Mysterious Minds: The Neurobiology of Psychics, Mediums, and Other Extraordinary People

241 Pages·2009·6.322 MB·English

by  Stanley Krippner (editor), Harris L. Friedman (editor)

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