Citation

Prior studies seem to provide evidence for an anomalous increase in heart rate during the presentation of objects that were later randomly chosen and presented as target objects in a forced-choice guessing task. We investigated 48 participant pairs in a modified paradigm: We implemented a spatially separated partner who handled the particular target object during each of 14 blocks of the task while trying to influence the participant under physiological investigation, by mental means alone. Response differences between targets and nontargets were evaluated by measuring heart rate changes, electrodermal response amplitudes, respiratory changes, and pulse activity. Paranormal belief and partner connectedness were investigated as possible moderator variables for physiological response differences and hit rate. The analyses did not show evidence of anomalous physiological response differences between targets and nontargets (effect sizes < .2, p values > .1) or any influences of moderator variables. Methodological analyses provided evidence for a serial position effect in prior studies; this observation might point toward a particular significance of the last object presentation preceding the prompt

to guess. In order to prevent this confound and to avoid biased estimation of the alpha level, future studies should balance stimulus positions.