A rapid online telepathy test

Psychol Rep. 2009 Jun;104(3):957-70. doi: 10.2466/PR0.104.3.957-970.

Abstract

In an automated online telepathy test, each participant had four senders, two actual and two virtual, generated by the computer. In a series of 12 30-sec. trials, the computer selected one of the senders at random and asked him to write a message to the subject. After 30 sec., the participant was asked to guess who had written a message. After the computer had recorded his guess, it sent him the message. In a total of 6,000 trials, there were 1,559 hits (26.7%), significantly above the chance expectation of 25%. In filmed tests, the hit rate was very similar. The hit rate with actual senders was higher than with virtual senders, but there was a strong guessing bias in favour of actual senders. When high-scoring subjects were retested, hit rates generally declined, but one subject repeatedly scored above chance.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Decision Making
  • Electronic Mail
  • Humans
  • Internet*
  • Psychometrics
  • Telepathy*
  • User-Computer Interface