In 1995 we were awarded a grant for a project entitled "Reality and Imagination:
Psi at the Interface". The grant finished in September 2000 and the research
has now all been completed. For interest the following describes
the work we did. I have now stopped working on the paranormal.
The Team
Sue Blackmore, one day a week, supervising the project
Nicholas Rose, research assistant, three days a week
Linda Holley, secretary, one day a week.
The Perrott-Warrick Fund
The Perrott-Warrick Fund is administered by
Trinity College, Cambridge. Apart from the Koestler Chair at Edinburgh
University, it is the largest source of financial support for psychical
research and parapsychology in Britain.
In 1937, as a memorial to F.W.H.Myers, who
had been a Fellow of Trinity College, Frank Duerdin Perrott made a bequest
to the masters and Fellows of the college "absolutely for the purpose
of psychical research". He defined psychical research as:
"The investigation of mental or physical phenomena
which seem prima facie to suggest (a) the existence of supernormal powers
of cognition or action in human beings in their present life, or (b)
the persistence of the human mind after bodily death". In 1956 the fund
was increased by a further bequest from Frederic Walmsley Warrick.
In its early years the fund supported a studentship,
and among the beneficiaries were Whateley Carrington, S.G. Soal, and
Trevor Hall. When the fund was increased, a series of lectures by C.D.Broad
was organised, and subsequently the fund supported many students doing
research for PhDs. These included Carl Sargent, Richard Broughton, Chris
Roe and Adrian Parker, most of whom are still working in psychical research
today. In recent years, fund management has considerably increased the
amount of money available. In 1992 the selection was given to Darwin
College and Nicholas Humphrey was appointed as a Senior Research Fellow.
During his tenure he wrote the book "Soul Searching" but did no
research into the paranormal. After that the
Electors resumed the task of selection and supported
several small projects and two major laboratories - ours and that of
Richard Wiseman at the University of Hertfordshire.
The Project
The grant was awarded to support the following
research. (This is a summary of the research proposal)
"When I was a little girl, I used to lie
in bed at night and try to make my mind go black - I mean really completely
black. It isn’t very easy. But when I could do it, just before
I went to sleep, pictures just came by themselves. I used to wonder
whether they were real. I mean was there that cottage and those people
really somewhere else?"
Borderline states, like that between sleep
and waking, have often set people wondering about the possibility of
the paranormal - of seeing at a distance, or picking up thoughts, images
or ideas from other people. Is this just fantasy? Or is there something
special about the interface?
Much circumstantial evidence suggests that
borderline states of consciousness are psi-conducive (that is, they
encourage telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition). In addition some
of the most promising experimental techniques seem to exploit this borderline.
However, no one has previously approached psi quite this way, nor tackled
the interesting question of what borderline is being crossed. Is the
state of consciousness what matters, or is it the confusion between
reality and imagination?
The research proposed here will tackle psi within the broad area of
borderline states. The experiences of interest include:
- false awakenings (dreaming one has woken up)
- lucid dreams (knowing, during the dream, that it is a dream)
- hypnagogic (before sleep) and hypnopompic (after waking) imagery
- sleep paralysis (the persistence of bodily paralysis, usual in dreams,
into waking)
- the sense of presence (the feeling that someone is there when they
are not seen)
- daydreaming (free-running imagery during waking)
- spontaneous trance states and various types of hallucination.
A variety of methods, both naturalistic and
experimental, will be used to provide a framework within which to do
the following:
- Explore the borderline states so often associated with psychic
experiences
- Find out who (both adults and children) experiences these states
- Use field experiments to find out whether psi occurs during the
experiences
- Use laboratory experiments to test specific hypotheses about psi
and the reality-imagination borderline.
An important consideration for any research
in parapsychology is what will be learned if no psi is found. This research
programme includes many new opportunities for detecting psi. However,
if it is not found, much will still be learned about the borderline
states between reality and imagination, the people who experience them,
and the way the experiences come to be interpreted as psychic.
Work Completed
We carried out several surveys, several experiments,
and collected a large number of accounts of psychic experiences. We
concentrated especially on the experience of sleep paralysis, and collected
over 300 accounts of these experiences. You can find further details
in the following publications. Abstracts are available - look out for
the links.
Conference Papers
Blackmore,S.J. Why psi
tells us nothing about consciousness. Toward a Science of Consciousness
1996 (Tucson II.) Tucson, Az. April 8-13, 1996
Blackmore,S.J. Experiences on the borderline
between reality and imagination. 20th International Conference of
the Society for Psychical Research, Cirencester, 31 August 1996.
Blackmore,S.J. and Rose,N.J. Two pilot surveys
of unusual personal experiences 20th International Conference of
the Society for Psychical Research, Cirencester, 31 August 1996.
Blackmore,S.J. Back to Basics Contribution
to a Symposium, 20th International Conference of the Society
for Psychical Research, Cirencester, 1 Sept 1996.
Blackmore,S.J. On the edge
of reality British Association for the Advancement of
Science, Annual Festival of Science, Birmingham, 11 September 1996
Blackmore,S.J. and Rose,N.J. Reality
and Imagination: A psi conducive confusion? 40th Annual
Convention of the Parapsychological Association. Brighton, August 1997
Rose,N.J., Hogan,J. and Blackmore,S.J. Experiences
of Sleep Paralysis 40th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological
Association. Brighton, August 1997
Blackmore,S.J. Children’s
experiences on the borders of sleep 22nd International
Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, York, September 1998
Parker,J. and Blackmore,S.J. A comparison of
sleep paralysis and dream reports. 22nd International Conference
of the Society for Psychical Research, York, September 1998
Rose,N.J. and Blackmore,S.J. Are reality-imagination
confusions psi-conducive? 22nd International Conference of the Society
for Psychical Research, York, September 1998
Blackmore,S.J., Rose,N.J. and Gray,K. Can
false memories be influenced by psi? 22nd International
Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, York, September 1998
Blackmore,S.J. OBEs and sleep
paralysis, 23rd International Conference of the Society for Psychical
Research, Durham, 3-5.9.99
Blackmore,S.J. and Rose,N A
test of the Bio-Electric Shield, 23rd International Conference
of the Society for Psychical Research, Durham, 3-5.9.99
Rose,N and Blackmore,S.J. Are false memories
psi conducive? 23rd International Conference of the Society for
Psychical Research, Durham, 3-5.9.99
Blackmore,S.J. On the edge of
the real, Perrott-Warrick Conference, Cambridge, April 3-5
2000
Blackmore,S.J. Out-of-body experiences: Mystical
experience or quirk of the brain? Society for Psychical Research
Study Day 39, London, April 29 2000
Rose,N.R. and Blackmore,S.J. Are
false memories psi conducive? Parapsychological Association Conference,
Germany August 2000
Rose,N.R. Experiences and interpretations of sleep
paralysis. 24th International Conference of the Society for
Psychical Research, Northampton, 8-10 September 2000
Blackmore,S.J. and Rose,N. Horses
for Courses: Testing a Psychic Claimant 24th International
Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Northampton, September
2000
Publications
Blackmore,S.J. 1997 Back to
Basics. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 61, 333-335
Blackmore,S.J. and Rose,N.J. 1997 Reality and Imagination:
A psi-conducive confusion? Journal of Parapsychology, 61,
321-335
Blackmore,S.J. 1998 Abduction by aliens or sleep
paralysis? Skeptical Inquirer, 22, 23-28
Blackmore,S.J. 1998 Experiences of anoxia: Do reflex
anoxic seizures resemble near-death experiences? Journal of Near
Death Studies, 17, 111-120 abstract
Blackmore,S.J. 1997 Scientific analysis of an "Alien
Implant", UFO Magazine, Nov/Dec 9-11
Blackmore,S.J. 1998 Analysing an ‘Alien’
implant. The Skeptic, 11:3, 6-7.
Blackmore,S.J. 2001 What
can the paranormal teach us about consciousness. Skeptical Inquirer,
25:2, 22-27 (cover story)
Student Projects
We also worked in association with PhD
student Jennie Parker who is researching dreams, and with psychology
undergraduates who choose to do their third year project on various
paranormal topics. Projects on paranormal topics included
the following:
Lucid dream induction using the "Nova Dreamer"
Lucid dreams and psi experiences
Drug induced and naturally occurring mystical experiences
Detection of remote staring (conscious and physiological detection)
OBEs, dreaming and the temporal lobes
Sleep paralysis and temporal lobe lability in alien abductees
Sleep paralysis and its relation to sleep quality
The power of astrology to alter women's behaviour
Astrology, personality and the self-attribution theory
Aromatherapy and memory
Paranormal beliefs including belief in UFOs, precognition, reincarnation,
dualism, luck, astrology and the afterlife - relations to locus of
control, illusion of control and happiness
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