Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the results of all meta-analyses on anomalous cognition conducted between 1989 and 2021 in order to find moderators associated with greater effect sizes. Method: We included all meta-analyses of studies related to anomalous cognition published up to 2021. Results: Our dataset, accumulated over more than 80 years of investigation, refers to 11 meta-analyses related to six different states of consciousness. The evidence clearly shows that anomalous cognition seems possible and its effects can be enhanced by using a combination of some non-ordinary or altered states of consciousness (e.g., dreaming, ganzfeld, etc.), coupled with free-response procedures, or neurophysiological dependent variables. These conditions facilitate an alternative form of cognition seemingly unconstrained by the known biological characteristics of the sense organs and the brain. Conclusion: The accumulated evidence expands our understanding of the mind-brain relation and the nature of the human mind.
Highlights
MethodsSearch procedureFor the present study, we collected all available meta-analyses conducted up to 2021 published in English-language peer-reviewed journals. (As a matter of expediency, we use the online study by Tressoldi and Storm (2021b)—for details, see section.) This synthesis represents an update to 2021 of previous reviews presented by Tressoldi (2011) and more recently by Cardeña (2018)
Notwithstanding the limitations of this study, we can provisionally state that the overall picture is that anomalous cognition manifests its potentialities by bypassing normal waking consciousness, either by modifying it or using implicit physiological mechanisms
It seems that humans possess two alternative ways of obtaining information: first, by using their physiological functions, sensory organs, and brain, and second, by using an anomalous/nonlocal mental capacity that might be used as a complement to the ordinary local perceptual abilities, which pushes for a modified interpretation of mind and consciousness in general
Summary
Search procedureFor the present study, we collected all available meta-analyses conducted up to 2021 published in English-language peer-reviewed journals. (As a matter of expediency, we use the online study by Tressoldi and Storm (2021b)—for details, see section.) This synthesis represents an update to 2021 of previous reviews presented by Tressoldi (2011) and more recently by Cardeña (2018). We collected all available meta-analyses conducted up to 2021 published in English-language peer-reviewed journals. All meta-analyses should include studies related to different but specific phenomena suggestive of anomalous (nonlocal, extrasensory) cognition. The 13 meta-analyses had to have been published in peer-reviewed English-language journals. All meta-analyses related to anomalous cognition in a ganzfeld condition before 2020 (e.g., Bem & Honorton, 1994; Milton & Wiseman, 1999b; Storm et al, 2010) were not included here because all studies in those meta-analyses were analysed in the Tressoldi and Storm (2021b) meta-analysis. We excluded the Milton and Wiseman (1999a) meta-analysis because it was related to mass participation without any control over recruitment and motivation of participants who were requested to predict masked targets, similar to the lottery guessing tasks. A partial overlap with the studies included in Honorton and Ferrari (1989) is presented in Steinkamp, Milton, and Morris (1998) who included only the studies that combined both a clairvoyance and a precognition task
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