A Reconsideration of Sheldrake’s Theory of Morphic Resonance | Hitchman & Roe

Glenn Hitchman and Chris Roe, Professors of Psychology at the University of Northampton, examine Rupert Sheldrake’s theory of morphic resonance via laboratory-based studies. While empirically testable, there are few formal scientific studies on Morphic Resonance Theory, much of them lacking peer review.

The presented study is a follow-up to Roe’s 2010 research with the intent to gather a larger and more stringent data set, correcting any experimental design weakness from the first study. In this follow-up study, one hundred and one participants were asked to examine 16 Chinese characters, with half the characters consisting of believable facsimiles. After examination of the characters, participants were asked to engage in a distractive task, inhibiting one’s short-term memory of the previously displayed characters.

Following this, a pair of characters was then presented, and participants were asked if they recalled seeing the pair. This pair of characters was composed of two characters, one genuine and one a facsimile, that fulfilled one of three conditions. Either the genuine character had been presented on the initial 16-character chart, the facsimile was presented, or neither was previously shown.

Presented at the “62nd Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association” on July 4, 2019, Paris, France; program chaired by Ramses D’Leon. Download the Abstracts at https://www.parapsych.org/articles/37/483/2019_pa_convention_abstracts_of.aspx

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A longer version of this convention video, including the Q&A period, is available to PA members-only at parapsych.org. There is a level of PA membership for everyone interested in the scientific and scholarly advancement of parapsychology. Learn more at: https://www.parapsych.org/join_the_pa.aspx

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Published on October 9, 2021

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