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The ganzfeld effect holds that, under certain conditions, we are able to communicate through telepathy. Will it be possible?
What would happen if let’s shut up somehow the perception and direct it towards certain points of interest? What would we achieve? The effect ganzfield seeks to explain this.
We are used to receiving information constantly. We are in the car and we are able to pay attention to other vehicles and to anticipate the movement of a girl who is going to run after her ball. We are also able to detect that a bad smell is coming out of a bag that has been in the back seat for days; meanwhile, we listen to our favorite song.
The effect ganzfield seeks to explain what happens when the brain is faced with a homogeneous field of attention and stimulation. The hypothesis is that will try make up for what you perceive as a fault, since he is used to constant stimulation.
What does this effect mean?
Also known as total field or uniform and unstructured stimulation field for this purpose, since it is reduce the input of information through the senses. This gives rise to the person’s potential to perceive other information extrasensory. The latter is called Extrasensory perception (EPS).
It includes phenomena such as telepathy and clairvoyance.
Faced with this exceptional situation, those who work in parapsychology consider that it’s a conducive atmosphere to be able to connect and perceive the thoughts or signals of the people around. In this way, it would be an environment that fosters supernatural phenomena.
The effect ganzfield He maintains that a situation of visual or auditory hallucination would also be allowed. For example, a constant and monotonous sound, such as white noise, would act as a facilitator of the condition.
Origin of the effect ganzfield
One of the first researchers to carry out experiments on the effect ganzfield It was Charles Honorton. This was followed up with a meta-analysis by Ray Hyman who suggested some corrections based on spotting inconsistencies.
Honorton and Hyman released a statement encouraging other researchers to continue testing for more results. In turn, they began a new stage of experiments, oriented towards a automated ganzfeld with some technological support, following the recommendations and trying not to make the same mistakes as before.
According to what was stated by Dalton, improvements were obtained and certain conditions of replicability of the results were achieved.
What is the experiment on the ganzfeld effect?
In a synthetic way, the experiment is developed in different stages:
- In the first one, it is about locating a person, called receiver, in a room that should only have a sofa or furniture where you can be comfortable and relax. The room should be devoid of any other kind of stimulus. In this phase, the receiver reaches a state of full relaxation.
- After a while, it is about checking that the receiver is relaxed, but not asleep. To do this, you can ask him in a very soft way how he is.
- In the second phase, the other participant (the transmitter) is exposed to certain images that must be sent or transmitted telepathically to the receiver. Whoever leads the investigation must record what happens with both people.
- Finally, when the sender finishes transmitting what he saw, the receiver must try to respond and visualize what the received images were. You can get help by asking a few questions.
Observations on the ganzfeld effect
In addition to the interest it arouses, The effect ganzfield also has its opponents. There are those who maintain that it is an unscientific experiment, that it lacks rigor and a reliable method.
In addition, they point out that due to the type of phenomena that are of interest to him, he belongs more to the field of parapsychology and the world of esotericism than to psychology. They further reinforce their criticism by stating that reaching certain states is very difficult, even under experimental conditions and without the use of substances.
Lastly, given that this is an experimental situation, they warn about the precautions to be taken into account as well as the conditions in which it is carried out.
What do supporters of the effect say ganzfield?
However, fans maintain that the effect ganzfield has much to contribute to the scientific revolution. That is, to other ways of understanding and doing science.
For example, there are those who point out that his contributions are very significant for transpersonal psychology. This is characterized by seeking to overcome or transcend the materialist paradigm, which it considers insufficient to explain reality.
Those who are in favor of the effect ganzfield and its postulates point out that we should not limit ourselves to believing that there is only one way of thinking, interpreting, receiving or communicating information. Hence, they find it acceptable, and even fascinating, the fact that this information arrives through other different channels to the traditional ones. is what they call abnormal cognition or abnormal transfer.
In this regard, Kathy Dalton (1997) adds that many of these myths regarding the effect ganzfield they are being shot down after similar results were obtained, replicating the experiments. This is a condition or requirement of all scientific method.
There’s still so much left to say
Brain states still continue to generate expectation among researchers, since the brain has always demonstrated its richness and complexity. Hence, it is not surprising that from different disciplines and fields (scientific and non-scientific) they are interested in discovering all that potential.
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