Dean Radin

This study tested for possible relationships between psi (psychic) performance and the psychological characteristics of interoception, empathy, absorption, and transliminality. Methods. A convenience sample of 45 participants completed the following four scales prior to testing psi performance. The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) measures eight dimensions of internal awareness, including physical and psychological processes. Scoring was a mean of the subscales. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) measures four dimensions of empathy: connection with characters in works of fiction, concern for the feelings of others, considering another person’s point of view, and discomfort during difficult interactions with others. The Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS) measures the ability to become immersed in thoughts or mental imagery. It is closely correlated with openness. The Revised Transliminality Scale measures the ability for a person to become consciously aware of unconscious materials or processes. The participants then completed a test of psi performance three times with three unique partners. The psi test paired participants in rooms separated by about 100’, with one acting as sender and one as receiver. The sender was shown a circular arrangement of eight randomly-ordered, emotionally-evocative photographs, and the receiver attempted to place a matching set of eight photographs in the same arrangement. Scoring was based on the number of photographs in the same position in both arrangements. Higher psi performance as a receiver was hypothesized to correlate positively with higher scores on each of the scales. Results. All correlations between psi performance and measured factors were in the direction of predictions. One outlier’s data were removed using Tukey’s Interquartile Range. Spearman Rank Correlation was the statistical test used. After applying the False Discovery Rate method to correct for multiple tests, 3 of the 7 correlations were statistically significant at the p < 0.05 level. Higher psi performance was correlated with empathy in the Distress subscale of the IRI (Spearman’s rho = -0.5948; p = 0.0007), with absorption in the TAS (Spearman’s rho = 0.5137; p = 0.007), and with interoception in the MAIA (Spearman’s rho = 0.4937; p = 0.008). Discussion. Increased psi performance was strongly correlated with one of the four measured aspects of empathy, that is the tendency to experience emotional discomfort during difficult interactions with others. This finding supports results from previous research. Increased psi performance was also closely correlated with heightened interoceptive awareness of internal physical and mental processes, with absorption, and with transliminality. This is the first study to rigorously test for these three relationships.