Ten years after the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology was established at the university of Edinburgh, by a bequest in the will of the philosopher Arthur Koestler and his wife, the Koestler parapsychology unit has become one of the major centres for psi research in Europe. The unit has four permanent staff members and is an integrated part of the university's psychology department. The unit is mainly concerned with postgraduate research but also offers study courses to undergraduate psychology students.
At present, there are a variety of research topics being explored, both parapsychological and psychological. Perhaps the most well-known (if that can be said of any parapsychological research!) is that of extrasensory perception (ESP) in a ganzfeld setting. The ganzfeld procedure involves a form of mild sensory deprivation, attempting to produce an homogenous visual and auditory field while also reducing somatic and external distractions, this better enabling the inwardly-focused attention thought to be conducive to psi. An automated system has been developed (in collaboration with other researchers elsewhere in the world) that allows for controlled testing of the ESP hypothesis while maximizing security considerations.
As for more conventional psychology, the unit also has an ongoing interest in the psychology of paranormal belief and experience. The origins of paranormal belief, how different people react to paranormal experiences and similarities between such beliefs and some psychopathologies are just some of the questions that researchers past and present have investigated. Research has covered the ways in which people may attribute paranormality to more mundane experiences, either through misperception or deliberate misdirection, and also at the approaches used by the sceptical movement.
A new research project, in collaboration with the Freiburg Institute, looks at the concept of volition. Volition, or deliberate intention, is sometimes the only difference between the spontaneous psi effects that abound in folklore or anecdotes and most laboratory studies. As reported experiences are invariably of a greater magnitude than those seen in the lab, perhaps this area could hold at least part of the key! As well as both English and German literature reviews, this project aims to develop a method of assessing volitional competence, with the eventual aim of developing procedures which will help both psi researchers and those people who may experience volitional difficulties in their everyday life.
The idea that some form of mental interaction with the environment may occur is also of interest to some of the researchers. The DMILS (Direct Mental Interaction with Living Systems) project looks at correlates between the mental intention of one person and the physiological change of another remote person. Psychokinesis (literally mind-movement) research replaces the physiological with the physical, utilising a variety of labile physical systems (random event generators, naturally occurring background radiation, laser devices) to look for intention-correlated changes.
Finally, as there is no such thing as an isolated system in the real world, attention is paid to environmental factors that may affect psychic and psychological functioning. Past studies have looked for possible relationships between the Earths magnetic field and psi, as well as the possibility that certain people may be very sensitive to subtle precursors of meteorological change. A new study will investigate human sensitivity to weak electromagnetic stimuli.
All of the research students and staff welcome inquiries about their work, either in person or via email/telephone/mail. The unit also publishes the European Journal of Parapsychology which is available by subscription.
Paul Stevens is a postgraduate at the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology, University of Edinburgh. He may be reached at
