsychology\|state=collapsed}}
	*http://www.youngmagicians.com/telepathy – a website selling a magic trick called "telepathy"
			{{Pseudoscience}}
	* – an article on the potential for technologically endowed telepathy, or "techlepathy"
			{{Authority control}}
	* study using implanted electrodes in the ] (]), yielding findings on predicting the intentions of subjects to make movements
	* on "Spatial selectivity in human ventrolateral prefrontal cortex"
	*
	*
	* - a spiritual view
	* - a critical evaluation of the Soal-Goldney Experiment, which claimed to prove the existence of telepathy
	*

	==See also==
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*] (a Victorian parlour game supposedly involving telepathy)
	*]
	*]

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Latest revision as of 03:00, 24 December 2024

Psychic ability For other uses, see Telepathy (disambiguation). "Telepath" redirects here. For the American musician, see Telepath (musician).

The Ganzfeld experiments that aimed to demonstrate telepathy have been criticized for lack of replication and poor controls.

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Telepathy (from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle) 'distant' and πάθος/-πάθεια (páthos/-pátheia) 'feeling, perception, passion, affliction, experience') is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), and has remained more popular than the earlier expression thought-transference.

Telepathy experiments have historically been criticized for a lack of proper controls and repeatability. There is no good evidence that telepathy exists, and the topic is generally considered by the scientific community to be pseudoscience. Telepathy is a common theme in science fiction.

Origins of the concept

According to historians such as Roger Luckhurst and Janet Oppenheim the origin of the concept of telepathy in Western civilization can be traced to the late 19th century and the formation of the Society for Psychical Research. As the physical sciences made significant advances, scientific concepts were applied to mental phenomena (e.g., animal magnetism), with the hope that this would help to understand paranormal phenomena. The modern concept of telepathy emerged in this context.

Psychical researcher Eric Dingwall criticized SPR founding members Frederic W. H. Myers and William F. Barrett for trying to "prove" telepathy rather than objectively analyze whether or not it existed.

Thought reading

In the late 19th century, the magician and mentalist Washington Irving Bishop would perform "thought reading" demonstrations. Bishop claimed no supernatural powers and ascribed his powers to muscular sensitivity (reading thoughts from unconscious bodily cues). Bishop was investigated by a group of scientists including the editor of the British Medical Journal and the psychologist Francis Galton. Bishop performed several feats successfully, such as correctly identifying a selected spot on a table and locating a hidden object. During the experiment, Bishop required physical contact with a subject who knew the correct answer. He would hold the hand or wrist of the helper. The scientists concluded that Bishop was not a genuine telepath but was instead using a highly trained skill to detect ideomotor movements.

Another famous thought reader was the magician Stuart Cumberland. He was famous for performing blindfolded feats such as identifying a hidden object in a room that a person had picked out or asking someone to imagine a murder scene and then attempt to read the subject's thoughts and identify the victim and reenact the crime. Cumberland claimed to possess no genuine psychic ability and his thought-reading performances could only be demonstrated by holding the hand of his subject to read their muscular movements. He came into dispute with psychical researchers associated with the Society for Psychical Research who were searching for genuine cases of telepathy. Cumberland argued that both telepathy and communication with the dead were impossible and that the minds of people cannot be read through telepathy, but only by muscle reading.

Case studies

In the late 19th century the Creery Sisters (Mary, Alice, Maud, Kathleen, and Emily) were tested by the Society for Psychical Research and believed to have genuine psychic ability. However, during a later experiment they were caught utilizing signal codes and they confessed to fraud. George Albert Smith and Douglas Blackburn were claimed to be genuine psychics by the Society for Psychical Research but Blackburn confessed to fraud:

For nearly thirty years the telepathic experiments conducted by Mr. G. A. Smith and myself have been accepted and cited as the basic evidence of the truth of thought transference... ...the whole of those alleged experiments were bogus, and originated in the honest desire of two youths to show how easily men of scientific mind and training could be deceived when seeking for evidence in support of a theory they were wishful to establish.

Between 1916 and 1924, Gilbert Murray conducted 236 experiments into telepathy and reported 36% as successful. However, it was suggested that the results could be explained by hyperaesthesia as he could hear what was being said by the sender. Psychologist Leonard T. Troland had carried out experiments in telepathy at Harvard University which were reported in 1917. The subjects produced below chance expectations.

Arthur Conan Doyle and W. T. Stead were duped into believing Julius and Agnes Zancig had genuine psychic powers. Both Doyle and Stead wrote that the Zancigs performed telepathy. In 1924, Julius and Agnes Zancig confessed that their mind reading act was a trick and published the secret code and all the details of the trick method they had used under the title of Our Secrets!! in a London newspaper.

In 1924, Robert H. Gault of Northwestern University with Gardner Murphy conducted the first American radio test for telepathy. The results were entirely negative. One of their experiments involved the attempted thought transmission of a chosen number between one and one-thousand. Out of 2,010 replies, none was correct. This is below the theoretical chance figure of two correct replies in such a situation.

In February 1927, with the co-operation of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), V. J. Woolley, who was at the time the Research Officer for the SPR, arranged a telepathy experiment in which radio listeners were asked to take part. The experiment involved 'agents' thinking about five selected objects in an office at Tavistock Square, whilst listeners on the radio were asked to identify the objects from the BBC studio at Savoy Hill. 24,659 answers were received. The results revealed no evidence of telepathy.

A famous experiment in telepathy was recorded by the American author Upton Sinclair in his book Mental Radio which documents Sinclair's test of psychic abilities of Mary Craig Sinclair, his second wife. She attempted to duplicate 290 pictures which were drawn by her husband. Sinclair claimed Mary successfully duplicated 65 of them, with 155 "partial successes" and 70 failures. However, these experiments were not conducted in a controlled scientific laboratory environment. Science writer Martin Gardner suggested that the possibility of sensory leakage during the experiment had not been ruled out:

In the first place, an intuitive wife, who knows her husband intimately, may be able to guess with a fair degree of accuracy what he is likely to draw—particularly if the picture is related to some freshly recalled event the two experienced in common. At first, simple pictures like chairs and tables would likely predominate, but as these are exhausted, the field of choice narrows and pictures are more likely to be suggested by recent experiences. It is also possible that Sinclair may have given conversational hints during some of the tests—hints which in his strong will to believe, he would promptly forget about. Also, one must not rule out the possibility that in many tests, made across the width of a room, Mrs. Sinclair may have seen the wiggling of the top of a pencil, or arm movements, which would convey to her unconscious a rough notion of the drawing.

The Turner-Ownbey long distance telepathy experiment was discovered to contain flaws. May Frances Turner positioned herself in the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory whilst Sara Ownbey claimed to receive transmissions 250 miles away. For the experiment Turner would think of a symbol and write it down whilst Ownbey would write her guesses. The scores were highly successful and both records were supposed to be sent to J. B. Rhine; however, Ownbey sent them to Turner. Critics pointed out this invalidated the results as she could have simply written her own record to agree with the other. When the experiment was repeated and the records were sent to Rhine the scores dropped to average.

Another example is the experiment carried out by the author Harold Sherman with the explorer Hubert Wilkins who carried out their own experiment in telepathy for five and a half months starting in October 1937. This took place when Sherman was in New York and Wilkins was in the Arctic. The experiment consisted of Sherman and Wilkins at the end of each day to relax and visualise a mental image or "thought impression" of the events or thoughts they had experienced in the day and then to record those images and thoughts on paper in a diary. The results at the end when comparing Sherman's and Wilkins' diaries were claimed to be more than 60 percent.

The full results of the experiments were published in 1942 in a book by Sherman and Wilkins titled Thoughts Through Space. In the book, both Sherman and Wilkins had written they believed they had demonstrated that it was possible to send and receive thought impressions from the mind of one person to another. The magician John Booth wrote that the experiment was not an example of telepathy as a high percentage of misses had occurred. Booth wrote it was more likely that the "hits" were the result of "coincidence, law of averages, subconscious expectancy, logical inference or a plain lucky guess". A review of their book in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry cast doubt on their experiment, noting "the study was published five years after it was conducted, arouses suspicion on the validity of the conclusions.

In 1948, on the BBC radio Maurice Fogel made the claim that he could demonstrate telepathy. This intrigued the journalist Arthur Helliwell who wanted to discover his methods. He found that Fogel's mind reading acts were all based on trickery as he relied on information about members of his audience before the show started. Helliwell exposed Fogel's methods in a newspaper article. Although Fogel managed to fool some people into believing he could perform genuine telepathy, the majority of his audience knew he was a showman.

In a series of experiments Samuel Soal and his assistant K. M. Goldney examined 160 subjects over 128,000 trials and obtained no evidence for the existence of telepathy. Soal tested Basil Shackleton and Gloria Stewart between 1941 and 1943 in over five hundred sittings and over twenty thousand guesses. Shackleton scored 2890 compared with a chance expectation of 2308 and Gloria scored 9410 compared with a chance level of 7420. It was later discovered the results had been tampered with. Gretl Albert who was present during many of the experiments said she had witnessed Soal altering the records during the sessions. Betty Marwick discovered Soal had not used the method of random selection of numbers as he had claimed. Marwick showed that there had been manipulation of the score sheets and all experiments reported by Soal had thereby become discredited.

In 1979 the physicists John G. Taylor and Eduardo Balanovski wrote the only scientifically feasible explanation for telepathy could be electromagnetism (EM) involving EM fields. In a series of experiments the EM levels were many orders of magnitude lower than calculated and no paranormal effects were observed. Both Taylor and Balanovski wrote their results were a strong argument against the validity of telepathy.

Research in anomalistic psychology has discovered that in some cases telepathy can be explained by a covariation bias. In an experiment (Schienle et al. 1996) 22 believers and 20 skeptics were asked to judge the covariation between transmitted symbols and the corresponding feedback given by a receiver. According to the results the believers overestimated the number of successful transmissions whilst the skeptics made accurate hit judgments. The results from another telepathy experiment involving 48 undergraduate college students (Rudski, 2002) were explained by hindsight and confirmation biases.

In parapsychology

Within parapsychology, telepathy, often along with precognition and clairvoyance, is described as an aspect of extrasensory perception (ESP) or "anomalous cognition" that parapsychologists believe is transferred through a hypothetical psychic mechanism they call "psi". Parapsychologists have reported experiments they use to test for telepathic abilities. Among the most well known are the use of Zener cards and the Ganzfeld experiment.

Types

Several forms of telepathy have been suggested:

Latent telepathy, formerly known as "deferred telepathy", describes a transfer of information with an observable time-lag between transmission and reception.
Retrocognitive, precognitive, and intuitive telepathy describes the transfer of information about the past, future or present state of an individual's mind to another individual.
Emotive telepathy, also known as remote influence or emotional transfer, describes the transfer of kinesthetic sensations through altered states.
Superconscious telepathy describes use of the supposed superconscious to access the collective wisdom of the human species for knowledge.

Zener cards

Main article: Zener cards

Zener cards are marked with five distinctive symbols. When using them, one individual is designated the "sender" and another the "receiver". The sender selects a random card and visualizes the symbol on it, while the receiver attempts to determine that symbol telepathically. Statistically, the receiver has a 20% chance of randomly guessing the correct symbol, so to demonstrate telepathy, they must repeatedly score a success rate that is significantly higher than 20%. If not conducted properly, this method is vulnerable to sensory leakage and card counting.

J. B. Rhine's experiments with Zener cards were discredited due to the discovery that sensory leakage or cheating could account for all his results such as the subject being able to read the symbols from the back of the cards and being able to see and hear the experimenter to note subtle clues. Once Rhine took precautions in response to criticisms of his methods, he was unable to find any high-scoring subjects. Due to the methodological problems, parapsychologists no longer utilize card-guessing studies.

Dream telepathy

Parapsychological studies into dream telepathy were carried out at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York led by Stanley Krippner and Montague Ullman. They concluded the results from some of their experiments supported dream telepathy. However, the results have not been independently replicated. The psychologist James Alcock has written the dream telepathy experiments at Maimonides have failed to provide evidence for telepathy and "lack of replication is rampant."

The picture target experiments that were conducted by Krippner and Ullman were criticized by C. E. M. Hansel. According to Hansel there were weaknesses in the design of the experiments in the way in which the agent became aware of their target picture. Only the agent should have known the target and no other person until the judging of targets had been completed, however, an experimenter was with the agent when the target envelope was opened. Hansel also wrote there had been poor controls in the experiment as the main experimenter could communicate with the subject.

An attempt to replicate the experiments that used picture targets was carried out by Edward Belvedere and David Foulkes. The finding was that neither the subject nor the judges matched the targets with dreams above chance level. Results from other experiments by Belvedere and Foulkes were also negative.

Ganzfeld experiment

When using the Ganzfeld experiment to test for telepathy, one individual is designated as the receiver and is placed inside a controlled environment where they are deprived of sensory input, and another person is designated as the sender and is placed in a separate location. The receiver is then required to receive information from the sender. The nature of the information may vary between experiments.

The Ganzfeld experiment studies that were examined by Ray Hyman and Charles Honorton had methodological problems that were well documented. Honorton reported only 36% of the studies used duplicate target sets of pictures to avoid handling cues. Hyman discovered flaws in all of the 42 Ganzfeld experiments and to access each experiment, he devised a set of 12 categories of flaws. Six of these concerned statistical defects, the other six covered procedural flaws such as inadequate documentation, randomization and security as well as possibilities of sensory leakage. Over half of the studies failed to safeguard against sensory leakage and all of the studies contained at least one of the 12 flaws. Because of the flaws, Honorton agreed with Hyman the 42 Ganzfeld studies could not support the claim for the existence of psi.

Possibilities of sensory leakage in the Ganzfeld experiments included the receivers hearing what was going on in the sender's room next door as the rooms were not soundproof and the sender's fingerprints to be visible on the target object for the receiver to see.

Hyman also reviewed the autoganzfeld experiments and discovered a pattern in the data that implied a visual cue may have taken place:

The most suspicious pattern was that the hit rate for a given target increased with the frequency of occurrence of that target in the experiment. The hit rate for the targets that occurred only once was right at the chance expectation of 25%. For targets that appeared twice the hit rate crept up to 28%. For those that occurred three times it was 38%, and for those targets that occurred six or more times, the hit rate was 52%. Each time a videotape is played its quality can degrade. It is plausible then, that when a frequently used clip is the target for a given session, it may be physically distinguishable from the other three decoy clips that are presented to the subject for judging. Surprisingly, the parapsychological community has not taken this finding seriously. They still include the autoganzfeld series in their meta-analyses and treat it as convincing evidence for the reality of psi.

Hyman wrote the autoganzfeld experiments were flawed because they did not preclude the possibility of sensory leakage. In 2010, Lance Storm, Patrizio Tressoldi, and Lorenzo Di Risio analyzed 29 ganzfeld studies from 1997 to 2008. Of the 1,498 trials, 483 produced hits, corresponding to a hit rate of 32.2%. This hit rate is statistically significant with p < .001. Participants selected for personality traits and personal characteristics thought to be psi-conducive were found to perform significantly better than unselected participants in the ganzfeld condition. Hyman (2010) published a rebuttal to Storm et al. According to Hyman "reliance on meta-analysis as the sole basis for justifying the claim that an anomaly exists and that the evidence for it is consistent and replicable is fallacious. It distorts what scientists mean by confirmatory evidence." Hyman wrote the ganzfeld studies have not been independently replicated and have failed to produce evidence for telepathy. Storm et al. published a response to Hyman claiming the ganzfeld experimental design has proved to be consistent and reliable but parapsychology is a struggling discipline that has not received much attention so further research on the subject is necessary. Rouder et al. 2013 wrote that critical evaluation of Storm et al.'s meta-analysis reveals no evidence for telepathy, no plausible mechanism and omitted replication failures. A 2016 paper examined questionable research practices in the ganzfeld experiments.

Twin telepathy

Twin telepathy is a belief that has been described as a myth in psychological literature. Psychologists Stephen Hupp and Jeremy Jewell have noted that all experiments on the subject have failed to provide any scientific evidence for telepathy between twins. According to Hupp and Jewell there are various behavioral and genetic factors that contribute to the twin telepathy myth "identical twins typically spend a lot of time together and are usually exposed to very similar environments. Thus, it's not at all surprising that they act in similar ways and are adept at anticipating and forecasting each other's reactions to events."

A 1993 study by Susan Blackmore investigated the claims of twin telepathy. In an experiment with six sets of twins one subject would act as the sender and the other the receiver. The sender was given selected objects, photographs or numbers and would attempt to psychically send the information to the receiver. The results from the experiment were negative, no evidence of telepathy was observed.

The skeptical investigator Benjamin Radford has noted that "Despite decades of research trying to prove telepathy, there is no credible scientific evidence that psychic powers exist, either in the general population or among twins specifically. The idea that two people who shared their mother's womb—or even who share the same DNA—have a mysterious mental connection is an intriguing one not borne out in science."

Autism Telepathy

There are multiple reports in the "Telepathy Tapes" podcast of people on the autistic spectrum transferring information telepathically.

Scientific reception

A variety of tests have been performed to demonstrate telepathy, but there is no scientific evidence that the power exists. A panel commissioned by the United States National Research Council to study paranormal claims concluded that "despite a 130-year record of scientific research on such matters, our committee could find no scientific justification for the existence of phenomena such as extrasensory perception, mental telepathy or 'mind over matter' exercises... Evaluation of a large body of the best available evidence simply does not support the contention that these phenomena exist." The scientific community considers parapsychology a pseudoscience. There is no known mechanism for telepathy. Philosopher and physicist Mario Bunge has written that telepathy would contradict laws of science and the claim that "signals can be transmitted across space without fading with distance is inconsistent with physics".

Physicist John Taylor has written that the experiments that have been claimed by parapsychologists to support evidence for the existence of telepathy are based on the use of shaky statistical analysis and poor design, and attempts to duplicate such experiments by the scientific community have failed. Taylor also wrote the arguments used by parapsychologists for the feasibility of such phenomena are based on distortions of theoretical physics as well as "complete ignorance" of relevant areas of physics.

Psychologist Stuart Sutherland wrote that cases of telepathy can be explained by people underestimating the probability of coincidences. According to Sutherland, "most stories about this phenomenon concern people who are close to one another—husband and wife or brother and sister. Since such people have much in common, it is highly probable that they will sometimes think the same thought at the same time." Graham Reed, a specialist in anomalistic psychology, noted that experiments into telepathy often involve the subject relaxing and reporting the 'messages' to consist of colored geometric shapes. Reed wrote that these are a common type of hypnagogic image and not evidence for telepathic communication.

Outside of parapsychology, telepathy is generally explained as the result of fraud, self-delusion and/or self-deception and not as a paranormal power. Psychological research has also revealed other explanations such as confirmation bias, expectancy bias, sensory leakage, subjective validation, and wishful thinking. Virtually all of the instances of more popular psychic phenomena, such as mediumship, can be attributed to non-paranormal techniques such as cold reading. Magicians such as Ian Rowland and Derren Brown have demonstrated techniques and results similar to those of popular psychics, albeit without claiming paranormal skills. They have identified, described, and developed psychological techniques of cold reading and hot reading.

Psychiatry

The notion of telepathy is not dissimilar to three clinical concepts: delusions of thought insertion/removal and thought broadcasting. This similarity might explain how an individual might come to the conclusion that he or she were experiencing telepathy. Thought insertion/removal is a symptom of psychosis, particularly of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or substance-induced psychosis. Psychiatric patients who experience this symptom falsely believe that some of their thoughts are not their own and that others (e.g., other people, aliens, demons or fallen angels, or conspiring intelligence agencies, or artificial intelligences) are putting thoughts into their minds (thought insertion). Some patients feel as if thoughts are being taken out of their minds or deleted (thought removal). Schizophrenic patients suffering from the form of alleged telepathy known as thought broadcasting believe that their private thoughts are being broadcast to other people against their informed consent. Along with other symptoms of psychosis, delusions of thought insertion may be reduced by antipsychotic medication. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists believe and empirical findings support the idea that people with schizotypy and schizotypal personality disorder are particularly likely to believe in telepathy.

Use in fiction

See also the categories Fiction about telepathy and Fictional telepaths

Telepathy is a common theme in science fiction.

Notes

Marks, David; Kammann, Richard. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic. Prometheus Books. pp. 97–106. ISBN 1573927988
Hyman, Ray. Evaluating Parapsychological Claims. In Robert J. Sternberg, Henry L. Roediger, Diane F. Halpern. (2007). Critical Thinking in Psychology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 216–231. ISBN 978-0521608343
"telepathy". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins.
Following the model of sympathy and empathy.
Hamilton, Trevor (2009). Immortal Longings: F.W.H. Myers and the Victorian search for life after death. Imprint Academic. p. 121. ISBN 978-1845402488.
^ Carroll, Robert Todd (2005). "The Skeptic's Dictionary; Telepathy". Skepdic.com. Retrieved 2006-09-13.
^ Glossary of Parapsychological terms – Telepathy Archived 2006-09-27 at the Wayback Machine – Parapsychological Association. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
^ Felix Planer. (1980). Superstition. Cassell. p. 218. ISBN 0304306916 "Many experiments have attempted to bring scientific methods to bear on the investigation of the subject. Their results based on literally millions of tests, have made it abundantly clear that there exists no such phenomenon as telepathy, and that the seemingly successful scores have relied either on illusion, or on deception."
^ Jan Dalkvist (1994). Telepathic Group Communication of Emotions as a Function of Belief in Telepathy. Dept. of Psychology, Stockholm University. Retrieved 5 October 2011. Within the scientific community however, the claim that psi anomalies exist or may exist is in general regarded with skepticism. One reason for this difference between the scientist and the non scientist is that the former relies on his own experiences and anecdotal reports of psi phenomena, whereas the scientist at least officially requires replicable results from well controlled experiments to believe in such phenomena—results which according to the prevailing view among scientists, do not exist.
Willem B. Drees (28 November 1998). Religion, Science and Naturalism. Cambridge University Press. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-0521645621. Retrieved 5 October 2011. Let me take the example of claims in parapsychology regarding telepathy across spatial or temporal distances, apparently without a mediating physical process. Such claims are at odds with the scientific consensus.
Spencer Rathus. (2011). Psychology: Concepts and Connections. Cengage Learning. p. 143. ISBN 978-1111344856 "There is no adequate scientific evidence that people can read other people's minds. Research has not identified one single indisputable telepath or clairvoyant."
Oppenheim, Janet. (1985). The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850–1914. Cambridge University Press. pp. 135–249. ISBN 978-0521265058
^ Luckhurst, Roger. (2002). The Invention of Telepathy, 1870–1901. Oxford University Press. pp. 9–51. ISBN 978-0199249626
Dingwall, Eric. (1985). The Need for Responsibility in Parapsychology: My Sixty Years in Psychical Research. In A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 161–174. ISBN 0879753005 "Let me give an example, such as thought-transference, which is as good as any. When the British SPR was founded, the public was led to believe that at least a scientific survey was to be made, and I have no doubt that even some of those closely associated with the early days thought so too. But Myers, among others, had no such intention and cherished no such illusion. He knew that the primary aim of the Society was not objective experimentation but the establishment of telepathy. (...) What was wanted was proof that mind could communicate with mind apart from the normal avenues, for if mental sharing was a fact when the persons concerned were incarnate it could plausibly be suggested that the same mechanism might operate when death had occurred. Thus the supernatural might be proved by science, and psychical research might become, in the words of Sir William Barrett, a handmaid to religion."
Roger Luckhurst. (2002). The Invention of Telepathy: 18701901. Oxford University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0199249626
Richard Wiseman. (2011). Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There. Macmillan. pp. 140–142. ISBN 978-0230752986
Thurschwell, Pamela (2004). "Chapter 4: George Eliot's Prophecies: Coercive Second Sight and Everyday Though Reading". In Nicola Bown; Carolyn Burdett; Pamela Thurschwell; Gillian Beer (eds.). The Victorian Supernatural. Cambridge University Press. pp. 87–108. ISBN 978-0521810159.
Ray Hyman. (1989). The Elusive Quarry: A Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research. Prometheus Books. pp. 99–106
Gordon Stein. (1996). The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 688
Neher, Andrew. (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological Examination. Dover Publications. p. 220. ISBN 0486261670
Payne, Kenneth Wilcox. (1928). Is Telepathy all Bunk? Popular Science Monthly. p. 119
Couttie, Bob. (1988). Forbidden Knowledge: The Paranormal Paradox. Lutterworth Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-0718826864 "In the early 1900s Gilbert Murray, who died in 1957, carried out some experiments in ESP in which he was in one room and the sender in a hallway, often with an open door between them. These experiments were successful. Most of the time the target was spoken aloud. When it was not, there were negative results. This is suggestive of a hyperacuity of hearing, especially since on at least one occasion Murray complained about noise coming from a milk-cart in the street next to the one in which the experiments were being carried out."
Mauskopf, Seymour H; McVaugh, Michael Rogers. (1980). The Elusive Science: Origins of Experimental Psychical Research. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 331. ISBN 978-0801823312
Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H. (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. p. 155. ISBN 978-0805805079
Anderson, Rodger. (2006). Psychics, Sensitives and Somnambules: A Biographical Dictionary with Bibliographies. McFarland. p. 126. ISBN 0786427701
Christopher, Milbourne. (1971). ESP, Seers & Psychics. Crowell. p. 19. ISBN 978-0690268157
Berger, Arthur S. (1988). Lives and Letters in American Parapsychology: A Biographical History, 1850–1897. McFarland. p. 66. ISBN 0899503454
Luckhurst, Roger. (2002). The Invention of Telepathy: 1870–1901. Oxford University Press. p. 269. ISBN 978-0199249626
Hannan, Caryn. (2008 edition). Connecticut Biographical Dictionary. State History Publications. p. 526. ISBN 1878592726 "On his return to Harvard in 1916, one of his first enterprises was an investigation of telepathy in the psychology laboratory, which gave negative results."
Asprem, Egil. (2014). The Problem of Disenchantment: Scientific Naturalism and Esoteric Discourse, 1900–1939. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 362–364. ISBN 978-9004251922
John Booth. (1986). Psychic Paradoxes. Prometheus Books. p. 8
Gault, Robert H. (August, 1924). Telepathy Put to the Test. Popular Science. pp. 114–115
Mauskopf, Seymour H; McVaugh, Michael Rogers. (1980). The Elusive Science: Origins of Experimental Psychical Research. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 36–38. ISBN 978-0801823312
Edmunds, Simeon. (1965). Miracles of the Mind: An Introduction to Parapsychology. C. C. Thomas. pp. 26–28
^ Martin Gardner, Fads & Fallacies in the Name of Science (Courier Dover Publications, 1957) Chapter 25: ESP and PK, available online; accessed July 25, 2010.
^ John Sladek. (1974). The New Apocrypha: A Guide to Strange Sciences and Occult Beliefs. Panther. pp. 172–174
Bergen Evans. (1954). The Spoor of Spooks: And Other Nonsense. Knopf. p. 24
C. E. M. Hansel. (1989). The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited. Prometheus Books. pp. 56–58. ISBN 0879755164
Simon Nasht. (2006). The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins, Hero of the Great Age of Polar Exploration. Arcade Publishing. pp. 267–268
Hubert Wilkins, Harold Sherman. (2004). Thoughts through Space: A Remarkable Adventure in the Realm of Mind. Hampton Roads Publishing. ISBN 1571743146
John Booth. (1986). Psychic Paradoxes. Prometheus Books. p. 69
Steiner, Lee R. (1942). Review of Thoughts Through Space. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 12 (4): 745.
Lamont, Peter. (2013). Extraordinary Beliefs: A Historical Approach to a Psychological Problem. Cambridge University Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-1107019331
^ Lawrie Reznek. (2010). Delusions and the Madness of the Masses. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers . pp. 54–55
C. E. M. Hansel. (1980). ESP and Parapsychology: A Critical Reevaluation. Prometheus Books. p. 165
Betty Markwick. (1985). The establishment of data manipulation in the Soal-Shackleton experiments. In Paul Kurtz. A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 287–312
Taylor, J. G; Balanovski, E. (1979). "Is There Any Scientific Explanation of the Paranormal?". Nature. 279 (5714): 631–633. Bibcode:1979Natur.279..631T. doi:10.1038/279631a0. PMID 450111. S2CID 2885230.
Schienle, A.; Vaitl, D.; Stark, R. (1996). "Covariation bias and paranormal belief". Psychological Reports. 78 (1): 291–305. doi:10.2466/pr0.1996.78.1.291. PMID 8839320. S2CID 34062201.
Rudski, J. M. (2002). "Hindsight and confirmation biases in an exercise in telepathy". Psychological Reports. 91 (3): 899–906. doi:10.2466/pr0.2002.91.3.899. PMID 12530740. S2CID 24242574.
Glossary of Parapsychological terms – ESP Archived 2011-01-11 at the Wayback Machine, Parapsychological Association. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
Rennie, John (1845), "Test for Telepathy", Scientific American, V3#1 (1847-09-25)
Plazo, Joseph R., (2002) "Psychic Seduction." pp. 112–114 ISBN 0978592239
St. Claire, David., (1989) "Instant ESP." pp. 40–50
^ Carroll, Robert (2006-02-17). "Zener ESP Cards". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2006-07-18.
Jonathan C. Smith. (2009). Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405181228. "Today, researchers discount the first decade of Rhine's work with Zener cards. Stimulus leakage or cheating could account for all his findings. Slight indentations on the backs of cards revealed the symbols embossed on card faces. Subjects could see and hear the experimenter, and note subtle but revealing facial expressions or changes in breathing."
Milbourne Christopher. (1970). ESP, Seers & Psychics. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. p. 28
James Alcock. (2011). Back from the Future: Parapsychology and the Bem Affair. Skeptical Inquirer. "Despite Rhine's confidence that he had established the reality of extrasensory perception, he had not done so. Methodological problems with his experiments eventually came to light, and as a result parapsychologists no longer run card-guessing studies and rarely even refer to Rhine's work."
Ullman, Montague (2003). "Dream telepathy: experimental and clinical findings". In Totton, Nick (ed.). Psychoanalysis and the paranormal: lands of darkness. Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Karnac Books. pp. 14–46. ISBN 978-1855759855.
Parker, Adrian. (1975). States of Mind: ESP and Altered States of Consciousness. Taplinger. p. 90. ISBN 0800873742
Clemmer, E. J. (1986). "Not so anomalous observations question ESP in dreams". American Psychologist. 41 (10): 1173–1174. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.41.10.1173.b.
Hyman, Ray. (1986). "Maimonides dream-telepathy experiments". Skeptical Inquirer 11: 91–92.
Neher, Andrew. (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological Examination. Dover Publications. p. 145. ISBN 0486261670
James, Alcock (2003). "Give the Null Hypothesis a Chance: Reasons to Remain Doubtful about the Existence of Psi". Journal of Consciousness Studies. 10: 29–50.
Hansel, C. E. M. The Search for a Demonstration of ESP. In Kurtz, Paul. (1985). A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology. Prometheus Books. pp. 97–127. ISBN 0879753005
Belvedere, E.; Foulkes, D. (1971). "Telepathy and Dreams: A Failure to Replicate". Perceptual and Motor Skills. 33 (3): 783–789. doi:10.2466/pms.1971.33.3.783. PMID 4331356. S2CID 974894.
Hansel, C. E. M. (1989). The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited. Prometheus Books. pp. 141–152. ISBN 0879755164
The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena by Dean I. Radin Harper Edge, ISBN 0062515020
Julie Milton, Richard Wiseman. (2002). A Response to Storm and Ertel (2002). The Journal of Parapsychology. Volume 66: 183–186.
^ Ray Hyman. Evaluating Parapsychological Claims in Robert J. Sternberg, Henry L. Roediger, Diane F. Halpern. (2007). Critical Thinking in Psychology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 216–231. ISBN 978-0521608343
Richard Wiseman, Matthew Smith, Diana Kornbrot. (1996). Assessing possible sender-to-experimenter acoustic leakage in the PRL autoganzfeld. Journal of Parapsychology. Volume 60: 97–128.
Robert Todd Carroll. (2014). "Ganzfeld" in The Skeptic's Dictionary.
Storm, Lance; Tressoldi, Patrizio E.; Di Risio, Lorenzo (July 2010). "Meta-Analysis of Free-Response Studies, 1992–2008: Assessing the Noise Reduction Model in Parapsychology" (PDF). Psychological Bulletin. 136 (4): 471–85. doi:10.1037/a0019457. PMID 20565164. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-01-24. Retrieved 2010-08-18.
Hyman, R. (2010). Meta-analysis that conceals more than it reveals: Comment on Storm et al Archived 2013-11-03 at the Wayback Machine. (2010). Psychological Bulletin, 136. pp. 486–490.
Storm, L.; Tressoldi, P. E.; Di Risio, L. (2010). "A meta-analysis with nothing to hide: Reply to Hyman (2010)". Psychological Bulletin. 136 (4): 491–494. doi:10.1037/a0019840. PMID 20565166. S2CID 21103309.
Rouder, J. N.; Morey, R. D.; Province, J. M. (2013). "A Bayes factor meta-analysis of recent extrasensory perception experiments: Comment on Storm, Tressoldi, and Di Risio (2010)". Psychological Bulletin. 139 (1): 241–247. doi:10.1037/a0029008. PMID 23294092.
Bierman, DJ; Spottiswoode, JP; Bijl, A (2016), "Testing for Questionable Research Practices in a Meta-Analysis: An Example from Experimental Parapsychology", PLOS ONE, 11 (5): 1, Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1153049B, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0153049, PMC 4856278, PMID 27144889, We consider in the context of a meta-analysis database of Ganzfeld–telepathy experiments from the field of experimental parapsychology. The Ganzfeld database is particularly suitable for this study, because the parapsychological phenomenon it investigates is widely believed to be nonexistent.
^ Hupp, Stephen; Jewell, Jeremy. (2015). Great Myths of Child Development. Wiley. pp. 10–16. ISBN 978-1118521229
Wiseman, Richard. (2011). Paranormality: Why We See What Isn't There. Macmillan. p. 54. ISBN 978-0230752986
"The Riddle of Twin Telepathy". Retrieved 2014-06-06.
Dickens, Ky. "The Telepathy Tapes".
Simon Hoggart, Mike Hutchinson. (1995). Bizarre Beliefs. Richard Cohen Books. p. 145. ISBN 978-1573921565 "The trouble is that the history of research into psi is littered with failed experiments, ambiguous experiments, and experiments which are claimed as great successes but are quickly rejected by conventional scientists. There has also been some spectacular cheating."
Robert Cogan. (1998). Critical Thinking: Step by Step. University Press of America. p. 227. ISBN 978-0761810674 "When an experiment can't be repeated and get the same result, this tends to show that the result was due to some error in experimental procedure, rather than some real causal process. ESP experiments simply have not turned up any repeatable paranormal phenomena."
Terence Hines. (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 144. ISBN 978-1573929790 "It is important to realize that, in one hundred years of parapsychological investigations, there has never been a single adequate demonstration of the reality of any psi phenomenon."
Thomas Gilovich. (1993). How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life. Free Press. p. 160
Daisie Radner, Michael Radner. (1982). Science and Unreason. Wadsworth. pp. 38–66. ISBN 0534011535
Bunge, Mario (1987). "Why Parapsychology Cannot Become a Science". Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 10 (4): 576–577. doi:10.1017/s0140525x00054595 (inactive 1 November 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
Michael W. Friedlander. (1998). At the Fringes of Science. Westview Press. p. 119. ISBN 0813322006 "Parapsychology has failed to gain general scientific acceptance even for its improved methods and claimed successes, and it is still treated with a lopsided ambivalence among the scientific community. Most scientists write it off as pseudoscience unworthy of their time."
Massimo Pigliucci, Maarten Boudry. (2013). Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem. University Of Chicago Press p. 158. ISBN 978-0226051963 "Many observers refer to the field as a "pseudoscience". When mainstream scientists say that the field of parapsychology is not scientific, they mean that no satisfying naturalistic cause-and-effect explanation for these supposed effects has yet been proposed and that the field's experiments cannot be consistently replicated."
Charles M. Wynn, Arthur W. Wiggins. (2001). Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins. Joseph Henry Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0309073097 "One of the reasons scientists have difficulty believing that psi effects are real is that there is no known mechanism by which they could occur. PK action-at-a-distance would presumably employ an action-at-a-distance force that is as yet unknown to science... Similarly, there is no known sense (stimulation and receptor) by which thoughts could travel from one person to another by which the mind could project itself elsewhere in the present, future, or past."
Mario Bunge. (1983). Treatise on Basic Philosophy: Volume 6: Epistemology & Methodology II: Understanding the World. Springer. pp. 225–226. ISBN 978-9027716347
- "Precognition violates the principle of antecedence ("causality"), according to which the effect does not happen before the cause. Psychokinesis violates the principle of conservation of energy as well as the postulate that mind cannot act directly on matter. (If it did no experimenter could trust his own readings of his instruments.) Telepathy and precognition are incompatible with the epistemological principle according to which the gaining of factual knowledge requires sense perception at some point."
- "Parapsychology makes no use of any knowledge gained in other fields, such as physics and physiological psychology. Moreover, its hypotheses are inconsistent with some basic assumptions of factual science. In particular, the very idea of a disembodied mental entity is incompatible with physiological psychology; and the claim that signals can be transmitted across space without fading with distance is inconsistent with physics."
John Taylor. (1980). Science and the Supernatural: An Investigation of Paranormal Phenomena Including Psychic Healing, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and Precognition by a Distinguished Physicist and Mathematician. Temple Smith. p. 84. ISBN 0851171915.
Sutherland, Stuart. (1994). Irrationality: The Enemy Within. p. 314. Penguin Books. ISBN 0140167269
Graham Reed. (1988). The Psychology of Anomalous Experience. Prometheus Books. pp. 38–42. ISBN 0879754354
Skepdic.com on ESP. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones. (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0805805086
Ian Rowland. (1998). The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading. Ian Rowland Limited: 4th Revised edition. ISBN 978-0955847608
Derren Brown. (2007). Tricks of the Mind. Channel 4: New edition. ISBN 978-1905026357
Richard Noll. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders. Facts on File. p. 359. ISBN 978-0816064052
Graham Pickup. (2006). Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. Volume 11, Number 2, Number 2/March 2006. pp. 117–192
Andrew Gumley, Matthias Schwannauer. (2006). Staying Well After Psychosis: A Cognitive Interpersonal Approach to Recovery and Relapse Prevention. Wiley. p. 187. ISBN 978-0470021859 "Schizotypy refers to a normal personality construct characterised by an enduring tendency to experience attenuated forms of hallucinatory (e.g. hearing one's own thoughts) and delusional experiences (e.g. beliefs in telepathy)."
Mary Townsend. (2013). Essentials of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing: Concepts of Care in Evidence-Based Practice. F. A. Davis Company. p. 613. ISBN 978-0803638761 "Individuals with schizotypal personality disorder are aloof and isolated and behave in a bland and apathetic manner. Magical thinking, ideas of reference, illusions, and depersonalization are part of their everybody world. Examples include superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or "six sense;" and beliefs that "others can feel my feelings."
Langford, David; Nicholls, Peter; Stableford, Brian (2021). "Telepathy". In Clute, John; Langford, David; Sleight, Graham (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.). Retrieved 2024-03-30.

External links

The Intuitive Magician Archived 2021-07-20 at the Wayback Machine Bruce Hood
Telepathy – Skeptic's Dictionary
Soal-Goldney Experiment – a critical evaluation of the Soal-Goldney Experiment, which claimed to prove the existence of telepathy
Dream and Telepathy – article in Science and Psychoanalysis

v t e Parapsychology
Outline
Topics	Apparitional experience Astral projection Auras Bilocation Clairvoyance Deathbed phenomena Dermo-optical perception Dream telepathy Ectoplasm Electronic voice phenomenon Extrasensory perception Ganzfeld experiment Ghosts Kirlian photography Levitation Materialization Mediumship Near-death experience Orb Out-of-body experience Pam Reynolds case Paranormal Parapsychology research at SRI Past life regression Plant perception (paranormal) Poltergeist Precognition Psychic Psychic detective Psychic reading Psychic surgery Psychometry Pyrokinesis Reincarnation Remote viewing Retrocognition Second sight Sensory leakage Spoon bending Superconscious Telekinesis Telepathy Thoughtography Xenoglossy Zener cards
Active organizations	American Society for Psychical Research Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena College of Psychic Studies Institut Métapsychique International Institute of Noetic Sciences International Association for Near-Death Studies Koestler Parapsychology Unit Parapsychological Association Parapsychology Foundation Rhine Research Center Society for Psychical Research The Ghost Club
Defunct organizations	American Psychical Institute British College of Psychic Science Cambridge Ghost Society International Institute for Psychical Research London Dialectical Society Metropolitan Psychical Society National Laboratory of Psychical Research Oxford Phasmatological Society Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures
People	List of parapsychologists Skeptics of parapsychology
Publications	An Experiment with Time Extrasensory Perception Irreducible Mind Journal of Near-Death Studies Journal of Parapsychology Journal of Scientific Exploration Life After Life Life Before Life Mental Radio Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence for Past Lives Parapsychology: Frontier Science of the Mind The Roots of Coincidence Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation Varieties of Anomalous Experience
Category Commons

Pseudoscience

List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

Terminology

Topics
characterized as
pseudoscience

Medicine	Acupuncture Aromatherapy Adrenal fatigue Alternative medicine Anthroposophic medicine Applied kinesiology Ayurveda Bates method Biorhythms Bloodletting Body memory Chiropractic Chromotherapy Correactology Cryonics Crystal healing Cupping Detoxification Colon cleansing Doctrine of signatures Doktor Koster's Antigaspills Ear candling Electromagnetic hypersensitivity Energy medicine Fad diet FasciaBlaster Germ theory denialism HIV/AIDS denialism Homeopathy Humorism Iridology Leaky gut syndrome LGBT chemicals conspiracy theory Lunar effect Macrobiotic diet Magnet therapy Miracle Mineral Supplement Naturopathy Palmistry Panchagavya Patent medicine Phrenology Primal therapy Radionics Reiki Traditional medicine Traditional Chinese medicine Trepanning Vertebral subluxation Wind turbine syndrome Young blood transfusion
Social science	2012 phenomenon Ancient astronauts Arabian Judah theory Catastrophism Conspiracy theory 5G conspiracy 9/11 conspiracy theories Chemtrail conspiracy theory Climate change denial COVID-19 misinformation Moon landing conspiracy theories Conversion therapy Generational theory Generationism Strauss–Howe generational theory Hollow Earth theory Indigo children Japhetic theory Mediumship Nazi archaeology Nibiru cataclysm Parapsychology Pseudoarchaeology Pseudohistory Genocide denial Historical negationism Holocaust denial Pseudolaw Recovered-memory therapy Past life regression Scientific racism Aryan race Melanin theory Myers–Briggs Type Indicator Enneagram of Personality
Physics	Anti-gravity‎ Cold fusion‎ Faster-than-light travel‎ Perpetual motion‎ Quantum mysticism Reactionless drive Dean drive EMDrive Teleportation‎ Tractor beam Water-fueled car
Other	Alchemy Aquatic ape hypothesis Astrology Biodynamic agriculture Biological transmutation Creation science Cryptozoology Dianetics Auditing Dowsing Electronic voice phenomenon Eugenics Facilitated communication Feng shui Flat Earth theory Graphology Intelligent design Laundry ball Law of attraction Levitation Lysenkoism Numerology Orgone Polygraph Pseudoscientific metrology Rapid prompting method Statement analysis Ufology Voice stress analysis Water memory

Promoters of
pseudoscience