Experimental ESP

ESP or extrasensory perception is the term given to information gained without any sensory input but by the mind using senses beyond the known five. There are many criticizers of ESP that believe that ESP is purely based on chances and ‘educated guesses’. However there are many that firmly believe in the existence of such perceptions. They are called Parapsychologists. In order to prove the existence of such phenomenon many experiments are conducted on a worldwide basis, some of which have gained global recognition and fame.

Ganzfeld Experiment 

The Ganzfeld Experiment is by far the most popular experiment regarding ESP and according to many, contains the strongest evidence for the existence of such phenomenon.

In the experiment, the ‘receiver’ is placed inside a closed room, with their eyes and ears covered to place them in a state of partial sensory deprivation. The ‘receiver’ remains in this state for approximately half an hour. The ‘sender’, outside the room then tries to mentally ‘send’ the image of an object. After half an hour the ‘receiver’ is shown four objects (the actual object with three decoys) and told to choose the one he thinks is right.

Assuming that there is no such thing as ESP or telepathy, the success rate of guessing correctly is 25%. Experiments conducted Charles Honorton conducted a series of Ganzfeld experiments. According to the reports, the experiments yielded a success rate of about 35%. This showed the possibility of the existence some extrasensory perceptions.

The Zener Cards

The Zener cards experiment is another well-known test for ESP. However many skeptics have argued that Zener cards rely on pure luck instead of the claimed clairvoyance, and that enough repetition can yield convincing results.

In this experiment a pack of 25 cards is used. There are 5 symbols, each on five different cards; a circle, square, Greek cross, wavy lines and a five pointed star. The test subject is shown the cards; one-by-one and he must guess the symbol which is on the card. Many steps are taken to eliminate any possible source of cheating e.g. by putting a physical barrier between the test subject and the taker or even putting them in separate rooms.

Although Zener cards have shown considerable rate of success over history, skeptics still believe that Zener cards rely on chance. Creative visualization greatly helps in this.

The Princeton’s Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) department

This department is dedicated to finding proof of the existence of conscious related perceptions.

Human-Machine Anomalies

This experiment conducted by PEAR has been in progress for over 28 years and have collected data from millions of human operators. Humans attempt to bias the outcome of random electrical, mechanical or optical operations. The findings have surprisingly supported the fact that increasing amount of data produced has been biased by human consciousness of the operator.

Remote perception

PEAR has conducted over 650 remote perception tests. In it, one of the subjects is placed in a remote place and is required to ‘mentally’ try to send the description of the place to the other participant who is in the test room without any knowledge of the scene. These tests have also yielded many striking resemblance in the description and the actual place, marking that there may be senses other than the five known.