Abstract

In this double-blind exploratory study 74 subjects participated forming 37 couples (sender/receiver). The sender watched a video and tried to send it to the receiver, who was located 120 meters away. At the end of the sending/receiving period (28 min.) the receiver watched four videos and tried to identify which one had been sent. There were two experimental conditions. In the Ganzfeld (GZ) condition the researchers and subjects heard a 20-minute relaxation induction. The receiver's eyes were covered with halved Ping-Pong balls, upon which two red lights were projected, and they listened to "white noise" during the experimental session. In the non-Ganzfeld (NGZ) condition, neither the Ping-Pong balls nor the "white noise" were used and there was no relaxation induction. From July of 2001 to March of 2002, 108 trials (54 GZ and 54 NGZ) were carried out. There was no overall signficance (hit rate 25,93%), Z=0.11, =0.51. The NGZ and GZ hits (18,52%, Z=-0.94, Tc=-0.41 and 33,33%, Z=1.26, Tc=-0.60 respectively) did not reach significance. However the GZ hits were in the direction of the findings reported in the Ganzfeld meta-analysis by Bem and Honorton (1994). The difference between the GZ and NGZ hits was Significant, p=.0228 one-tailed. We also found that the targets that were hit were evaluated by receivers (in terms of personal preference and personal meaning) higher than the targets that were not hit. Analysis of the qualitative content of hits and misses suggested that in future studies the qualitative results should be considered along with the conventional methodology of hits vs. misses. These results seem to be similar to the qualitative findings found by Parker.