Charles Honorton was intrigued by the evidence for psi in dreams and other altered states of consciousness. To make sense of this he developed the theory that psi might operate as a weak signal that is normally masked by the stronger signals constantly bombarding us from our sense organs. A laboratory procedure could be set up where ordinary sensory noise would be reduced while the subject was kept relaxed and alert. In this condition, Honorton postulated, his mind would become starved for stimuli and would be more receptive to any faint signals that ordinarily would not reach consciousness. To test this he developed what is known as the ganzfeld procedure for investigating these phenomena. Ganzfeld is a German word that means “whole field” and relates to a mild form of sensory stimulation originally developed to examine the nature of visual imagery.
The experimental set-up for studying psi using this procedure requires that a volunteer receiver relax in a comfortable reclining chair. Halved ping pong balls are placed over her eyes, and she puts on headphones that play pink noise, a whooshing sound like rushing water. A red light is then shined in her face while she keeps her eyes gently open under the balls. All she then sees is a red glow. For most people within a few minutes this produces a pleasant dreamy state of awareness. The receiver is allowed to relax in this state for 15 minutes. She is then asked to speak aloud anything that comes to mind over the next 30 minutes. Her “mentation,” as it is called, is audio recorded. A second volunteer, the sender, views a photograph or a repeatedly played video clip and attempts to send this target telepathically to the receiver. The target is randomly selected by a computer from a pool of four images as different from one another as possible. Typically, in modern ganzfeld studies the sender can listen to the receiver’s description of her ongoing imagery over a one-way audio link and use it to adjust his sending strategy. He might attempt to send the target some 10 times over the 30-minute period with brief rest periods between each.
Following the sending period the receiver is removed from the ganzfeld condition. She and the experimenter, who is also is blind to the target, discuss her impressions while looking at the four possible targets. She is then asked to rank the four possibilities in terms of which most closely matches her impressions. By chance alone she could be expected to make a correct match 25 percent of the time. The ganzfeld investigations have generated more close scrutiny and debate among scientists than any other type of psi studies, and, as a result, have been improved to the point where, according to researcher Dean Radin, they are “as close to the perfect psi experiment as anyone knows how to conduct.”
By 1982 the results of 42 ganzfeld experiments had been published, conducted by ten different labs all over the world. Honorton completed an overall assessment reviewing every one, and, for the 28 showing actual hit rates, found those averaged 35 percent which yielded combined odds against chance of 10 billion to one.
In 1994 psychologists Daryl Bern and Charles Honorton published a meta-analysis of ganzfeld studies showing strong evidence of psi in the Psychological Bulletin. Their analysis involved two collections of studies, earlier studies with positive results indicating odds of 48 billion to one against chance, and later fully automated experiments specifically designed to eliminate all known criticisms of the earlier studies, with odds against chance of 517 to 1. A later comparison of these recent studies indicated those using standard visual targets produced odds against chance of 5000 to one whereas those using such variations as musical targets yielded only chance results. In 2001 psychologists Lance Storm, and Suitbert Ertel conducted a meta-analysis of all known ganzfeld psi studies up until that time which produced results with overall odds against chance of 131 million to 1.
Mayer, E. (2007). Extraordinary Knowing
Radin, D. (2009). Entangled Minds