Mysterious Minds: The Neurobiology of Psychics, Mediums, and Other Extraordinary People PDF
Preview Mysterious Minds: The Neurobiology of Psychics, Mediums, and Other Extraordinary People
M M YSTERIOUS INDS M M YSTERIOUS INDS The Neurobiology of Psychics, Mediums, and Other Extraordinary People Stanley Krippner and Harris L. Friedman, Editors P RAEGER An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC Copyright2010byStanleyKrippnerandHarrisL.Friedman Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina retrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying,recording,orotherwise,exceptfortheinclusionofbriefquotationsina review,withoutpriorpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Mysteriousminds:theneurobiologyofpsychics,mediums,andotherextraordinarypeople/ StanleyKrippnerandHarrisL.Friedman,editors. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978–0–313–35866–1(hardcopy:alk.paper)—ISBN978–0–313–35867–8(ebook) 1.Parapsychology.2.Neurobiology.I.Krippner,Stanley,1932–II.Friedman,HarrisL. BF1040.M97 2010 130—dc22 2009036128 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5 ThisbookisalsoavailableontheWorldWideWebasaneBook. Visitwww.abc-clio.comfordetails. ABC-CLIO,LLC 130CremonaDrive,P.O.Box1911 SantaBarbara,California93116-1911 Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica ThisbookisdedicatedtothememoryofStephenBruceBaumann,Ph.D.(1949–2009), pioneerinvestigatoroftheneurobiologicalaspectsofparapsychologicalphenomena. Contents Foreword ix AllanCombs Acknowledgments xiii Introduction xv HarrisL.FriedmanandStanleyKrippner 1.QuantumTheory,Neurobiology,andParapsychology 1 WilliamG.RollandBryanJ.Williams 2.TheParapsychologist’sLament 35 JamesE.Alcock 3.ProcessesUnderlyingthePhenomenaofMysteriousMinds:Laboratory 45 EvidenceforESP CarolineA.WattandHarveyJ.Irwin 4.TheMind-BodyProblemandtheIssueofPsychokinesis 65 AdrianParker 5.TheNeurobiologyofTranceandMediumshipinBrazil 85 JoanH.Hageman,JulioF.P.Peres,AlexanderMoreira-Almeida,Leonardo Caixeta,IanWickramasekeraII,andStanleyKrippner 6.ElectricalActivityintheBrainandtheExtraordinaryMind 113 NormanS.Don 7.Neurobiology,BrainReductionism,andSubjectiveExperience 129 VernonM.Neppe 8.PsiandtheBrain 151 MorrisFreedman 9.TheNeurochemistryofPsiReportsandAssociatedExperiences 163 DavidLukeandHarrisL.Friedman Postscript 187 StanleyKrippnerandHarrisL.Friedman AbouttheEditorsandContributors 205 Index 209 NorthSiren Foreword ‘‘Thegreatfieldfornewdiscoveries,’’saidascientificfriendtometheotherday,‘‘is alwaystheunclassifiedresiduum.’’Roundabouttheaccreditedandorderlyfactsof every science thereeverfloats a sort of dust-cloud of exceptional observations, of occurrencesminuteandirregularandseldommetwith,whichitalwaysproveseas- iertoignorethantoattendto.Theidealofeveryscienceisthatofaclosedandcom- pletedsystemoftruth.Thecharmofmostsciencestotheirmorepassivedisciples consistsintheirappearing,infact,towearjustthisidealform. (WilliamJames,1896/1956,p.229) Anomalouspsychologicalphenomena,psiamongthem,arecertainlypartofthedust cloudthatsurroundsthescienceofpsychology.Unfortunately,psychologyishardly anorderlyscience,butmorelikeanebulacomposedoffashions,trends,andbor- rowedpiecesfromothersciences(seeKuhn,1962).Nevertheless,thosewhoinvesti- gatesuchphenomenaareheldtothehigheststandardspossiblebybothfriendsand critics.Indeed,mostseriousobserversagreethatcarefulinvestigationsintopsiphe- nomenaexhibittypicallevelsofrigorthatequalorsurpasstheexpectationsofordi- narypsychologicalresearch. Thisinmind,itisacuriousfactthatthefieldofpsiresearchissoregularlycriti- cizedonthegroundsthatitsexperimentalfindingsarenot,inthelongrun,replica- ble.This,ofcourse,isavalidconcern,asexplainedsowellinthechapterbyAlcock. Critics,ormoreproperly‘‘counteradvocates,’’usethisargumenttodismisseventhe mostdramaticresultsofsingleexperimentsaswellastemporaryrunsof strikingly successful experiments. It is worth noting, however, that ordinary psychological researchisnotitselfheldtothisstandard.Infact,wehavenoideawhatthereplica- tionrateofordinarypsychologicalresearchwouldbeifreplicationswereactuallycar- riedoutandtheresultspublishedonaregularbasis,astheyareinpsiresearch. Despitethehighvalueplacedonexperimentalreplicationsbyresearchmethods texts,theAmericanPsychologicalAssociationinfactdiscouragesthepublicationof replicationresearch,tosaynothingofitsevengreaterreluctancetopublishreports offailedreplications(ModgilandModgil,1986).Oneisremindedoftheyearsof supportivefindingspublishedonthetopicofchemicalmemorytransferenceinflat- worms during the 1950s and 1960s, all of which started with Thompson and McConnellin1955.Itwaseventuallydiscoveredthatthesefindingsweremostlyif notcompletelytheproductsofstatisticalfalsepositives(so-calledalphaerrors),but noneofthemanyfailedeffortsatreplicationfoundtheirwaytopress.Itissaidthat
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