ABSTRACT
Throughout history, psychical phenomena (psi) has long fascinated researchers, and has left science searching for explanations. More specifically, precognitive abilities, as found in remote viewing experiments, have been widely studied. Remote viewers were able to provide details of targets from the past, present, and future, producing results that are supported by concepts in quantum physics including nonlocality, retro-causality, entanglement, and quantum-interconnectedness.
Recently, researchers have turned to examining the structures, and functions of the brain in relation to psi phenomena. Stapp, who studied the calcium ion migration through microtubules within neurons, found a link between the function of the brain, and psi phenomena, noting that the release of neurotransmitters causes the quantum state of the brain to branch into separate components that identify alternative possible courses of action.
A study by Korotaev et al., through two long-term experiments designed to study macroscopic nonlocality, were able to estimate nonlocal communications, proposing that the dissipative processes in some brain structures may be acting much in the same way.
In addition, Hameroff & Penrose, who proposed their Orch OR theory in 2014, noted that ‘integrate-and-fire’ brain neurons produce quantum computations within the internal microtubules during dendritic/somatic integration, that result in axonal firings which control behavior.
Significant understanding of psychic abilities, such as precognition, and retrocognition has been garnered over the past century, providing insight into the role of the human brain in these phenomena. With the application of quantum physics to the study of psychical phenomena, it may be possible to one day fully understand the relationship of the structure, and functioning of the human brain, and the quantum processes that allow our minds to possess abilities beyond our five senses.
Keywords: psychic ability, psi phenomena, precognition, remote viewing, quantum physics, non-locality, entanglement, consciousness, microtubules, brain structure, quantum brain functioning.
INTRODUCTION
Researchers have long been fascinated by psychical phenomena (psi), and those individuals who appear to possess these special extra sensory abilities. A scientifically taboo topic, the debate among scholars regarding possible theories that account for psychic abilities has often been dismissed as pseudoscience, neatly tucked away under the heading of parapsychology. However, for some, an explanation for the seemingly unexplainable, such as individuals who appear to communicate with the deceased, those who intuitively know when something is going to happen, or perhaps someone who feels the emotions of another person, can be determined by examining key biophysical processes in the brain, through an understanding of quantum physics. Quantum physics provides us with reasonable explanations for psi phenomena when we apply concepts such as nonlocality, retro-causality, entanglement, and quantum-interconnectedness.
This paper aims to review the literature, and provide scientific evidence to support the existence of psychic phenomena, that is facilitated through our neurobiology, while being articulated utilizing concepts in quantum physics.
LITERATURE REVIEW
BACKGROUND
Psychic phenomena, or psi, which is the Greek word for spirit (psyche), may be defined as “singularities that appear to contradict physical laws and suggest the possibility of causation by mental processes” (Merriam-Webster, 2003). More specifically, psi is inclusive of near-death experiences, past life recall, remote viewing, and extrasensory perception (ESP) such as telepathy, psychokinesis, precognition, clairvoyance, clairsentience, claircognizance, clairaudience, clairalience, and clairgustance.
Great progress has been achieved in scientific research of psi phenomena since the commencement of The Society for Psychical Research in 1882, by distinguished scholars from Cambridge University (Targ & Rauscher, 2001). Thousands of experiments have been conducted around the world confirming the existence of psychical abilities such as extrasensory perception (Targ & Rauscher, 2001). Extrasensory perception or ESP, also referred to as the sixth sense, “includes claimed reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind” (Sheehy et al., 2002, p. 409). J. B. Rhine of Duke University adopted the term ESP “to denote psychic abilities such as intuition, telepathy, psychometry, clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation as precognition, or retrocognition” (Sheehy et al., 2002, p. 409).
Physicists Russell Targ, and Elizabeth Rauscher presented a theoretical model in 2001, whereby the concept of nonlocality was proposed to further the understanding of ESP, and other psi phenomena. Nonlocality may be interpreted as the apparent ability of two particles to be aware of each other’s state instantaneously, even when separated by extreme distance to one another (Goswami, 1993).
Furthermore, “the universe on a very basic level could be a vast web of particles, which remain in contact with one another over any distance, and in no time” (Stapp, 1999, p. 6). The concept of being outside of space-time, while being interconnected, indeed presents a conceptual understanding of the nature of psi activity, and how these phenomena may be supported by the physical structure of neurons within the brain. As such, many remote viewing experiments were conducted to study ESP, most notably, precognition, which became the focus of Targ, and Rauscher’s theory (2001).
Psychic abilities have been well established, using scientific standards, with statistical results far beyond that of chance (Utts, 1996). Results of experiments conducted at Stanford Research Institute (SRI International) that were validated as properly conducted, were both reproducible, and methodologically sound (Utts, 1996).
REMOTE VIEWING AND PRECOGNITION
Our complete understanding of psi requires further study, however researchers know a great deal about the psychology, as well as how to measure these phenomena in laboratory experiments (Targ & Rauscher, 2001). Remote viewing experiments where the subject can describe details of targets thousands of miles away, and produce impressive statistical data, supports quantum physics concept of nonlocality (Targ & Rauscher, 2001). Parapsychological research has provided laboratory evidence for over one hundred years now, where remote viewing information about distant locations, the past, and even the future has been observed (Targ & Rauscher, 2001).
Mystics from the Hindu Vedic tradition have known for thousands of years that “separation is an illusion”, where “consciousness transcends our ordinary understanding of both space and time” (Targ & Rauscher, 2001, p. 332). Detailed instructions for looking into the future can be found in the Sutras of Patanjali (Prabhavananda, & Isherwood, [Trans.] 1983), which bear resemblance to the research conducted at Stanford Research Institute in relation to space-time (Targ & Rauscher, 2001).
The study of space-time includes quantum-interconnectedness which considers that under certain circumstances subatomic particles are energetically connected with one another, regardless of their distance (Bohm & Hiley, 1975). This phenomenon, defined as entanglement, shows that separation of time and space to be an illusion, proposed by Einstein when he suggested that space-time is part of the same continuum (Bohm & Hiley, 1975). It has been demonstrated through repeated experiments, that two photons of light, derived from a single source traveling at the speed of light in opposite directions, will maintain connection to one other, and whatever happens to one, will occur to its twin (Bell, 1966). “No theory of reality compatible with quantum theory can require spatially separate events to be independent” (Debruyne & Sorensen, 2018, p. iv). The coherent relationship established between the two quanta is termed nonlocality (Targ & Rauscher, 2001). Nonlocality therefore, can be utilized in the understanding of psi phenomena, especially that of precognition.
One of the most common psychic events according to Rhine is precognition (Rhine, 1954), which provides us with “a glimpse of events that we will experience in the future” (Targ & Rauscher, 2001, p. 334), whereby the future appears to affect the past (Targ & Rauscher, 2001). Physicists term this idea retro-causality, which is an effect that precedes its cause in time, where a later event affects an earlier one (Faye, 2001). Many studies with favorable statistical significance have been conducted to support the notion that retro-causality, nonlocality, and entanglement play a role in precognitive events like remote viewing (Faye, 2001; Targ & Rauscher, 2001; Utts, 1996).
SUPPORTING RESEARCH STUDIES
An enormous amount of research into precognition, that included over 50,000 subjects participating in more than 2,000,000 trials, showed 30% of studies overall “were statistically significant in demonstrating that people can describe future events, where only five percent would be expected by chance” (Targ & Rauscher, 2001, p. 336). The overall significance of these percentages was greater than 1 in 1020 (Targ & Rauscher, 2001).
In addition, 227 remote viewing experiments examining precognition were conducted in 1983 by Jahn, Dunne, and Nelson at Princeton University, where viewing participants were asked to describe their impressions of the location of a specified target (Dunne et al., 1983). Findings showed that it did not matter if the perceived event was hours, days, or weeks in the future (Dunne et al., 1983). These combined experiments had a statistical significance of 1 in 1011 (Dunne et al., 1983), which is noteworthy evidence supporting the validity of remote viewing, and precognitive abilities.
Several other patterns of behavior were examined in addition to the statistical results. A summary of the results revealed the following:
1 . "Free response" remote viewing, in which subjects describe a target, was much more successful than "forced choice" experiments, in which subjects were asked to choose from a small set of possibilities.
2. There was a group of six selected individuals whose performance consistently far exceeded that of unselected subjects, providing a type of replicability that helps substantiate the validity of the results.
3. Mass-screening efforts found that about one percent of those who volunteered to be tested were consistently successful at remote viewing. This indicates that remote viewing is an ability that differs across individuals, much like athletic ability or musical talent.
4. Neither practice nor a variety of training techniques consistently worked to improve remote viewing ability. It appears that it is easier to find than to train good remote viewers.
5. It is not clear whether or not feedback (showing the subject the right answer) is necessary, but it does appear to provide a psychological boost that may increase performance.
6. Distance between the target and the subject does not seem to impact the quality of the remote viewing.
7. Electromagnetic shielding does not appear to inhibit performance.
8. There is compelling evidence that precognition, in which the target is selected after the subject has given the description, is also successful. (Utts, 1996, p. 13)
More recent studies suggest that psychic impressions may work “much like our other five senses, by detecting change” (Utts, 1996, p. 3). With more study into space-time, “it may be that a psychic sense exists that scans the future for major change, much as our eyes scan the environment for visual change, or our ears allow us to respond to sudden changes in sound” (Utts, 1996, p. 3).
PHYSICS AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS
In 1987, Wigner theorized quantum brain dynamics to be an “interaction between the evolving physical universe, and the sequence of events that constitute our streams of consciousness” (Stapp, 2000, p. 22). Classical physics describes the dynamics in understandable terms as to how the brain functions, and provides a framework of identifying ways that brain behavior differs from typical predictions (Stapp, 2000). For example, a function within the human brain “relates to calcium ion migration through microtubules, whereby these ions will enter the neuron’s nerve terminals, and neuro-transmitters are then released” (Stapp, 2000, p. 23). This release causes the quantum state of the brain to split into different classically describable components, or branches, therefore “the quantum state of the brain will tend to decompose into components that specify alternative possible courses of action” (Stapp, 2000, p. 230). These physical processes involved in precognition may well utilize this type of branching (Stapp, 2000).
Additionally, a 2005 study found quantum nonlocality to play an important role in some macroscopic brain processes, providing researchers a greater understanding of the mystery of psychophysical phenomena (Korotaev et al., 2007). Two experiments were set up to study macroscopic nonlocality. The first utilized “two types of detectors based on spontaneous potential variations of weakly polarized electrodes in an electrolyte, and on spontaneous variations of the dark current of the photomultiplier” (Korotaev et al., 2007, p. 279). The second setup included an “ion mobility detector based on spontaneous variations of conductivity fluctuation dispersion in a small electrolyte volume” (Korotaev et al., 2007, p. 279).
In this long-term dual experiment, results demonstrated the capacity to properly “estimate the cross-section of nonlocal transactions, and to detect the advanced correlation of geomagnetic activity”, showing that “similar advanced transactions may be taking place in the dissipative processes in some brain structures” (Korotaev et al., 2007, p. 279).
Although the experiments involved nonliving systems, the results are directly related to living systems because “double electric layers and membrane structures in the brain cells are the natural models of the electrode and ion mobility detectors respectively (Korotaev, et al., 2007, p. 293). The data from this experiment establishes further probability that nonlocality plays an important role in the brain’s ability to produce psychical abilities.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN AND CONSCIOUSNESS
In the mid 1990’s, Hameroff, and Penrose, after studying the implications of consciousness relative to underlying structures in the brain, proposed their “Orch OR” theory (2014). The pair stated that “consciousness depends on biologically orchestrated coherent quantum processes in collections of microtubules within brain neurons, that these quantum processes correlate with, and regulate neuronal synaptic and membrane activity” (Hameroff & Penrose, 2014, p. 39). Modern science presumes that complex synaptic computation which occurs in networks of brain neurons act fundamentally as information units (Hameroff & Penrose, 2014). However, neurocomputation is but only one function of the complex human brain. We must consider how consciousness may arise from neurocomputation.
Some researchers believe that consciousness can emerge from complex computation due to electrical activity in the brain, like firings (Scott, 1995; Tononi, 2004). Another theory favors cooperative axonal firing outputs as the creators of consciousness (Malach, 2007; Koch, 2004). Yet, synchronized dendritic and somatic integrations were the cause of coherent axonal firings in all cases (Hameroff & Penrose, 2014).
Figure 1
Depiction of an ‘integrate-and-fire’ brain neuron.
Figure 1 shows an ‘integrate-and-fire’ brain neuron, and portions of other such neurons are shown schematically with internal microtubules. In dendrites and cell body/soma (left) involved in integration, microtubules are interrupted and of mixed polarity, interconnected by microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) in recursive networks (upper circle, right). Dendritic–somatic integration (with contribution from microtubule processes) can trigger axonal firings to the next synapse. Microtubules in axons are unipolar and continuous. Gap junctions synchronize dendritic membranes, that may enable entanglement and collective integration among microtubules in adjacent neurons (lower circle right). In Orch OR theory, microtubule quantum computations occur during dendritic/somatic integration, and the selected results regulate axonal firings which control behavior. (Hameroff & Penrose, 2014, p. 42)
To elaborate, within the microtubules found inside neurons, a single photon of light is created (Hameroff & Penrose, 2014). At the same time this single photon is generated, a second twin photon, from a single light source, is created, which may be located elsewhere (Bell, 1966). The entangled, nonlocal photons act as mirrors to one another, whereby what happens to one, automatically happens to the other (Bell, 1966), acting outside of space-time (Beck & Colli, 2003). As they interact outside of the space-time continuum, viewing events using precognition, and retrocognition, become possible, thus providing more evidence for the existence of psychical abilities beyond our five senses.
CONCLUSION
The mystery of how our minds can generate psi experiences beyond our five senses, has compelled the imagination of scientists, and researchers throughout the world, for centuries. One such notable scientist, Russell Targ, a senior research physicist in charge of the remote viewing experiments conducted at Stanford Research Institute, collected data from 1972 to 1982, which supported the idea that precognition, a component of ESP, occurs nonlocally (Targ & Rauscher, 2001). Targ, and fellow physicist, Elizabeth Rauscher, after reviewing the data collected during that decade of government funded research, were able to validate the statistical significance of precognitive events during remote viewing sessions (Targ & Rauscher, 2001). Retro-causality, and the understanding that events we will experience in the future, that appear to affect the past, serve to validate both precognition, and retrocognition, as observed in the many thousands of experiments (Targ & Rauscher, 2001).
Other research supporting psi phenomena, was conducted by examining calcium ion migration in the microtubular structures of the brain (Stapp, 2000). Stapp was able to determine a quantum state of the brain, where branching allows the brain to “specify alternate possible courses of action” (Stapp, 2000, p. 23). This discovery supports the notion that entanglement and nonlocality, both of which are unaffected by space-time, have relevance in explaining the physics involved in psychical activity.
Korotaev et al, through their research, found quantum nonlocality to play an important role in some macroscopic brain processes, which gave the researchers a greater understanding of the mystery of psychophysical phenomena (Korotaev et al., 2007). The results of their dual experiment revealed that “advanced transactions may be taking place in the dissipative processes in some brain structures” (Korotaev et al., 2007, p. 279).
Furthermore, orchestrated objective reduction, or Orch OR, proposed by Hameroff, and Penrose, finds that “consciousness consists of a sequence of discreet events, each being a moment of objective reduction or a quantum state, where it is taken that these quantum states exist as parts of a quantum computation, carried on primarily in neuronal microtubules” (Hameroff & Penrose, 2014, p. 73). Orch OR theory suggests that consciousness, as a component of the greater concept of psychical phenomena, is “intrinsically connected to the fine-scale structure of space-time geometry, and that consciousness could be deeply related to the operation of the laws of the universe” (Hameroff & Penrose, 2014, p. 74).
All compelling in their contributions to the understanding of psychical research, we have gained considerable insight from scientists over the past century, furthering the ability to describe, and explain scientifically the different biophysical, and energetic happenings that may facilitate psi activity.
Significant research into the structure, and functioning of the brain, provides insight into quantum processes which may be connecting our minds to nonlocal fields of information. Perhaps one day, through continued experimentation, science will be able to empirically understand the mechanisms responsible for producing psi phenomena.
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