Tag Archives: consciousness

Experimental Research in Telepathy, Psychokinesis, and Skin Vision, what is it:

Experimental research into telepathy, psychokinesis (PK), and “skin vision” sits within the broader field of Parapsychology, a controversial area that tries to test whether mind-to-mind or mind-over-matter effects exist under controlled conditions. Here’s a grounded overview of this phenomena research.

1. Telepathy Research
Telepathy: direct mind-to-mind information transfer without sensory channels.

Key Experimental Approaches
Ganzfeld Experiments
Participants are placed in sensory-reduced environments (soft lighting, white noise).

A “sender” views an image/video; a “receiver” reports impressions.

Later, the receiver chooses which target matches their experience.

Findings:

Some meta-analyses report small but above-chance “hit rates.”

Critics argue methodological flaws, publication bias, and replication issues.

Dream Telepathy Studies
Conducted at the Maimonides Medical Center in the 1960s.

Sleeping participants attempted to “receive” target images.

Led by Montague Ullman.

Results:

Some striking anecdotal matches.

But inconsistent replication limits acceptance.

2. Psychokinesis (PK) Research
Psychokinesis: influencing physical systems with the mind.

Experimental Models
Random Number Generator (RNG) Studies
Participants attempt to mentally bias random systems.

Conducted extensively at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab.

Directed by Robert G. Jahn.

Findings:

Very small statistical deviations reported.

Effects are subtle and difficult to replicate reliably.

Micro-PK Experiments
Focus on tiny systems (electronic noise, quantum-level randomness).

Suggest that if PK exists, it operates at extremely small scales.

Macro-PK Claims
Includes dramatic effects (bending metal, moving objects).

Popularized by Uri Geller.

Scientific status:

Generally attributed to illusion, fraud, or lack of controls.

3. Skin Vision (Dermal Perception)
Skin vision: perceiving visual information through the skin (often fingertips).

Soviet-Era Experiments
Studied in the USSR during the Cold War.

Subjects claimed to read colors or text blindfolded.

Associated with Rosa Kuleshova.

Experimental setup:

Eyes fully covered.

Objects placed under hands.

Findings:

Some positive results reported.

Later critiques suggested:

Light leakage

Subtle sensory cues

Inadequate controls

Methodological Challenges Across All Three

  1. Replication Problem
    Results are often not consistently reproducible, a core requirement of science.
  2. Small Effect Sizes
    When effects appear, they are usually very weak statistically.
  3. Experimenter Effects
    Researcher expectations may influence outcomes (consciously or unconsciously).
  4. Sensory Leakage
    Tiny, unnoticed cues can explain “psi” results.
  5. Publication Bias
    Positive findings are more likely to be published than null results.

That said, research continues at the margins, often reframed in terms of:

Consciousness studies

Anomalous cognition

Mind–matter interaction

A Nuanced Take
It’s worth separating three layers:

Phenomenological reality
People do report meaningful telepathic or PK-like experiences

Experimental signal
Weak, inconsistent statistical anomalies sometimes appear

Established mechanism
Still absent in accepted science

Shervan K Shahhian

Ganzfeld Telepathy Studies, what were they:

Ganzfeld Telepathy Studies might be among the well-known experimental approaches in modern Parapsychology, designed to test whether telepathy (mind-to-mind information transfer) can occur under controlled conditions.

What is the Ganzfeld Method?

The term Ganzfeld (German for “whole field”) refers to a state of sensory homogenization, reducing structured sensory input to make subtle mental signals more noticeable.

Typical Setup:

  • Receiver (percipient) sits in a relaxed state:
    • Eyes covered with halved ping-pong balls
    • Red light illumination
    • White noise or static in headphones
  • Sender (agent) is in a separate room:
    • Focuses on a randomly chosen image or video clip
  • After ~20–40 minutes:
    • The receiver reports impressions, images, emotions
    • Then selects the target from several options (usually 4 choices)

If telepathy exists, the receiver should choose the correct target more often than chance (25%).

Key Findings

Early Results (1970s–1980s)

  • Researchers like Charles Honorton reported above-chance hit rates (~30–35%)
  • Suggested weak but consistent telepathic effects

Autoganzfeld Experiments (1980s–1990s)

  • Improved automation to remove human bias
  • Conducted at institutions like Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab
  • Results:
    • Hit rates around 32%
    • Statistically significant but small effect

Meta-Analyses

  • Daryl Bem and Charles Honorton (1994):
    • Concluded results support a real but weak psi effect
  • Later analyses found:
    • Small but persistent deviation from chance across many studies

Criticisms & Skeptical Views

Mainstream psychology remains skeptical, citing:

1. Methodological Issues

  • Sensory leakage (unintentional cues)
  • Inadequate randomization in early studies

2. Replication Problems

  • Some labs fail to reproduce results consistently

3. Statistical Concerns

  • File-drawer effect (unpublished negative studies)
  • Small effect sizes

Skeptics like Ray Hyman argued that:

  • The results are not robust enough to confirm telepathy

Parapsychological Interpretations

Within parapsychology, Ganzfeld results are often explained using models you’re already exploring:

1. Psi-Mediated Information Transfer

  • Direct telepathy between sender and receiver

2. Super-Psi Hypothesis

  • Receiver unconsciously accesses information via psi (not necessarily from sender)

3. Altered States Facilitation

  • Ganzfeld state may:
    • Reduce mental noise
    • Increase internal imagery
    • Enhance psi sensitivity

Psychological Interpretation

From a conventional standpoint:

  • The Ganzfeld state resembles:
    • Mild sensory deprivation
    • Hypnagogic imagery (dream-like states)
  • Hits may result from:
    • Pattern matching
    • Expectation bias
    • Subconscious inference

Bottom Line

  • Ganzfeld studies are one of the strongest experimental cases in parapsychology
  • Evidence suggests:
    • A small statistical anomaly
    • But not widely accepted as proof of telepathy
  • Interpretation depends heavily on theoretical framework:
    • Psi vs psychological processes
    • Shervan K Shahhian

How Parapsychology interprets certain experiences that maybe different from Clinical Psychology:

Parapsychology and clinical psychology might often study similar human experiences, but they interpret them through very different explanatory frameworks. This is especially true for experiences such as visions, apparitions, telepathy, near-death experiences, or sensed presences. Below is a comparison.

1. Basic Orientation

Clinical Psychology

  • Focus: mental health, diagnosis, and treatment.
  • Framework: biological, cognitive, and social explanations.
  • Goal: determine whether experiences indicate normal coping, stress reactions, or psychopathology.

Parapsychology

  • Focus: possible psi phenomena (ESP, telepathy, psychokinesis, survival after death).
  • Framework: might explore whether experiences may represent genuine anomalous interactions with consciousness beyond known mechanisms.
  • Goal: investigate whether some experiences are veridical (information-bearing) rather than purely subjective.

The main difference could be:

  • Clinical psychology asks “What psychological process caused this?”
  • Parapsychology asks “Could this involve psi or consciousness beyond the mind?”

2. Interpretation of Anomalous Experiences

Apparitions or sensed presence

Clinical psychology may explain them through:

  • grief responses
  • memory activation
  • dissociation
  • sleep-related hallucinations

Parapsychology may consider:

  • survival-related experiences
  • telepathic contact
  • crisis apparitions

Grief visions

In bereavement cases:

Clinical psychology:

  • interprets them as possible normal grief hallucinations or continuing bonds with the deceased

Parapsychology:

  • sometimes might interpret them as possible post-mortem communication

Telepathy or intuitive knowing

Clinical psychology:

  • intuition
  • pattern recognition
  • coincidence
  • confirmation bias

Parapsychology:

  • investigates extrasensory perception (ESP) under controlled conditions.

3. Differences in Research Methods

Clinical psychology

  • DSM diagnostic frameworks
  • clinical interviews
  • neurobiological models: CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST
  • psychotherapy outcome studies

Parapsychology

  • laboratory psi experiments
  • Ganzfeld telepathy studies
  • case collections of spontaneous experiences
  • statistical anomaly detection

A major organization in the field is the Parapsychological Association.

4. Attitude Toward Anomalous Experiences

Clinical psychology might take a conservative explanatory stance:

  • extraordinary claims require strong evidence
  • priority is protecting mental health

Parapsychology takes an exploratory stance:

  • anomalous experiences may indicate unknown capacities of consciousness
  • not automatically pathological

5. Some Areas Where Both Fields Overlap

There is some collaboration in the study of “anomalous experiences”.
Researchers attempt to distinguish between:

  • psychopathology
  • spiritual or transformative experiences
  • possible psi phenomena

Important modern view:
Some psychologists today recognize that having unusual experiences does not necessarily mean mental illness. The key question is whether the experience causes distress, impairment, or loss of reality testing.

Some modern researchers frame this as “the psychology of anomalous experience”, which tries to bridge both fields rather than oppose them.

Shervan K Shahhian

The 4th model that Modern Parapsychologists are Discussing; the “Super-Psi or Living Agent Psi model”:

Modern researchers in Parapsychology discuss a fourth explanatory model for anomalous experiences that might be called the “Super-Psi” or “Living Agent Psi (LAP)” model. This model tries to explain phenomena that appear paranormal or spirit-related without requiring discarnate spirits or external entities.

The Super-Psi / Living Agent Psi Model

Basic idea:
All the information or effects involved in an anomalous experience might come from the psychic abilities of living people, usually unconsciously.

These abilities may include:

  • Telepathy: mind-to-mind information transfer
  • Clairvoyance: acquiring information about distant or hidden events
  • Precognition: knowledge of future events
  • Psychokinesis: mental influence on physical systems

The “super” part of the theory means these abilities that could possibly operate at extremely complex and powerful levels, combining all of the above simultaneously.

Why It Was Proposed

Researchers noticed that some paranormal cases seemed to involve:

  • Accurate information about deceased people
  • Objects moving: or disturbances (poltergeist cases)
  • Visions or voices: that seem external
  • Mediumistic information

Instead of assuming spirits, the Super-Psi model suggests:

The living person’s unconscious psi might gather information from anywhere in space and time and constructs the experience.

Example

A grief apparition:
Someone sees and hears a deceased relative.

Interpretations maybe different models:

  1. Psychological model: grief hallucination
  2. Survival model: the spirit of the deceased actually appeared
  3. Psi model: telepathic/clairvoyant perception
  4. Super-Psi model: the experiencer’s unconscious psi accessed information about the deceased and created the full perception

Where It Is Used

The model may often be discussed in research areas such as:

  • Apparitions
  • Mediumship
  • Poltergeist cases
  • Near-death and after-death communication reports

Some influential parapsychologists who debated these ideas include:

  • J. B. Rhine
  • Ian Stevenson
  • Stephen E. Braude

Strengths of the Model

Parapsychologists might consider it attractive because it:

  • Explains paranormal information without requiring spirits
  • Uses known psi processes studied in labs
  • May theoretically explain very complex cases

Main Criticism

Critics argue the model becomes too powerful and unfalsifiable.

For example:

If unconscious psi can access the mind, at any place, at any time, then paranormal events could be explained by Super-Psi, making it difficult to test scientifically.

Important Debate in Parapsychology

Today the biggest debate in Parapsychology is between:

  • Super-Psi / Living Agent Psi theory
  • Survival of consciousness after death

Both attempt to explain the same phenomena but propose could be different realities.

Shervan K Shahhian

The 3 Main Models Parapsychologists might use to explain Anomalous Experiences:

In Parapsychology, researchers may often use three main explanatory models to understand anomalous experiences (apparitions, telepathy, precognition, near-death visions, or contact experiences). These models may not necessarily compete; some researchers treat them as different explanatory levels.

1. The Psi (Survival / Extrasensory) Model

This could be the traditional parapsychological model.

Core idea:
Some anomalous experiences may involve genuine psi abilities or survival of consciousness beyond the body.

Examples:

  • Extrasensory Perception (ESP): telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition
  • Psychokinesis (PK): mind influencing matter
  • Apparitions of deceased individuals
  • Veridical perceptions during Near-Death Experience

Interpretation:

  • Consciousness may extend beyond the brain.
  • Some experiences may reflect actual information transfer or survival of consciousness after death.

This model is commonly used in:

  • survival research
  • mediumship studies
  • remote viewing research (including protocols such as Controlled Remote Viewing)

2. The Psychological / Experiential Model

This model emphasizes human psychology rather than external paranormal forces.

Core idea:
Many anomalous experiences may arise from normal psychological processes that feel extraordinary.

Key factors studied include:

  • Dissociation
  • Absorption (psychology) (deep imaginative focus)
  • grief-related visions
  • sleep paralysis
  • hypnagogic imagery
  • expectation and belief

Example:
A bereaved person seeing a deceased loved one may be interpreted as a grief-induced perceptual experience, not necessarily a spirit encounter.

This model could overlap with:

  • clinical psychology
  • cognitive psychology
  • trauma research

3. The Experiential / Constructivist Model

This model might focus on how people interpret unusual experiences, regardless of their ultimate cause.

Please note that:
Anomalous experiences may be genuine subjective events, but their meaning is constructed through culture, beliefs, and worldview.

Researchers might study:

  • cultural interpretations of visions
  • spiritual frameworks
  • mythic and symbolic meaning

For example:

  • A Christian might interpret a vision as an angel.
  • A UFO experiencer might interpret it as extraterrestrial contact.
  • A mystic might see it as spiritual awakening.

This model connects with:

  • Transpersonal Psychology
  • Anthropology
  • consciousness studies.

In summary

ModelMain ExplanationFocus
Psi ModelReal paranormal processesESP, survival, PK
Psychological ModelInternal mental processescognition, perception, grief
Constructivist ModelCultural interpretation of experiencesmeaning and worldview

Interesting point:
Some modern researchers might combine these models into a “multi-layered explanation”, recognizing that an anomalous experience might involve psychological processes, cultural interpretation, and “possibly” psi elements simultaneously.

Shervan K Shahhian

Neuroperceptual Disorder, what is it:

CONSULT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST

A neuroperceptual disorder may not be a single official diagnosis, but may rather be a broad descriptive term used to refer to conditions where brain functioning alters perception, how you see, hear, feel, or interpret reality.

It could be at the intersection of neurology, psychiatry, and perception science, and is often used informally in clinical or research discussions.

CONSULT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST

What it means

A neuroperceptual disorder involves disturbances in sensory processing or perceptual interpretation, could be such as:

  • Seeing things differently (distortions, illusions)
  • Hearing or sensing things others don’t
  • Misinterpreting real stimuli
  • Persistent perceptual changes after a brain or chemical event

Examples of conditions that may fit this idea

1. Perceptual disorders linked to substances

  • Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder
    • Ongoing visual disturbances after psychedelic use
    • Trails, afterimages, visual snow, geometric patterns

2. Neurological perceptual syndromes

  • Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
    • Distortions in size, distance, or body image
    • Often linked to migraines or viral illness
  • Visual Snow Syndrome
    • Continuous “TV static” overlay in vision

3. Psychiatric-related perceptual disturbances

CONSULT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST

  • Schizophrenia
    • Hallucinations and altered interpretation of reality
  • Severe mood disorders or trauma-related states can also alter perception

4. Sensory processing and integration issues

CONSULT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST

  • Seen in:
    • Autism spectrum conditions
    • Brain injury
    • Dissociative states

These affect how the brain filters and organizes sensory input, not just hallucinations.

Mechanisms (what’s going on in the brain)

CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST

Neuroperceptual disturbances often involve:

  • Dysregulation of serotonin systems (common in psychedelic-related conditions)
  • Altered thalamocortical filtering (sensory gating problems)
  • Changes in predictive processing (brain misinterprets signals)
  • Hyperactivity in visual or auditory cortex

Clinical vs. parapsychological interpretation

This is where things might get interesting:

  • Clinical model: perception errors generated internally by the brain
  • Parapsychological models (e.g., Super-Psi, survival hypothesis): perception may sometimes reflect non-local information or anomalous cognition

The term neuroperceptual disorder is sometimes used neutrally, without committing to either interpretation, it simply says:

“Perception is altered, and the brain is involved.”

Key distinction

A helpful way to frame it clinically:

  • Perceptual distortion: real stimulus, altered (e.g., walls breathing)
  • Hallucination: no external stimulus
  • Neuroperceptual disorder: umbrella covering both, rooted in brain processing differences

Bottom line

“Neuroperceptual disorder” maybe best understood as:

CONSULT WITH A PSYCHIATRIST

A non-specific umbrella term describing conditions where brain-based processing changes how reality is perceived, whether due to neurological, psychiatric, or substance-related causes.

Shervan K Shahhian

Psychopathological Hallucinations, an explanation:

CONSULT WITH a PSYCHITRIST and a NEUROLOGIST

Psychopathological hallucinations could be perceptions that occur without an external stimulus and might be associated with mental or neurological disorders. The person experiences them as real sensory events even though nothing in the environment is producing them.

In clinical psychology and psychiatry, hallucinations could be considered a disturbance in perception rather than imagination or fantasy.

Key Characteristics

Psychopathological hallucinations typically might have several features:

  1. No external stimulus
    The perception occurs without a real sensory trigger.
  2. Experienced as real
    The person usually believes the perception is genuine.
  3. Involuntary
    They cannot be easily controlled or stopped.
  4. Often linked to mental or neurological conditions

Types of Psychopathological Hallucinations

1. Auditory Hallucinations

The most common form.

Examples:

  • Hearing voices talking
  • Voices commenting on behavior
  • Voices giving commands

Possibly associated with

  • Schizophrenia
  • severe mood disorders

2. Visual Hallucinations

Seeing things that are not present.

Examples:

  • people
  • animals
  • lights or shapes

It could be associated with:

CONSULT WITH a PSYCHITRIST and a NEUROLOGIST

  • Delirium
  • Parkinson’s Disease
  • neurological damage

3. Tactile Hallucinations

Feeling sensations on the body without cause.

Examples:

  • insects crawling on the skin
  • burning sensations

Could be linked to:

  • Substance Use Disorder
  • withdrawal states

4. Olfactory Hallucinations

Smelling odors that are not present.

Examples:

  • burning smells
  • rotting odors

Sometimes associated with:

CONSULT WITH a PSYCHITRIST and a NEUROLOGIST

  • Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
  • brain tumors

5. Gustatory Hallucinations

Tasting something when nothing is in the mouth.

Examples:

  • metallic taste
  • poison-like taste

These are rare but may occur with neurological conditions.

Causes

Psychopathological hallucinations can arise from several mechanisms:

Psychiatric disorders

CONSULT WITH a PSYCHITRIST

  • Schizophrenia
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Major Depressive Disorder (with psychotic features)

Neurological conditions

CONSULT WITH a NEUROLOGIST

  • Epilepsy
  • Parkinson’s Disease
  • brain injury

Substances

  • drugs (LSD, stimulants)
  • alcohol withdrawal

Extreme stress or sleep deprivation might cause it?

Psychopathology vs Other Hallucination Types

 In Parapsychology and anomalous experiences, it’s important to note the distinction researchers often make.

Clinical psychology usually interprets hallucinations as symptoms of pathology.

However, parapsychology researchers studying bereavement visions or anomalous experiences sometimes debate whether all such experiences are pathological.

For example:

  • Parapsychology researchers may examine veridical perceptions in certain cases.
  • Clinical psychiatry generally explains them through psychopathology.
  • CONSULT WITH a PSYCHITRIST and a NEUROLOGIST

 In short:
Psychopathological hallucinations are sensory experiences without external stimuli caused by psychological or neurological disorders.

Shervan K Shahhian

Super-Psi Theory, explained:

The Super-Psi Theory is one of the main explanatory models used in parapsychology to account for extraordinary experiences, especially cases that appear to involve communication with the dead, spirits, or other non-physical entities.

Core Idea

The Super-Psi theory proposes that all paranormal phenomena originate from the living human mind, rather than from spirits, the afterlife, or external entities.

According to this model, a person’s unconscious psychic abilities could be far more powerful and wide-ranging than normally assumed, including abilities such as:

  • Telepathy: accessing the thoughts of other living people
  • Clairvoyance: obtaining information about distant events or objects
  • Precognition: acquiring knowledge about future events
  • Psychokinesis: influencing physical systems

“Super-Psi” means these abilities operate at an extraordinary level, combining many psi abilities simultaneously and unconsciously.

Why Parapsychologists Proposed It

Researchers introduced this theory to explain cases that look like spirit communication but might still be produced by the mind of a living person.

For example:

A person reports receiving information from a deceased relative that seems impossible to know.

Under Super-Psi, the explanation might be:

  • The person unconsciously obtained information via clairvoyance
  • They telepathically accessed memories of living relatives
  • Their mind combined this information into the appearance of a spirit message

So the experience feels like an external communicator, but the information actually originates from the living mind.

Where It Is Often Applied

Super-Psi is commonly discussed in research involving:

  • After-Death Communications
  • Mediumship
  • Apparitions
  • Poltergeist Phenomena

In each case, Super-Psi suggests that living human psi could produce the entire phenomenon.

Example

Imagine a medium gives accurate details about a deceased person.

Super-Psi explanation:

  1. The medium telepathically reads the minds of the living relatives.
  2. Clairvoyantly gathers additional information.
  3. The unconscious mind organizes the data into the illusion of a communicating spirit.

Strengths of the Theory

Parapsychologists sometimes consider Super-Psi attractive because:

  • It does not require survival of consciousness after death
  • It keeps explanations within living human psychology
  • It is consistent with experimental evidence for psi abilities

Major Criticism

Many researchers argue the theory creates even bigger mysteries.

Critics say it requires almost unlimited psychic ability, such as:

  • Accessing any information anywhere
  • Knowing the future
  • Scanning multiple minds simultaneously

Because of this, some researchers believe Super-Psi becomes so powerful that it is almost unfalsifiable.

In Parapsychology:

The Three Main Models

Parapsychologists usually discuss three broad explanations for anomalous experiences:

  1. Psychological/Psychiatric Model: hallucination, grief processes, cognitive factors
  2. Super-Psi Theory: extraordinary psi of the living mind
  3. Survival Hypothesis: consciousness survives death

Relevance to Your Interests

Parapsychology and anomalous experiences, Super-Psi is often debated in areas like:

  • bereavement visions
  • after-death communications
  • anomalous cognition
  • remote perception

It represents the most conservative paranormal explanation because it does not assume external entities.

Shervan K Shahhian

The Survival of Consciousness Hypothesis, explained:

The Survival of Consciousness Hypothesis is one of the central explanations in Parapsychology for phenomena suggesting that human consciousness may continue to exist after bodily death.

It proposes that the mind or consciousness is not completely dependent on the brain, and therefore may survive physical death in some form.

Core Idea

The hypothesis suggests:

Personal consciousness or identity continues after the death of the physical body.

In this view, the brain functions more like a receiver or interface rather than the sole producer of consciousness.

This idea contrasts with the standard view in Neuroscience (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST), which generally assumes that consciousness is entirely generated by brain activity and therefore ends when the brain dies.

Phenomena Often Used as Evidence

Researchers in Parapsychology study several types of experiences that may support survival:

1. After-Death Communications (ADCs)

Experiences in which people report contact with deceased individuals.

Examples include:

  • sensing a presence
  • hearing a voice
  • seeing apparitions
  • vivid dreams of the deceased

These experiences have been studied by Parapsychological researchers.

2. Mediumship

Some mediums claim to obtain information from deceased personalities.

Research organizations like the
Society for Psychical Research and the
Rhine Research Center have conducted controlled studies on this subject.

3. Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)

People revived after clinical death sometimes report:

  • leaving the body
  • seeing deceased relatives
  • entering a light or other realm

4. Reincarnation Cases

Cases where children claim memories of past lives.

A large body of cases was investigated by Parapsychologists.

Competing Explanation: The Super-Psi Model

Many modern researchers discuss a competing explanation called the Super-Psi hypothesis.

This model proposes that:

  • Living people unconsciously gather information through psi abilities such as telepathy or clairvoyance.
  • The information only appears to come from the dead.

So instead of survival after death, the source is the living mind.

The Three Main Interpretive Models

Parapsychologists often discuss three broad possibilities:

  1. Psychological Model
    Experiences arise from grief, memory, or hallucination.
  2. Super-Psi (Living Agent Psi)
    The living person’s mind gathers information paranormally.
  3. Survival Hypothesis
    Consciousness actually survives bodily death.

Why the Debate Continues

The survival hypothesis remains controversial because:

  • Evidence is suggestive but not universally replicable.
  • Many cases can have multiple interpretations.
  • Neuroscience still finds strong correlations between brain activity and consciousness.

So the question remains open scientifically.

 Interesting note:
Some researchers argue that the most evidential cases are those where the information could not have been known by anyone present, which is where the debate between Survival vs. Super-Psi becomes most intense.

Shervan K Shahhian

Veridical Information, explained:

Veridical information refers to information that is demonstrably accurate and corresponds to real events or facts, especially when the person receiving it should not normally have access to it.

The term is widely used in parapsychology, psychology, and philosophy of mind when evaluating anomalous experiences.

1. Basic Definition

Veridical simply means truthful or corresponding to reality.

So veridical information is:

Information obtained during an experience that can later be objectively verified as correct.

2. Example in Parapsychology

In parapsychology, veridical information often appears in experiences like:

  • Near-death experiences (NDEs)
  • After-death communications (ADCs)
  • Mediumship
  • Remote viewing
  • Apparitions

Example:

A person reports seeing a deceased relative during a dream or vision, and the relative communicates:

  • a specific message
  • a hidden object
  • or an unknown family fact

Later, family members confirm the information is accurate but previously unknown to the experiencer.

If verified, researchers call this veridical information.

3. Example in Near-Death Research

In some reported NDEs, patients describe:

  • conversations in the operating room
  • objects placed in high locations
  • events happening outside the room

If hospital staff confirm these details, researchers call it veridical perception during NDE.

4. Importance in Parapsychology

Veridical information is important because it helps researchers distinguish between:

Experience TypeExplanation
Psychological hallucinationinternally generated
Memory reconstructioncreated after the fact
Super-psi hypothesispsi functioning of the living mind
Survival of consciousness hypothesisinformation from deceased consciousness

Veridical information is considered key evidence in debates about the survival of consciousness after death.

5. In Bereavement Experiences

In grief-related anomalous experiences, a person might receive veridical information such as:

  • location of lost objects
  • unknown family information
  • messages verified later

Researchers studying bereavement-related anomalous experiences sometimes treat such cases as potential evidence for anomalous information transfer.

6. Scientific Caution

Scientists remain cautious because veridical information could also arise from:

  • coincidence
  • subconscious inference
  • Cold Reading
  • Cryptomnesia
  • Confirmation Bias

So careful documentation and independent verification are essential.

 In simple terms:

Veridical information: accurate information obtained through an unusual experience that later proves to be objectively true.

Shervan K Shahhian