The Parapsychological Association

Is it possible that completing a creative insight task in the future will help you complete such a task now? This is the question that David Vernon, a researcher from Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, England is attempting to answer. He is asking people to complete a number of trials using a standard compound remote associates task. This involves presenting a participant with three words (such as “cake,” “swiss,” and “cottage,” and asking them to come up with a fourth word that is associated with all three [“cheese” in this example]). The new word can pair either before (cheesecake) or after (cottage cheese) the three words. After the participants have completed all 20 trials, Vernon shows them the ”answers” to half of the trials and has them type in the answers–twice. The question is, does this post-test priming lead to a precognitive effect such that participants respond more accurately to the trials that are primed compared to those that are not? 

Learn more about the results of this study at the 61st Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association this August at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, California.

The latest issue of Mindfield: The Bulletin of the Parapsychological Association has been released. Up until recently, only members of the PA could download Mindfield issues, but now anyone can purchase and download at digital issue for $10 or purchase a hard copy for $16 (plus shipping) at Magcloud.

The first issue by the new Mindfield Team - Celebrating Diverse Methods - features articles by Ian James Kidd and Patric Geisler that explore and exemplify methodological pluralism. A newly-launched News Watch column and Research Watch column further celebrate the diversity of our field. PA President Dean Radin calls for some major changes to the PA in his article Toward a New PA for the 21st Century. Reviews of the PA's 60th Anniversary Celebration (Columbus, Ohio) and the Centenary Conference of the Norwegian Society for Parapsychology appear in this issue, as well as contributions from Carlos Alvarado and Michael Tremmel. Finally, a resurgence of Articles Relevant to Parapsychology in the Journals of Various Fields closes the issue, adding 126 articles to this growing bibliography.

Purchase Mindfield 10.1 at Magcloud

Join the PA and enjoy a complimentary Mindfield e-subscription and access to all archives.

The Journal of Parapsychology (founded in 1937 at Duke University, and indexed in PsycInfo and Scopus) invites submissions relevant to research on the psi hypothesis and relevant areas, including the domain of anomalous experiences and alterations of consciousness. All relevant disciplines, including psychology, physics, biology, but also history, anthropology and other social sciences and humanities are within the purview of the journal. Quantitative, qualitative, mixed and other empirical methods, whether supporting the psi hypothesis or not, are welcome, as well as new theoretical contributions. Authors of contributions only published as PA Proceedings or not published at all are encouraged to submit their papers.

With respect to statistics, authors should report not only p values but also effect sizes when relevant. Although not mandatory at present, preregistration of studies, meta-analytical analyses, and supplementary approaches to hypothesis testing statistics are recommended.

With respect to qualitative, mixed, and/or systematic case studies, the authors should not spend space justifying their approach but instead describe how they established the validity and reliability of their data and analyses. All authors reporting new data should also include a section describing demographic data and attitudes about the psi hypothesis (when relevant) of those interacting with participants or having other important roles in the study. When relevant to a paper, a thorough literature review is expected and should be described in the manuscript.

Manuscripts and references must be meticulously prepared in accordance with the American Psychological Publication Manual, 6th ed. (there are various online summary guidelines of it) and must be written in good, but not stilted, English (some authors might consider using an academic professional editing service before submitting their papers).

I look forward to receiving your manuscript which, for the time being, should be sent to etzel.cardena@psy.lu.se

Etzel Cardeña, Ph. D., Thorsen Professor in Psychology, Lund University, Sweden (incoming JP editor)

The Parapsychological Association (PA) will be coming to Greece to host Athens’ first international parapsychology meeting in 87 years. The event will be held at the Titania Hotel near Syntagma square, July 20-23, 2017, when scientists and scholars from around the world will gather for three days of paper presentations, workshops, and panel discussions on the latest research into psi and related phenomena, such as extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis, psychic healing, altered states of consciousness, mediumship and possible survival of bodily death. Organized by PA Members Callum E. Cooper and Nikolaos Koumartzis, the event will be open to the public and to academics alike.

Program Chair Callum E. Cooper is based at the University of Northampton within its Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes (CSAPP). His PhD research focused on anomalous experiences during bereavement, and their impact on personal health, well-being and interpretations of hope. He is the author of over 30 articles in psychology and parapsychology, a dozen book chapter contributions, and has authored and edited 4 books to date. He is currently the acting module co-ordinator for the 3rd year class Parapsychology & Anomalous Experiences which is taken by approximately 50 students every year, as part of their BSc Psychology degree at the University of Northampton.

To submit a paper, research brief, workshop, or symposia to the event, see the Call for Papers. The deadline for submissions is April 5, 2017.

Arrangements Chair Nikolaos Koumartzis has been the PA Art Director for the last five years, establishing the PA’s visual presence and laying out it’s Mindfield bulletin. Prior to coming aboard as a PA staff member, he kept a column about parapsychological research around the world in Greek magazines for more than three years, published numerous related articles, and two related books. He is a PhD Candidate at the Dept. of Journalism, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the co-owner of a publishing group (with three publishing labels, a cultural multi-space and a music recording label).

Nikolaos’s efforts to help the Greek audience to come in touch with parapsychological research around the world is his homage to Dr. Angelos Tanagras, the first and only president of the Hellenic Society of Psychical Research, which was responsible for bringing the 4th International Conference of Parapsychology in Athens (April, 1930) - a major event for Greece.

This PA convention will offer an opportunity for international and Greek audiences interested in that wide range of human functioning popularly known as the ‘psychic’ or ‘paranormal’ to hear the latest and most advanced scientific thinking about topics in parapsychology. More details will be released at www.parapsych.org as they become available.
 

The latest issue of Mindfield: The Bulletin of the Parapsychological Association has been released to PA members.

This issue of Mindfield starts with a thorough discussion by PA President Chris Roe of potential psychological and parapsychological experimenter effects. Renaud Evrard chronicles the joint 59th PA and 35th SSE convention, besides providing his PA Secretary’s Report, which includes news of the winners of various PA awards. Carlos Alvarado gives us the first part of a bibliography on the history of parapsychology. Michael Tremmel, past PA Student Representative and recent award winner, gives a more circumscribed historical account of the concept and uses of the concept of psionic and psionics, coined originally in science/fiction literature. And Gerd Hövelmann, this time assisted by Maurice van Luitjelaar, contributes one of his very useful bibliographies of articles relevant to parapsychology published in journals of other fields. 

Electronic access to the Mindfield Bulletin is exclusive to PA members. If you have not already joined the PA, consider becoming a Supporting or Student member today.

Het Johan Borgman Fonds (HJBF) of The Netherlands has responded to the PA's call for assistance in rebuilding its publications archive  This overseas gift will include our much-needed 1980 edition of Research in Parapsychology, some missing issues of the PA News from the 1990's, and other assorted materials from other North American psi research associations.

Efforts are underway to restore and digitize the entire archive of PA Proceedings in anticipation of our upcoming 60th anniversary. We are currently seeking donations of Proceedings from the years 1972 - 1995 and 1997-1998. We are also seeking the 1977 and 1981 - 1993 volumes of Research in Parapsychology, and assorted PA newsletters from years past. 

Please contact the PA Office at office@parapsych.org if you would like to help restore the PA's archive by donating your unneeded/duplicate materials.

The Parapsychological Association presents the William Braud issue of Mindfield. Issue 5.3 features an unpublished paper by William Braud discussing alternatives to the model of the brain as producer of consciousness.

This number of Mindfield also includes some reflections by the new PA President Jim Carpenter, the Grande Dame of French Parapsychologists, Yvonne Dupplesis, is profiled by Renaud Evrard, Carlos Alvarado introduces the work of Italian psi researcher Ernesto Bozzano, Julia Mossbridge overviews a meta-analysis on presentiment studies, Gerd Hövelmann presents his 13th installment of Articles Relevant to Parapsychology in Journals of Various Fields, and Alejandro Parra reports on a survey of PA members.  

Mindfield: The Bulletin of the Parapsychological Association is an exclusive PA member publication that features theoretical, research, and historical articles along with regular columns by the PA president, news in the field, bibliographies of articles relevant to the study of parapsychology, and articles about researchers and laboratories around the world.  Join now if you would like to support the PA and stay abreast of the latest developments in the field.  Already a PA member? Log in and visit the Mindfield archive here.

As an affiliated organization of the American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS), the Parapsychological Association invites you to review  the call for symposium proposals for the 2014 AAAS meeting in Chicago.

The annual meeting of AAAS attracts approximately 5,000 attendees who present cutting-edge research that has implications for science and technology, public policy, and education. A large cadre of science reporters also attend and highlight the presentations in the press. The meeting will be held in Chicago on February 13–17, 2014. Each section of AAAS attempts to attract submissions of symposia (three to five presenters ) on "hot topics" in the field.

We encourage PA members to review the call and submit symposium proposals by April 23 at the AAAS website.

Here's a short travel video about Curitiba, Brazil for those who might be joining us at our 54th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association.  Much thanks to our Arrangements Chair, Fabio Eduardo da Silva for providing the link.