Study ‘Statistically Significant’: Extrasensory Perception (ESP) is Real

Derek Abma

A new U.S. study that suggests extrasensory perception – also known as ESP – may be real is causing a stir in academic circles ahead of its publication in a prominent journal of psychology.

A paper on the study’s results is set to be published as part of the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology at an undetermined date.

The study was done by Daryl Bem, a psychology professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who outlines nine experiments involving more than 1,000 subjects.

In an advance copy of the report, he writes that “all but one of the experiments yielded statistically significant results” of people sensing stimuli that were not yet available to one of their five known senses. It’s a phenomenon researchers such as Bem commonly refer to as “psi,” pronounced like “sigh.”

Asked to summarize his views on ESP, or extrasensory perception, Bem said in an email: “I believe the data (not just my own data) are strong enough to convince me that psi is real.”