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Consciousness-related interactions in a double-slit optical interferometer

Gabriel Guerrer

Published Jan 1, 2017• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Motivated by a series of reported experiments and their controversial results, the present work investigated if volunteers could causally affect an optical double-slit system through mental efforts alone. The participants' task alternated between intending the increase of the (real-time feedback informed) amount of light diffracted through a specific single slit and relaxing any intention effort. The 160 data sessions that 127 volunteers took part in revealed a statistically significant 4.68 sigma difference between the measurements performed in the intention versus the relax conditions ($p=2.93\times10^{-6}; \, es= 0.47 \pm 0.20$ 95\% CL), while the 160 control sessions conducted without any observers present resulted in statistically equivalent samples ($z=0.35, \, p=0.73; \, es=0.04 \pm 0.20$ 95\% CL). The results could not be explained by environmental factors, hence supporting the previously claimed existence of a not yet understood form of interaction between a conscious agent and a physical system.

DOI
10.17605/osf.io/qdkvx

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Consciousness-related interactions in a double-slit optical system

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Motivated by a series of reported experiments and their controversial results, the present work investigated if volunteers could causally affect an optical double-slit system by mental efforts alone. The participants' task in the experimental sessions alternated between intending an increase in the (real-time feedback-informed) amount of light diffracted through a specific single slit versus relaxing their intentional effort. In total, 240 sessions contributed by 171 volunteers were recorded. The first 160 sessions were collected in an exploratory mode, and those data revealed statistically significant differences between the intention and relax conditions. The analysis method and variables of interest derived from the exploratory sessions were then pre-registered for the subsequent 80 formal sessions. The formal experiments, based on a directional hypothesis, were not statistically significant. A post hoc meta-analysis based on a bi-directional hypothesis, and applied to the same data, resulted in a 2.75 sigma outcome ($p=6.02\times10^{-3}; \, es=0.31 \pm 0.22$ 95\% CI). Directional and bi-directional analyses applied to an equal number of control sessions, all conducted without observers present, resulted in uniformly non-significant outcomes. Analysis of environmental factors did not reveal any artifactual sources that might have produced the significant bi-directional effect. While the pre-registered analysis did not support the existence of the investigated phenomenon, the post hoc findings warrant further investigation to formally test the bi-directional hypothesis.

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A double-slit optical system was used to test the possible role of consciousness in the collapse of the quantum wavefunction. The ratio of the interference pattern's double-slit spectral power to its single-slit spectral power was predicted to decrease when attention was focused toward the double slit as compared to away from it. Each test session consisted of 40 counterbalanced attention-toward and attention-away epochs, where each epoch lasted between 15 and 30 s. Data contributed by 137 people in six experiments, involving a total of 250 test sessions, indicate that on average the spectral ratio decreased as predicted (z=-4:36, p=6*10-6). Another 250 control sessions conducted without observers present tested hardware, software, and analytical procedures for potential artifacts; none were identified (z=0:43, p=0:67). Variables including temperature, vibration, and signal drift were also tested, and no spurious influences were identified. By contrast, factors associated with consciousness, such as meditation experience, electrocortical markers of focused attention, and psychological factors including openness and absorption, significantly correlated in predicted ways with perturbations in the double-slit interference pattern. The results appear to be consistent with a consciousness-related interpretation of the quantum measurement problem.

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Abstract Ð An experiment in which participants were asked to reduce the fringe contrast in a Young’s double-slit interference pattern has been conducted independently at two laboratories using the same apparatus. Participants at York University were explicitly invited to exert their intentionality either to direct the photon flux preferentially through one path or the other, or to obtain spatial information about the division of the flux. Participants at Princeton University were invited simply to reduce the fringe contrast by any strategy they wished. Results from both laboratories (Z =- 0.481 and Z = 1.654 respectively) are discussed along with a description of earlier efforts to frame this experiment as a test of an extra-sensory channel for the acquisition of information.

•Jan 1, 1998•20 citations
Motivated by a series of reported experiments and their controversial results, the present work investigated if volunteers could causally affect an optical double-slit system through mental efforts alone. The participants' task alternated between intending the increase of the (real-time feedback informed) amount of light diffracted through a specific single slit and relaxing any intention effort. The 160 data sessions that 127 volunteers took part in revealed a statistically significant 4.68 sigma difference between the measurements performed in the intention versus the relax conditions (p=2.93×10−6; es=0.47±0.20p=2.93\times10^{-6}; \, es= 0.47 \pm 0.20p=2.93×10−6;es=0.47±0.20 95% CL), while the 160 control sessions conducted without any observers present resulted in statistically equivalent samples (z=0.35, p=0.73; es=0.04±0.20z=0.35, \, p=0.73; \, es=0.04 \pm 0.20z=0.35,p=0.73;es=0.04±0.20 95% CL). The results could not be explained by environmental factors, hence supporting the previously claimed existence of a not yet understood form of interaction between a conscious agent and a physical system.
Motivated by a series of reported experiments and their controversial results, the present work investigated if volunteers could causally affect an optical double-slit system by mental efforts alone. The participants' task in the experimental sessions alternated between intending an increase in the (real-time feedback-informed) amount of light diffracted through a specific single slit versus relaxing their intentional effort. In total, 240 sessions contributed by 171 volunteers were recorded. The first 160 sessions were collected in an exploratory mode, and those data revealed statistically significant differences between the intention and relax conditions. The analysis method and variables of interest derived from the exploratory sessions were then pre-registered for the subsequent 80 formal sessions. The formal experiments, based on a directional hypothesis, were not statistically significant. A post hoc meta-analysis based on a bi-directional hypothesis, and applied to the same data, resulted in a 2.75 sigma outcome (p=6.02×10−3; es=0.31±0.22p=6.02\times10^{-3}; \, es=0.31 \pm 0.22p=6.02×10−3;es=0.31±0.22 95\% CI). Directional and bi-directional analyses applied to an equal number of control sessions, all conducted without observers present, resulted in uniformly non-significant outcomes. Analysis of environmental factors did not reveal any artifactual sources that might have produced the significant bi-directional effect. While the pre-registered analysis did not support the existence of the investigated phenomenon, the post hoc findings warrant further investigation to formally test the bi-directional hypothesis.
The consciousness-collapse interpretation of quantum mechanics was explored by testing if human observation might act like a weak quantum measurement effect in an optical interferometer. Forty-seven participants selected via a worldwide search for individuals with experience in focusing their attention were each provided with a custom-made optical apparatus. Using this device, they ran a preassigned series of test sessions to see if illumination recorded in a portion of the interference pattern would be affected when a feedback signal based on that measure was observed versus unobserved. Another portion of the interference pattern was recorded simultaneously but never observed to provide control data. Environmental sensors and real-time encryption of the illumination data were among the methods included in the design of the experiment to help ensure data integrity.With all data combined the results did not support three preregistered hypotheses, but for one of those hypotheses participants partitioned by those experienced in an outward vs. an inward focus of attention achieved significantly better results in reducing interference (p = 0.008). An exploratory hypothesis also found a significant difference in skewness of the distribution of interference measures recorded in observed vs. unobserved periods (p = 0.004). In addition, an exploratory analysis showed a clear trend – a progressive decline in interference – while participants observed a portion of the interference pattern, as compared to data recorded simultaneously from an unobserved portion (p = 5.9 × 10-14). By comparison, applying the same analysis during no-observation periods found no differences in trends (p = 0.77). Control data run with no observers present and subjected again to this same trend analysis showed uniformly nonsignificant results. Alternative explanations, including possible environmental influences that might have caused these outcomes, as well as recommendations for future studies, are discussed.
An experiment we conducted from 2012 to 2013, which had not been previously reported, was designed to explore possible psychophysical effects resulting from the interaction of a human mind with a quantum system. Participants focused their attention toward or away from the slits in a double-slit optical system to see if the interference pattern would be affected. Data were collected from 25 people in individual half-hour sessions; each person repeated the test ten times for a total of 250 planned sessions. “Sham” sessions designed to mimic the experimental sessions without observers present were run immediately before and after as controls. Based on the planned analysis, no evidence for a psychophysical effect was found. Because this experiment differed in two essential ways from similar, previously reported double-slit experiments, two exploratory analyses were developed, one based on a simple spectral analysis of the interference pattern and the other based on fringe visibility. For the experimental data, the outcome supported a pattern of results predicted by a causal psychophysical effect, with the spectral metric resulting in a 3.4 sigma effect (p = 0.0003), and the fringe visibility metric resulting in 7 of 22 fringes tested above 2.3 sigma after adjustment for type I error inflation, with one of those fringes at 4.3 sigma above chance (p = 0.00001). The same analyses applied to the sham data showed uniformly null outcomes. Other analyses exploring the potential that these results were due to mundane artifacts, such as fluctuations in temperature or vibration, showed no evidence of such influences. Future studies using the same protocols and analytical methods will be required to determine if these exploratory results are idiosyncratic or reflect a genuine psychophysical influence.
An experiment was conducted to explore possible psychophysical influences on interference patterns generated by an optical double-slit system. The experiment was motivated by a proposed explanation of the quantum measurement problem by John von Neumann and others, namely that consciousness collapses the quantum wavefunction. The study design generated a single database partitioned into eight differential tests, four in experimental conditions where participants alternately directed their attention toward and away from the optical system, and four in sham conditions when no one was present. The planned analysis was comparison of means in attention-toward vs. attention-away conditions; a secondary analysis added later, but before the data were examined, was comparison of variances. After adjusting the eight mean comparisons for multiple testing, none were statistically significant, but one of the eight variance differences was suggestively significant.To date, 11 of 28 conceptual replications of this experiment, reported by four independent teams, have reported statistically significant outcomes (p < 0.05, two-tail), where only one would be expected by chance. Given the implications of psychophysical effects on our understanding of the role of consciousness in the physical world, we encourage others to attempt to replicate this experiment.
A double-slit optical system was used to test the possible role of consciousness in the collapse of the quantum wavefunction. The ratio of the interference pattern's double-slit spectral power to its single-slit spectral power was predicted to decrease when attention was focused toward the double slit as compared to away from it. Each test session consisted of 40 counterbalanced attention-toward and attention-away epochs, where each epoch lasted between 15 and 30 s. Data contributed by 137 people in six experiments, involving a total of 250 test sessions, indicate that on average the spectral ratio decreased as predicted (z=-4:36, p=6*10-6). Another 250 control sessions conducted without observers present tested hardware, software, and analytical procedures for potential artifacts; none were identified (z=0:43, p=0:67). Variables including temperature, vibration, and signal drift were also tested, and no spurious influences were identified. By contrast, factors associated with consciousness, such as meditation experience, electrocortical markers of focused attention, and psychological factors including openness and absorption, significantly correlated in predicted ways with perturbations in the double-slit interference pattern. The results appear to be consistent with a consciousness-related interpretation of the quantum measurement problem.
Abstract Ð An experiment in which participants were asked to reduce the fringe contrast in a Young’s double-slit interference pattern has been conducted independently at two laboratories using the same apparatus. Participants at York University were explicitly invited to exert their intentionality either to direct the photon flux preferentially through one path or the other, or to obtain spatial information about the division of the flux. Participants at Princeton University were invited simply to reduce the fringe contrast by any strategy they wished. Results from both laboratories (Z =- 0.481 and Z = 1.654 respectively) are discussed along with a description of earlier efforts to frame this experiment as a test of an extra-sensory channel for the acquisition of information.