Michael Kriegsman

This preregistered study analyzed more than 25 million trials from a web-based forced-choice remote viewing task to examine patterns of clairvoyant performance across all participants and among a subset of top performers. At the aggregate level, runs ending at the four planned lengths (5, 10, 25, or 100 trials) conformed to chance expectations. In contrast, optionally stopped runs displayed systematic fluctuations: short runs (1–3 trials) were above chance before declining, runs of 11–19 fell below chance, and runs beginning at 20 showed recurring above-chance spikes at every fifth run length (e. g., 30, 35, 40, 45, 50), which diminished beyond 80 trials. A Monte Carlo simulation matched to the empirical stopping distribution clarified the extent to which these patterns could be reproduced by optional-stopping behavior alone, with much of the run-length pattern, including the 11–19 trough and round-number variability, falling within the simulated null envelope. Exploratory analyses of top performers, defined post-hoc as the 1,235 users (2.64%) who exceeded chance uncorrected, after no users survived the preregistered FDR-corrected criterion, examined belief in psi, prior precognitive experience, meditation, total trials, and optional stopping as predictors. Optional stopping was the predictor most consistently associated with hits, both on first trials and across all trials, where it also interacted with belief, prior precognitive experience, and meditation jointly with cumulative task experience. Effect sizes were small (Δp and Cohen’s d near zero for most predictors), and findings are interpreted as exploratory. The results suggest that group-level outcomes primarily reflect optional-stopping and related behavioral dynamics, whereas top-performer analyses surface more nuanced, but small, context-dependent associations between belief, experience, and behavior. These findings highlight the methodological challenges of large-scale, open online testing and the value of preregistered, participant-level approaches, combined with benchmark simulations, for distinguishing behavioral artifacts from potential psi signals.

Noetic experiences, which often transcend conventional perceptions of space and time, areuniversal, although research investigating them is scant. The Noetic Signature Inventory (NSI) isa validated 44-item self-report questionnaire that measures an individual’s unique noeticsignature or how an individual receives inner wisdom or intuitive information. Using data from3,884 participants, the current study evaluated NSI norms, clustered patterns across its 12factors, and examined whether individuals fell into noetic types. Means, standard deviation, andstandard errors were calculated by demographic categories for norms. Results showed higherfactor means for participants who identified as female than male and those who identified withmultiple ethnicities rather than one ethnicity. The correlational structure among the 12 NSIfactors was explored with correlation Principal Component Analysis, followed by clusteringtechniques to reveal the optimal configuration to reduce the 12 factors into fewer super-factors.Confirmatory Factor Analysis was then used to compare the model fit of the original 12 factorsversus the proposed super-factors, which supported the original model. Clustering methods usedto evaluate noetic types revealed high variability on the Dreams factor, even after accounting foroverall noetic score differences (high, mid, low). Future investigations with diverse populationsare essential for further exploring these findings. The NSI holds promise as a tool in education,career development, and mental health fields, with the potential to destigmatize noeticexperiences.

Introduction: Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) is considered a marker of autonomic nervous system activity in stress research, and atypical waking sAA responses have been reported for traumatized individuals. Lucid dreams, characterized by a dreamer's awareness of their dream state while remaining asleep, have shown promising preliminary evidence of their potential to enhance mental health. This study’s objective was to evaluate sAA in relation to healing lucid dreams. Methods: Participants experiencing PTSD symptoms attended a six-day workshop delivered via live video designed to teach techniques for transforming trauma through dreamwork and dream lucidity. Participants (n=20) collected saliva samples each morning, immediately upon awakening (Time 1) and 30 minutes afterward (Time 2). sAA levels were determined by enzymatic assay, and the waking sAA slope was calculated as the difference of Time 2 minus Time 1. Participants completed dream reports each morning, with a dream classified as a ‘healing lucid dream’ when they reported attaining lucidity and remembered their intention to manifest a healing experience within the dreamscape. Results: Of eight participants experiencing healing lucid dreams, four were able to provide usable saliva samples. Statistical tests on these four participants were not significant because of low power. However, nonsignificant positive associations were observed between experiencing more healing lucid dreams and increased waking sAA slope. Conclusion: The results did not reveal a consistent effect of healing lucid dreams on waking sAA slope. Identifying meaningful patterns in this relationship will require larger samples and more stringent control over saliva collection procedures in future studies.

The study’s aim was to explore the associations between meditation, extended human capacities, and synchronistic experiences. 725 participants completed questionnaires and online tasks assessing these variables before and after engaging in personal growth workshops. The results showed that 1) meditators scored higher than non-meditators on noetic experiences and beliefs, and pre-workshop synchronistic experiences; 2) meditation frequency was associated with higher noetic experiences and beliefs, and pre-workshop synchronistic experiences; 3) meditation-based workshop participants reported more synchronistic experiences during their workshop than non-meditation-based workshop participants; and 4) noetic experiences mediated the association between meditation frequency and pre-workshop synchronistic experiences.