http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120315094737.htm
Believing the Impossible: No Evidence for Existence of Psychic Ability Found
enlarge
A new study fails to find evidence for the existence of psychic ability,
contradicting an earlier controversial study that claimed to demonstrate
precognition. (Credit: © timur1970 / Fotolia)
ScienceDaily (Mar. 15, 2012) Research failing to find evidence for the
existence of psychic ability has been published, following a year of industry
debate. The report is a response by a group of independent researchers to the
2011 study from social psychologist Daryl Bem, purporting the existence of
precognition -- an ability to perceive future events.
Professor Chris French (Goldsmiths, University of London), Stuart Ritchie
(University of Edinburgh) and Professor Richard Wiseman (University of
Hertfordshire) collaborated to accurately replicate Bem's final experiment, and
found no evidence for precognition. Their negative results have now been
published by open access journal PLoS ONE.
Their report was rejected by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
(JPSP), which originally published Bem's findings along with his appeal to
independent researchers to attempt replications.
"Our submission was rejected without being sent for peer review on the basis
that the journal has a policy of not publishing replications," said Professor
Chris French. "Our paper has opened up the debate on the proper place of
replication in the scientific literature."
In Bem's experiment, after completing a memory test on a list of words,
participants were then shown a random selection of half the words from the
original list. Results showed that participants were better at remembering the
words they were about to be shown, indicating they had reached forward in time
to 'practice' those words in the future.
Within parapsychology, there is a tendency to accept any positive replications
but to dismiss failures to replicate if the procedures followed have not been
exactly duplicated.
"We went to great pains to ensure we followed the same procedures as Bem," said
Stuart Ritchie. "Using Bem's own computer programme and stats methods, we
replicated his experiment three times, at each of our respective campuses, with
the same number of participants as the original study."
"By having our paper published, we hope academic journals and popular media
alike will offer the same weight to negative results as given to eye-catching
positive results," said Professor Richard Wiseman.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of
Hertfordshire, via AlphaGalileo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further
information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Stuart J. Ritchie, Richard Wiseman, Christopher C. French. Failing the
Future: Three Unsuccessful Attempts to Replicate Bem's `Retroactive
Facilitation of Recall' Effect. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (3): e33423 DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0033423
Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the
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University of Hertfordshire (2012, March 15). Believing the impossible: No
evidence for existence of psychic ability found. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March
15, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2012/03/120315094737.htm
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis
or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of
ScienceDaily or its staff.
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