Imagery Cultivation and Extra-Sensory Perception

Abstract

Bern and Honorton (1994) assert that, "Historically, psi has often been associated with meditation, hypnosis, dreaming, and other naturally occurring or deliberately induced altered states of consciousness" (p. 5). Perhaps the most widely used technique in this context is the Ganzfeld ("total field") which may be defined, in broad terms, as a "homogeneous perceptual environment" (Bern, 1993, p. 102). Specifically, the Ganzfeld consists of an undifferentiated visual field created by viewing a red light through halved translucent table-tennis balls taped over a percipient's eyes. Additionally, an analogous auditory field is produced by listening to stereophonic white or pink noise (i.e., a monotonous hissing sound; Bern, 1993). Therefore, as a procedure whereby a 'sender' (agent) is required to "psychically communicate" (Milton & Wiseman, 1999, p. 387) a picture target or movie-film target to an isolated 'receiver' (percipient) who is in the Ganzfeld condition of homogeneous sensory stimulation, the Ganzfeld is usually regarded as inducing an altered state of consciousness (ASC) 2 that is considered psi-conducive.