This preregistered study attempted to replicate a finding obtained from a re-analysis of a data set from an original micro-psychokinesis (micro-PK) study that presented a data-erasure manipulation performed in the context of quantum-based outcome observations (positive vs. negative picture presentations). The experimental manipulation of the availability or unavailability of objective data (objective number of positive pictures) revealed a predicted effect on subjective measures (recalled number of positive pictures) in the original data (moderate to strong Bayesian evidence). Observer-dependent biases measured based on subjective memory recalls of quantum events indicated a higher deviation from the Born rule, that is a higher recalled number of positive pictures, when objective data were absent than when objective data were present. The present study tested the replicability of this erasure result. We assessed the impact of intentional observation on quantum-based stochastic outcomes obtained from the qRNG (number of positive pictures) through subjective memory recall data about these events under experimental variation of the erasure of objective recordings. Against our prediction, subjective recall data did not vary with the experimental variation of the erasure of objective data: Participants did not recall more positive pictures in the erasure compared to the no-erasure condition. Thus, the replication attempt failed. The results indicate that intentional observation effects on quantum outcomes cannot be scientifically documented either with subjective or objective data of these outcomes. This calls into question the existence of intentional observer effects on macroscopic quantum outcomes. An alternative interpretation that such effects might decline after initial appearance is discussed.
This preregistered study attempted to replicate a finding obtained from a re-analysis of a data set from an original micro-psychokinesis (micro-PK) study that presented a data-erasure manipulation performed in the context of quantum-based outcome observations (positive vs. negative picture presentations). The experimental manipulation of the availability or unavailability of objective data (objective number of positive pictures) revealed a predicted effect on subjective measures (recalled number of positive pictures) in the original data (moderate to strong Bayesian evidence). Observer-dependent biases measured based on subjective memory recalls of quantum events indicated a higher deviation from the Born rule, that is a higher recalled number of positive pictures, when objective data were absent than when objective data were present. The present study tested the replicability of this erasure result. We assessed the impact of intentional observation on quantum-based stochastic outcomes obtained from the qRNG (number of positive pictures) through subjective memory recall data about these events under experimental variation of the erasure of objective recordings. Against our prediction, subjective recall data did not vary with the experimental variation of the erasure of objective data: Participants did not recall more positive pictures in the erasure compared to the no-erasure condition. Thus, the replication attempt failed. The results indicate that intentional observation effects on quantum outcomes cannot be scientifically documented either with subjective or objective data of these outcomes. This calls into question the existence of intentional observer effects on macroscopic quantum outcomes. An alternative interpretation that such effects might decline after initial appearance is discussed.
Objective. Testing specific mind-related effects on reality formation by investigating deviations from quantum randomness during the process of intentional observation, also known as micro-psychokinesis (micro-PK), is one empirical approach to address the mind-matter problem. While meta-analytical evidence over decades of research suggests that observers’ conscious or unconscious motivational states could produce significant micro-PK effects on quantum number generator (QRNG) outcomes, direct replication attempts often failed or the initially strong and apparently stable effects declined over time. Therefore, in addition to a direct replication strategy, alternative confirmatory approaches have been proposed that apply Higher-Level Analytical Strategies (HLASs) to test these effects existence. The present study reports a preregistered replication attempt of a micro-PK effect on QRNG outcomes documented by a specific HLAS variant, the Change of Evidence (CoE) measures, which were performed on a post-hoc basis in an original study.Method. To assess the observers’ unconscious intentional states, in a re-analysis of an existing data set we determined participants’ personality traits (PTs) on Cluster C and analyzed the relation between Cluster C outcome and trait-related sentences selected via QRNG outputs mirroring the respective typical concerns associated with the PTs vs. neutral stimuli. We predicted the presentation of more PT-related stimuli than chance expectation among participants exhibiting high PT assessment scores (PT-high) but not among individuals who exhibited low levels of these characteristics (PT-low). Although in line with this prediction initially strong Bayesian evidence for H1 was found within the PT-high group, this effect unexpectedly declined upon further data collection to indecisive evidence. Three post-hoc CoE tests were then performed comparing the empirical data to a randomly generated set of 10,000 simulations to distinguish a false positive finding i.e., an unsystematic, random Bayesian evidence variation, from a true positive effect that later declined i.e., from a systematic one. These exploratory post-hoc re-analyses of an existing data set rejected the null hypotheses in all CoE tests performed. These findings were then tested for replicability in a preregistered replication study which will be reported here.Results. The replication attempt failed. No Bayesian evidence for micro-PK was found and none of the CoE analyses could reject the null hypothesis in the PT-high group. As expected, no effects were found in the PT-low group either.Conclusion. The findings of the herein presented analyses go along with the results of earlier studies reporting similar experimental approaches which initially revealed strong and supposedly robust evidence for the postulated effects in non-preregistered original experiments but failed in a direct replication. Most central, the present findings indicate, that even CoE measures following the idea of HLASs to circumvent the non-replicability problem cannot provide replicable higher order micro-PK effects. The results obtained are discussed with regard to the Model of Pragmatic Information (MPI).
Intentional effects of human observerson the output of quantum-based random number generators (tRNG) have been studied for decades now. This research has been known as micro-psychokinesis (micro-PK) and many studies in the field reported evidence for mentally induced non-random deviations from chance. A most recent meta-analysis from Bösch, et al. (2006) revealed a very small and heterogeneous overall effect size that indicated a significant deviation from chance across studies. There remains doubt among the scientific community on the existence of micro-PK given: (i) the small and heterogenous effect; and (ii) the fact that several independent replication attempts of prominent studies failed to confirm the original results. The study presented here was intended to provide decisive evidence for or against the existence of micro-PK. An online experiment with 12,571 participants was conducted. The Bayesian analysis revealed strong evidence for H0 (BF01= 10.07). Thus, micro-PK did not exist in the data. A closer inspection of the temporal change of the effect seemed to suggest a non-random oscillative structure with a higher frequency than observed in simulated data. The possible role of entropy and the relation to the model of pragmatic information from von Lucadou (2015) is discussed.
Objective. In the research presented here, quantum measurement is conceptualized as pragmatic information transfer when an intentional observer perceives motive-relevant quantum-based outcomes. Owing to the nature of pragmatic information as described in Lucadou’s Model of Pragmatic Information, this information transfer causes an observer-dependent intentional co-formation of reality and can only be scientifically documented under reduced objectivity conditions. The effects thus reflect a “sobjective” reality that occupies the space between subjectivity and objectivity. The present study was designed to find evidence for the existence of this sobjective reality. Method. A pre-registered micro-psychokinesis task involving a quantum random number generator assessed the impact of intentional observation on quantum-based stochastic outcomes under experimental variations of the applied measures’ objectivity. Results. As predicted, an intentionally congruent bias in quantum-based outcomes was observed using subjective memory data from the observations when additional objective computer-stored data were not inspected and finally erased (i.e., objectivity was reduced). Quantum randomness was confirmed in a maximum objective data collection context for both stored and memory data. Conclusion. The results indicate that pragmatic information was transferred during trial observation when scientific objectivity was reduced. The evidence for intentionally based reality formation or quantum-based random reality emergence was thus shown to be a function of the measurements’ objectivity levels. The data suggest the existence of a sobjective reality and that a physicalist/materialist or an intentional creation worldview depends on the presence of an intentional agent and the definition of the measurement process.
A vivid discussion revolves around the role of the human mind in the quantum measurement process. While some authors argue that conscious observation is a necessary element to achieve the transition from quantum to classical states during measurement (Wigner, 1963), some go even further and propose a more active influence of the human mind on the probabilities of quantum measurement outcomes (e.g. Atmanspacher, Römer, & Walach, 2002; Penrose & Hameroff, 2011). This proposition was tested in micro-psychokinesis (micro-Pk) research were intentional observer effects on quantum random number generators (RNGs) were investigated. In the studies presented here we extended this line of research and tested the impact unconscious goals on micro-Pk. Our focus was cigarette addiction as an unconscious drive and hypothesized that regular cigarette smokers would influence the outcome of a quantum RNG that determined whether the participant was going to see a smoking-related or a neutral picture. Study 1 revealed strong evidence for micro-Pk (BF = 66.06) supporting the H1. As expected, no deviation from chance was found with non-smokers. In Study 2, a pre-registered highly powered replication attempt, failed to reproduce this result and showed strong evidence for H0 (BF = 11.07). When the data from both studies are combined a remarkable change in effect across time (resembling a combination of appearance followed by decline) can be seen only in the smoker’s subsample. Appearance-and-decline effects were absent in the non-smokers sample and in a simulation. Based on von Lucadou’s Model of Pragmatic Information we suggest that (micro-)Pk effects follow a systematic pattern comparable to a dampened harmonic oscillation. This concept may shed new light on past and future Pk research.
In the Generalized Quantum Theory (GQT), a theory designed to describe psychophysical phenomena, the subjective and objective aspects of reality are considered to be complementary. The research presented here focused on investigating such a macroscopic complementarity between subjective and objective reality descriptions within the context of color assessment. In particular, the non-commutability conjecture of the GQT posits that two observables derived from the subjective and objective subsystems do not simultaneously provide specific eigenvalues. Rather, the act of measurement within one subsystem, e. g. the performance of objective measurements on a stimulus, modifies the state of the entire system, including the eigenvalues of the other subsystem, e. g. the subjective experience of this stimulus. This conjecture was tested empirically in four studies and in three overall analyses of the complete data set combining all four studies. The experimental manipulation involved a measurement variation of one aspect of the supposed complementary pair, namely the storage (non-erasure condition) or deletion (erasure condition) of objective color parameters (hue and lightness). It was anticipated that the erasure manipulation would influence the other part of the pair, namely the subjective evaluations of color with respect to brightness and likability. The primary hypothesis, which tested erasure-dependent effects on variations in subjective brightness scores was confirmed in Studies 1 and 2 but could not be replicated in Studies 3 and 4. The initial findings obtained with this dependent variable can thus be considered false positives and the primary hypothesis could not be confirmed. However, the second hypothesis, which tested erasure-effects on subjective likability mean scores revealed the following results: The exploratory findings from Studies 1 and 2, as well as the confirmatory findings from Studies 3 and the preregistered Study 4, indicated an erasure effect on subjective likability, whereby higher likability scores were observed in the non-erasure condition compared to the erasure condition in each study. Since the experimental design was intentionally contaminated by a “color bias” alternative explanation to stabilize the effect documentation, a clear causal erasure interpretation cannot be provided at the single study level. To overcome this contamination an overall analysis strategy was pre-planned and performed on the combined data set. Several overall analyses ruled out the “color bias” alternative explanation and another confound. In conclusion, the overall results provided evidence for an erasure effect on subjective likability supporting the model of GQT. This can be interpreted as macroscopic complementary relations between objective and subjective reality descriptions as proposed by the GQT. The implications of these findings for our understanding of the nature of reality and for the validity of the GQT are discussed.
The Complementarity Principle (CP), introduced by Nils Bohr, described the wave-particle duality of quantum phenomena and its dependence on the measurement setup exploring the quantum states. In general, this principle summarized the fact that two mutually exclusive and contradictory states of quantum events can be reconciled as a measurement-dependent occurrence of these states. Originally, the CP was postulated only for the realm of quantum mechanics, but recently the Generalized Quantum Theory (GQT) extended its area of applicability to the macroscopic domain. According to GQT complementarity relations are also hypothesized to exist between macroscopic objective and subjective measurements of the same concept. This implies objective measurement-dependent variations of subjective experience. To test this hypothesis, seven studies were conducted in which individual variations in subjective intelligence ratings were tested in relation to the availability or non-availability of corresponding objective individual intelligence data. Only one pre-registered study (Study 2) showed strong Bayesian evidence for H1 (BF10 > 10), indicating, as predicted, higher subjective intelligence ratings when objective data were erased compared to a condition in which objective data were available within a male sample. This effect could not be replicated in direct replication attempts, nor did a moderator search in subsequent studies find any robust systematic variation in the data. The results seem to question the validity of the macroscopic complementarity conjecture derived from the GQT. On the other hand, they could also be interpreted as the “effect and decline” data pattern that the Model of Pragmatic Information would predict when conducting empirical confirmations of macroscopic complementarity relations. Possible future research strategies to clarify these different interpretations are discussed.