A Comparison of Four New Automated Tests for Telephone Telepathy

Abstract

Objective. To develop user-friendly automated telephone telepathy tests. Method. In one kind of test, three participants who knew each other were linked together continuously in a conference call format. In each trial, the receiver was selected at random. The other two participants were muted and one was selected at random as the caller and asked to think about the receiver before being connected to that person. The receiver was asked to identify who was on the line, and then the caller and receiver were linked up and could talk. In the second type of test, trials were spaced out over longer time periods and callers and receivers went about their normal lives in between trials. Results. In none of the “conference call” tests was the hit rate significantly different from the chance level of 50%.  In the second type of test, with a total of 266 trials, the hit rate was 57% (p = .01). Conclusion. The failure of our “conference call” tests to show any significant telepathic effects could have been because all three participants were continuously engaged with the test, which may have confounded any telepathic influences. Tests in which non-callers were not engaged with the experiment gave better results. We suggest developing an intuition training application that would work along with people’s regular calls and messages. Such an app could be more user-friendly and enable participants to practice their intuitive skills, as well as enabling talented participants to be identified for more rigorous testing.