Dreaming of Psi: A Narrative Review and Meta-Analysis of Dream-ESP Studies at the Maimonides Dream Laboratory and Beyond

Abstract

For more than half a century, considerable research has been conducted into what is now referred to as "dream-ESP". This domain had its greatest impact in the research work done at the Maimonides Dream Laboratory (Ullman, Krippner, & Vaughan, 1974). It originated in the idea that many people report telepathic and premonitory dreams, to which J. B. Rhine's wife, Louisa Rhine, attested on the basis of her vast collection of unexplained anecdotal accounts (Rhine, 1962). In some sense, psi (Le., psychic functioning) is encapsulated in the dream process, with the psi target seemingly embedded in the imagery that is the dream content. In this chapter, we provide an in-depth review of then dream studies undertaken at the Maimonides Dream Laboratory, and briefly review similar follow-up research (the so-called post-Maimonides dream studies) done since the Dream Lab's closure in 1978. It can be seen that today's ongoing and generally successful dream-ESP research has its humble beginnings at the Dream Lab, thanks to the pioneering work of Stanley Krippner and his colleagues.