Psychic Phenomena and the Brain: Exploring the Neuropsychology of Psi

PSYCHIC PHENOMENA AND THE BRAIN: EXPLORING THE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY OF PSI by Bryan J. Williams. Gladesville, NSW, Australia: Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research, Inc., 2015. Pp. xii + 135. ISBN 978-0-9870772-2-6. Parapsychology is the study of conscious experiences including extrasensory perception (ESP: telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition) and psychokinesis (PK: interaction of mind and physical matter) that are described as paranormal or anomalous because they appear to transcend our current understanding of physical laws. Neuroscience is the study of the structure and function of the brain and nervous system based on the belief that all human experience has its origins in brain activity. It would appear that these two scientific domains have little in common and cannot even speak to each other. Indeed, many neuroscientists over the years have expressed the opinion that ESP and PK cannot exist, because there is no plausible explanation for them in terms of brain activity. However, the field of parapsychology has had a long-standing fascination with neuroscientific research, looking for the fundamental explanations of psi in terms of the physical mechanisms of brain function. This monograph, published by the Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research, brings together decades of research linking psychic phenomena and the brain. The author, Bryan J. Williams, has written on this topic in both academic review articles and book chapters. He was a research student of William G. Roll until his death in 2012 and is currently affiliated with the Psychical Research Foundation in Carrollton, Texas. Williams' monograph serves as an introduction to this area of inquiry, well-suited to the layman or to those students who are entering into the field of parapsychology. It provides the essential information about the history of parapsychology research and the methods of neuroscientific investigations of brain activity. This material is a necessary prerequisite for an understanding of the discussion of the research studies that comprise most of the text. The monograph provides access to the scientific literature with hundreds of reference citations to the original research, which enables deeper exploration of the areas of greatest interest to the reader. The text is clear and free of jargon, which makes it accessible to those who are not already familiar with the material. The preface and first chapter lay out the basic issue. The mechanisms of common sensory perception (sight, hearing, touch) have been thoroughly investigated. Specific sensory end-organs receive physical stimulation signals that travel through the nervous system and are processed, filtered, and integrated into perceptions within conscious subjective experience. Movement and the motor system are governed in a similar way by other components of the nervous system. However, there are instances in which people claim to perceive or to know without any apparent stimulation of the physical sense organs. As well, there are instances when individuals appear to influence events in the physical world without physical contact and the use of the motor system. These are the realm of parapsychology, the subjects of rigorous study for more than a century. Accumulated evidence supports the existence of these phenomena, in both the real world and the laboratory, which raises the questions of how they can possibly occur and whether psi phenomena can be accounted for by actions and functions of the brain and nervous system? For many scientists, who believe that every perception, thought, emotion, and action can be completely explained by the chemical and electrical activity of the brain, the idea that perception or action can take place through mechanisms beyond brain activity leads to a flat-out rejection of the very possibility of psi phenomena, despite any evidence. Williams suggests that an examination of the research on neuropsychological correlates of psi activity could provide a bridge between these two opposed areas of scientific inquiry. …