[ExI] Psi quantum observation experiment

[Damien Broderick]

A paper by Dean Radin, PhD, accepted for 
publication later this year (but no, not in Nature or Science):

Testing nonlocal observation as a source of intuitive knowledge

This study explored the hypothesis that in some 
cases intuitive knowledge arises from perceptions 
that are not mediated through the ordinary 
senses. The possibility of detecting such 
“nonlocal observation” was investigated in a 
pilot test based on the effects of observation on a quantum system.

Participants were asked to imagine that they 
could intuitively perceive a low intensity laser 
beam in a distant Michelson interferometer. If 
such observation were possible, it would 
theoretically perturb the photons’ quantum 
wave-functions and change the pattern of light 
produced by the interferometer. The optical 
apparatus was located inside a light-tight, 
double steel-walled shielded chamber. 
Participants sat quietly outside the chamber with 
eyes closed. The light patterns were recorded by 
a cooled CCD camera once per second, and average 
illumination levels of these images were compared 
in counterbalanced “mental blocking” vs. 
non-blocking conditions. Interference would 
produce a lower overall level of illumination, 
which was predicted to occur during the blocking condition.
Based on a series of planned experimental 
sessions, the outcome was in accordance with the 
prediction (z = -2.82, p = 0.002). This result 
was primarily due to nine sessions involving 
experienced meditators (combined z = -4.28, p = 
9.4 × 10^-6); the other nine sessions with non- 
meditators were not significant (combined z = 
0.29, p = 0.61). The same experimental protocol 
run immediately after 15 of these test sessions, 
but with no one present, revealed no hardware or 
protocol artifacts that might have accounted for 
these results (combined control z = 1.50, p = 
0.93). Conventional explanations for these 
results were considered and judged to be 
implausible. This pilot study suggests the 
presence of a nonlocal perturbation effect which 
is consistent with traditional concepts of 
intuition as a direct means of gaining knowledge 
about the world, and with the predicted effects 
of observation on a quantum system.