page_title: Michael Persinger
hierarchical_section_title: Michael Persinger
caption_attribution_description: English: Persinger has studied the role that electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and infrasound may play in causing the perception of a "sensed Presence."
context_page_description: Michael A. Persinger was an American-Canadian professor of psychology at Laurentian University, a position he had held from 1971 until his death in 2018. His most well-known hypotheses include the temporal lobes of the human brain as the central correlate for mystical experiences, subtle changes in geomagnetic activity as mediators of parapsychological phenomena, the tectonic strain within the Earth's crust as the source of luminous phenomena attributed to unidentified aerial objects, and the importance of specific quantifications for energy, photon flux density, and small shifts in magnetic field intensities for integrating cellular activity as well as human thought with universal phenomena.
  Persinger's experimental work on paranormal experiences has received widespread media coverage but has also been widely criticised.
context_section_description: Michael A. Persinger (June 26, 1945 – August 14, 2018) was an American-Canadian professor of psychology at Laurentian University, a position he had held from 1971 until his death in 2018. His most well-known hypotheses include the temporal lobes of the human brain as the central correlate for mystical experiences, subtle changes in geomagnetic activity as mediators of parapsychological phenomena, the tectonic strain within the Earth's crust as the source of luminous phenomena attributed to unidentified aerial objects, and the importance of specific quantifications for energy (10⁻²⁰ Joules), photon flux density (picoWatt per meter squared), and small shifts in magnetic field intensities (picoTesla to nanoTesla range) for integrating cellular activity as well as human thought with universal phenomena.
  Persinger's experimental work on paranormal experiences has received widespread media coverage but has also been widely criticised. His major research themes have included electromagnetic field effects upon biological organisms, epilepsy, temporal lobe functions, properties of biophotons, geophysical-human interactions, physical cosmology, and the quantifiable examination of what Persinger terms "low-probability phenomena" such as time travel, parallel universes, and the universe as a simulation.  He has published over 500 technical articles in scientific journals (many in predatory journals), more than a dozen chapters in various books, and seven of his own books.  His book with Ghislaine Lafreniere, entitled Space-Time Transients and Unusual Events (1977), documents the search for patterns in phenomena that are not compatible with current scientific paradigms.
  He argued that all phenomena including consciousness, spiritual experiences, and "paranormal events" can be explained by universal physical mechanisms and can be verified using the scientific method. He contended quantitative differences in energy, rather than qualitative distinctions, are responsible for the apparent mind-body duality. Further, he has claimed that the structure and function of the brain determine the boundaries of human perception of the universe, and that shared quantitative values connect local phenomena with fundamental properties of the cosmos.
caption: Persinger in 2010
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