Ganzfeld Effect: what it is, characteristics and how it was investigated

Let's see what the Ganzfeld effect is, how it relates to parapsychology, and how it was investigated.

Does telepathy exist? At the moment, everything seems to indicate that it does notThere is no reliable experiment that has shown that a person can transmit his thoughts to another person by means of psychic waves.

Despite this, there are many who are still interested in demonstrating that telepathy exists and one of the most used methods to prove it is the Ganzfeld experiment.

Also known as the Ganzfeld effectThis consists of putting a person in a situation of sensory deprivation in order to make him more sensitive to what someone is trying to tell him without articulating a word. Let's dive into this curious and interesting parapsychological experiment.

What is the Ganzfeld effect?

The Ganzfeld effect, or Ganzfeld experiment (German for "homogenized field") is a technique used in parapsychology to supposedly test for the existence of telepathy and extrasensory experiences.. The premise behind this idea is that, in order to observe a telepathic phenomenon under experimental conditions, it is necessary to deprive the experimental subject of his senses, facilitating the reception of information from other sources, usually images.

Those who apply this experiment affirm that when one is exposed to a field of uniform and unstructured stimulation, such as seeing blackness and listening to a constant sound, as is the static of the television, the brain responds by amplifying neural noise in order to find missing visual and auditory signals.. From a parapsychological perspective, this would be what would allow us to pick up telepathic signals from other people, although it could also result in visual and auditory hallucinations.

This peculiar experiment has gained popularity in recent years for studying telepathy, but the truth is that it is quite old, attributed to the German psychologist Wolfgang Metzger in the 1930s. Metzger is considered one of the most important figures of Gestalt psychology, a trend that emerged in Germany at the beginning of the last century. Metzger suggested that when people looked at a featureless field of vision they were able to see things that were not really there.

Although it is a very interesting experiment, it is important to mention that there are many scholars who point out that this technique lacks the slightest reliability due to the lack of preparation of the subjects, the conditions of the space used and, of course, the fact that the study of telepathy is part of the esoteric world. the study of telepathy is more a part of the esoteric world, no matter how much it is attempted to study it.no matter how much we try to study it from an experimental psychology perspective.

History of the phenomenon

Since time immemorial, human beings have wanted to know if telepathy exists. Being able to transmit words, images or even feelings through our mind, without the need to say a single word, is something that attracts because of its aura of mystery but also because of how functional it would be to be able to talk to someone without others noticing.

It is believed that the first studies on sensory perception and extrasensory experiences were carried out by the aforementioned psychologist Wolfgang Metzer in the 1930s, who proposed the possibility that human beings were capable of reaching these states under certain conditions of sensory deprivation. By reducing the perception of physical stimuli, it would be possible for a person to capture the thoughts of another person without the need to speak..

Several decades later, in the 1970s, the first formal experiments on this question were conducted under the supervision of the American parapsychologist Charles Honorton, who was interested in analyzing dreams and discovering whether telepathy existed. To achieve his goals, Honorton made use of the Ganzfeld effect by depriving and limiting the senses of his experimental subjects.

Honorton's studies

Honorton's experiments on telepathy began in 1974 in different laboratories, all of them aimed at proving the existence of extrasensory perception independently of the environment in which it was performed.all of them aimed at proving the existence of extrasensory perception regardless of the environment in which it was performed. This set of experiments were carried out for several years, continuing until 2004.

In 1982, Honorton himself presented a paper to the annual convention of the Parapsychological Association that "confirmed" a 35% success rate, "proving" the existence of extrasensory experiences. However, when these data were presented, psychologist Ray Hyman pointed out a series of failures that occurred during the experiments, which would have contributed to the alteration of the results..

Both Honorton and Hyman studied these results separately for the purpose of further analysis. After a short time, what Hyman had said was confirmed, which showed the need to apply stricter controls during the performance of these parapsychological experiments.

In 1989 these experiments were replicated, with results more or less similar to those obtained in Honorton's first experiment. At this point, Hyman asked the entire community of experts and psychologists to conduct these same experiments independently, in order to draw more accurate conclusions.The results of these experiments were then used to draw more accurate conclusions from a wider range of opinions and evidence.

Although studies to prove the existence of telepathy continued, involving several laboratories and scholars, no reliable proof of the existence of this parapsychic phenomenon has ever been obtained. In fact, some of the results obtained were inconclusive or were criticized for the lack of rigor in the experiments.

How is the Ganzfeld experiment performed?

The main objective of the Ganzfeld effect is to prove the existence of extrasensory perception.. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to have a series of requirements:

• A completely empty, completely soundproofed and darkened room must be available.
• In some cases you can have a red light on, but the other two requirements are fundamental and must be respected to the letter.
• The only furniture that can be in the room is a comfortable chair or bed on which the experimental subject can lie down.

The experiment begins by picking up an item that can be placed over the subject's eyes in order to prevent him from being able to see. In many cases, this phase begins by taking a ping-pong ball, splitting it in half and placing each fragment over the participant's eyes, although this step can be done more professionally by taking special glasses or wearing a mask.

Subsequently, the subject is then fitted with headphones, making him/her listen to a soft noise.The subject is then fitted with headphones, making him/her listen to a soft and continuous noise, without interference. This sound must isolate him from the possible accidental noise made by the others involved in the experiment during his stay in the room.

The experiment is usually carried out by three people:

• The receiver, who is located in the room.
• The sender, who will be located in another space or away from the receiver.
• The researcher, who will be in charge of reviewing and monitoring the results.

Phases of the experiment

The phases of the Ganzfeld experiment are described in detail below.

Phase 1

The recipient's senses will be limited for about 15 to 30 minutes. The objective of this first phase is for the participant to reach a state of relaxation, but without falling asleep. but without falling asleep.

Phase 2

Phase 2 is given with the subject totally relaxed, but making sure that he/she is not asleep. To make sure that he/she remains conscious, we can talk to the subject either through the headphones or by approaching him/her and asking if he/she is asleep.. This should be done in the least disruptive way possible.

Phase 3

In phase 3, the sender will begin to see images, either on a screen or with pictures given to him by the researcher, and will try to send them telepathically. try to send them telepathically to the receiver.. The researcher will record the reactions that are taking place during this moment.

At the end of the telepathic bombardment, the receiver will have to identify which images were sent by the sender. The researcher will be provided with decoys to confirm whether the experiment has been successful..

Criticism

There are several weaknesses in the experiments in which the Ganzfeld effect has been applied to demonstrate the existence of telepathy. In the first experiments it was often the case that nott all the rooms were neither soundproofed nor completely empty, which could have affected the perception of the subjects in the study..

Added to this, the way in which the subjects were chosen was not rigorous or methodical, and as those who do these parapsychological experiments often lack real scientific knowledge, their experiments often have serious flaws in their experimental design.

Hacking the brain with the Ganzfeld effect.

Our brain is a machine that, as long as it does not suffer from injuries or diseases, works very efficiently. Nevertheless, this organ can be fooled relatively easily and the perfect example of this is optical illusions. Although the Ganzfeld effect was originally conceived to demonstrate the existence of telepathy, it seems that it serves to demonstrate a phenomenon that we could well consider the opposite: that of being able to hack into the brain..

With the Ganzfeld experiment we can make a person feel confused, experience the situation in which he finds himself as very strange and disturbing without resorting to the use of chemicals of any kind, just by using sensory deprivationThis was demonstrated by the youtubers of Scam Nation in a video on their YouTube channel.

These content creators created a situation of sensory deprivation using some common household objects such as tape, string, sheets of paper, cotton wool and other items. In order to cancel out the surrounding noise, they used headphones through which white noise from a recording posted on the video viewing platform itself was played without pause for at least 30 minutes and served to cancel out the noise in the room.

They noticed the effects after 10 to 30 minutes, They noticed the effects after 10 to 30 minutes, claiming to see "colored flowers" similar to when one rubs one's eyes hard. and, later, they began to see shapes such as dinosaurs, jellyfish and, at one point, they even saw something similar to the "Eye of Sauron" from the "Lord of the Rings" saga. They also had auditory hallucinations, one hearing screams and the other hearing laughter.

Thanks to elements from around the house, the guys at Scam Nation managed to create an atmosphere similar to that found in Honorton's experiments, replicating the same thing that happens in the sensory isolation tanks.