A Review of the Experimental Evidence for Parapsychological Phenomena

This is an excerpt from one of the presentations featured in the Pari Center’s event At the Edges of Consciousness, in Pari from June 6 to 13, 2023.

with Etzel Cardeña

In a 2018 article published in the American Psychological Association’s flagship journal American Psychologist, I published a review of the experimental evidence for psi phenomena, including what is popularly known as ESP and psychokinesis. I concluded that the accumulated evidence is comparable to that of accepted phenomena in mainstream psychology and other disciplines. I will update that review, discuss how psi phenomena relate to alterations of consciousness, and open a discussion of what are the implications and limitations of the extant evidence with respect to consciousness.

Etzel Cardeña, Ph. D., holds the Thorsen Chair in the Department of Psychology at Lund University where he directs the Center for Research on Consciousness and Anomalous Psychology (CERCAP). His work focuses on researching the neurophenomenology of various alterations of consciousness and setting anomalous experiences (including parapsychological phenomena) as a legitimate area of scientific inquiry. His more than 400 publications include the award-winning anthologies Varieties of Anomalous Experience (APA, 2nd ed.) and Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 20th Century. He recently founded the university-based, open access, multidisciplinary Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition. He  has worked professionally as director, actor, and playwright, and has had installations in Malmö’s Konstahall and the Jaktpavillion Gallery.