Citation

In a previous experiment with participants high (Highs) and low (Lows)  in hypnotizability, psi z scores had moderate to strong correlations  with percipients’ belief of their success and their previous ostensible  psi experiences, experiencing an Altered State of Consciousness and  other alterations of consciousness during a non-psi ganzfeld session,  but only among the Highs. The current pre-registered study had a larger N  of only Highs, evaluated in hypnosis and hypnosis + ganzfeld  procedures. Participants (N = 35) served as “receivers” in two 20 min  sessions of ganzfeld or hypnosis in counterbalanced order. Both sessions  used hypnosis verbalizations, but only one of them had sensory  homogenization. The authors served as “sender” and “experimenter” in  different buildings. As an index of experienced alterations of  consciousness, participants filled out the Phenomenology of  Consciousness Inventory (PCI) at the beginning and end of the sessions,  and gave a rating of 0-100 to 4 film clips (one of them the target),  from which psi z scores were derived. Overall, participants did not  score better than chance and there was no difference between the  conditions. However, for the ganzfeld sessions psi scores correlated  moderately (r = .40, p = .02) with the PCI Altered State shift scores  (ganzfeld - baseline scores). Although the overall psi rate was not  significant, we found a relation between psi scoring and experiencing an  Altered State in ganzfeld psi sessions.