18.putri Meilanda 2AP SUMMARY SET 1 PASSAGE 3

Name : Putri Meilanda
Class : 2APB
Set 1, Reading Passage 3
Summary
TELEPATHY
For more than a century the issue of telepathy has divided the scientific community, and even
today it still sparks bitter controversy among top academics. Since the 1970s, parapsychologists at
leading universities and research institutes around the world have risked the derision of sceptical
colleagues by putting the various claims for telepathy to the test in dozens of rigorous scientific
studies.
Some researchers say the results constitute compelling evidence that telepathy is genuine.
Other parapsychologists believe the field is on the brink of collapse, having tried to produce definitive
scientific proof and failed. Sceptics and advocates alike do concur on one issue, however: that the
most impressive evidence so far has come from the so-called 'ganzfeld' experiments, a German term
that means 'whole field'. Reports of telepathic experiences had by people during meditation led
parapsychologists to suspect that telepathy might involve 'signals' passing between people that were
so faint that they were usually swamped by normal brain activity.
The ganzfeld experiment tries to recreate these conditions with participants sitting in soft
reclining chairs in a sealed room, listening to relaxing sounds while their eyes are covered with
special filters letting in only soft pink light. In early ganzfeld experiments, the telepathy test involved
identification of a picture chosen from a random selection of four taken from a large image bank. The
idea was that a person acting as a 'sender' would attempt to beam the image over to the 'receiver'
relaxing in the sealed room.
Once the session was over, this person was asked to identify which of the four images had
been used. Random guessing would give a hit-rate of 25 per cent; if telepathy is real, however, the hit-
rate would be higher. In 1982, the results from the first ganzfeld studies were analysed by one of its
pioneers, the American parapsychologist Charles Honorton.
The implication was that the ganzfeld method had revealed real evidence for telepathy. But
there was a crucial flaw in this argument - one routinely overlooked in more conventional areas of
science. In response, the researchers issued a review of all the ganzfeld studies done up to 1985 to
show that 80 per cent had found statistically significant evidence. However, they also agreed that
there were still too many problems in the experiments which could lead to positive results, and they
drew up a list demanding new standards for future research.
After this, many researchers switched to autoganzfeld tests - an automated variant of the
technique which used computers to perform many of the key tasks such as the random selection of
images. By minimising human involvement, the idea was to minimise the risk of flawed results.In
1987, results from hundreds of autoganzfeld tests were studied by Honorton in a 'meta-analysis', a
statistical technique for finding the overall results from a set of studies.
Yet some parapsychologists remain disturbed by the lack of consistency between individual
ganzfeld studies. If, as current results suggest, telepathy produces hit-rates only marginally above the
25 per cent expected by chance, it's unlikely to be detected by a typical ganzfeld study involving
around 40 people: the group is just not big enough. What they are certainly not finding, however, is
any change in attitude of mainstream scientists: most still totally reject the very idea of telepathy. The
problem stems at least in part from the lack of any plausible mechanism for telepathy.
Various theories have been put forward, many focusing on esoteric ideas from theoretical
physics. They include 'quantum entanglement', in which events affecting one group of atoms instantly
affect another group, no matter how far apart they may be. While physicists have demonstrated
entanglement with specially prepared atoms, no-one knows if it also exists between atoms making up
human minds. Answering such questions would transform parapsychology. This has prompted some
researchers to argue that the future lies not in collecting more evidence for telepathy, but in probing
possible mechanisms. Some work has begun already, with researchers trying to identify people who
are particularly successful in autoganzfeld trials. Early results show that creative and artistic people do
much better than average: in one study at the University of Edinburgh, musicians achieved a hit-rate
of 56 per cent. Perhaps more tests like these will eventually give the researchers the evidence they are
seeking and strengthen the case for the existence of telepathy.

18.putri Meilanda 2AP SUMMARY SET 1 PASSAGE 3

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

18.putri Meilanda 2AP SUMMARY SET 1 PASSAGE 3

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

18.putri Meilanda 2AP SUMMARY SET 1 PASSAGE 3

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Name : Putri Meilanda

Set 1, Reading Passage 3

You might also like