Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37133806›Full record

ArticleBrain and behavior2023

Follow-up on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) remote viewing experiments

Álex Escolà-Gascón, James Houran, Neil Dagnall, Kenneth Drinkwater, Andrew Denovan

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Brain and behavior, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Mathematical proof of the Fisher-EscolàComputational and structural biotechnology journal · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Álex Escolà-GascónArea of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Ramon Llull University (Blanquerna Foundation), Barcelona, Spain.ORCID 0000-0002-3086-4024
James HouranLaboratory for Statistics and Computation, ISLA-Instituto Politécnico de Gestão e Tecnologia, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
Neil DagnallPsychology Department, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.
Kenneth DrinkwaterPsychology Department, Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.
Andrew DenovanDepartment of People and Performance, Faculty of Business and Law, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesSince 1972, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) commissioned several research programs on remote viewing (RV) that were progressively declassified from 1995 to 2003. The main objectives of this research were to statistically replicate the original findings and address the question: What are the underlying cognitive mechanisms involved in RV? The research focused on emotional intelligence (EI) theory and intuitive information processing as possible hypothetical mechanisms.

methodsWe used a quasi-experimental design with new statistical control techniques based on structural equation modeling, analysis of invariance, and forced-choice experiments to accurately objectify results. We measured emotional intelligence with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. A total of 347 participants who were nonbelievers in psychic experiences completed an RV experiment using targets based on location coordinates. A total of 287 participants reported beliefs in psychic experiences and completed another RV experiment using targets based on images of places. Moreover, we divided the total sample into further subsamples for the purpose of replicating the findings and also used different thresholds on standard deviations to test for variation in effect sizes. The hit rates on the psi-RV task were contrasted with the estimated chance.

resultsThe results of our first group analysis were nonsignificant, but the analysis applied to the second group produced significant RV-related effects corresponding to the positive influence of EI (i.e., hits in the RV experiments were 19.5% predicted from EI) with small to moderate effect sizes (between 0. 457 and 0.853).

conclusionsThese findings have profound implications for a new hypothesis of anomalous cognitions relative to RV protocols. Emotions perceived during RV sessions may play an important role in the production of anomalous cognitions. We propose the Production-Identification-Comprehension (PIC) emotional model as a function of behavior that could enhance VR test success.

Indexed as

Emotional IntelligenceEmotionsCognitionFollow-Up StudiesHumansIntelligence Testsanomalous cognitionscentral intelligence agencyemotional intelligencepsiremote viewing

Identifiers

PMID37133806
PMCPMC10275521

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.