Imagery and neutrophils. In a follow-up study, a different group of participants were asked to imagine the neutrophils remaining in the body. Results showed that the average number of cells staying in the blood stream showed a significant increase compared to the first experimental group (58% vs. 28%). “Imagery appears to have a direct impact on the function of the neutrophils, at least for those who believe it will” (Achterberg, 1985, p. 201).
Imagery predicts disease outcomes. The correlation between mental imagery and disease state is so strong that imagery assessment (e.g., “Describe how your cancer cells look in your mind’s eye” and “How do you imagine your white blood cells fight disease?”) has successfully been used to predict who will die of cancer and who will go into remission. In a landmark collaborative study conducted by Simonton, Matthews-Simonton, Achterberg, and Lawlis (cited in Achterberg, 1985, pp. 183-192), 126 patients having Stage IV metastatic cancer completed a battery of psychological tests, including imagery assessment of patient’s drawings of themselves, their cancer, treatment, and immune system. Of all the factors founded to be predictive of future events (including the psychological factors of denial, locus of control, and negative self-investment), imagery was most predictive of future health status. Remarkably
the total [imagery] scores were found to predict with 100% certainty who would have either died or shown evidence of significant deterioration during the two-month period, and with 93% certainty who would be in remission…What the patients’ imaginations predicted were the dramatic changes that would occur within a short period of time. (Achterberg, 1985, p. 189)
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Experimental Designs
Direct Mental Interactions with Living Systems. The hypothesis that people have an ability to unconsciously detect and physiologically respond to distant mental influences is given support by the 37 experiments conducted by psychologist William Braud and anthropologist Marilyn Schlitz from 1974-1991. These experiments were comprised of 655 sessions with 449 individuals (human and non-human animals) as receivers and 153 individuals (humans) as senders (see Braud & Schlitz, 1989, 1991 and Braud, 2003, for summaries of these experiments on direct mental interactions with living systems). Braud (in Tart, 1997a, p. 143) describes the experimental design typically used in experiments with humans.
We monitored electrodermal activity, which reflects the activity of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system [and reflects states of emotional arousal]. The monitored person was stationed in one room and the “influencer” was stationed in a separate, distant room [that are sound and electromagnetically shielded]. Under the conditions of the experiments, sensory and other conventional forms of communication between the two persons were eliminated. The influencer attempted to influence the distant person’s electrodermal activity according to a random schedule unknown to the person being influenced. The experimental procedure was computer-controlled and the electrodermal measurements were scored objectively by computer. (Braud, 1997, p. 143)
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Method. Sessions typically lasted 20 minutes with one-minute intervals of attention-directed mental-influence treatment periods randomly alternating with one-minute intervals of no-influence control periods. The dependent variable outcome measure was the proportion of the total electrodermal activity that occurred during the 10-minute treatment periods divided by the total electrodermal activity for the 20 sessions. The proportion of electrodermal activity expected to occur during treatment intervals simply on the basis of chance alone would be 50 percent of the total activity recorded during the session.
Within-subjects experimental designs. Using with-subjects experimental designs, Braud and colleagues found that
Compared to no-influence control periods, the distant persons did indeed evidence greater autonomic nervous activity during periods when the influencers were mentally intending for this to happen, and showed lowered autonomic activity when reduced activity was the aim [with an average effect size of 53 percent compared to the 50 percent expected by chance]. We also found preliminary indications that people were able to “block” unwanted influences upon their own physiological systems through their own interfering intentions and imagery… Using similar designs, we found that persons were able to protect their own and others’ red blood cells (i.e., to decrease the rate at which the cells broke down and died under osmotic stress), mentally and at a distance, using strategies of attention, intention, and visualization of the desired outcomes. In these hemolysis studies, the rate of death of the blood cells was monitored in a blind fashion and objectively by means of a spectrophotometer that detected the state of health of the cells. (Braud, 1997, p. 143)
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Factors that influenced performance. Braud and colleagues explored a number of hypotheses related to factors that influenced successful facilitation and inhibition of various biological processes by attention focused upon another person.
The mental strategies used by the successful influencers included: (a) producing the desired bodily changes in themselves, using self-regulation techniques, while intending for the distant person to change similarly; (b) visualizing or imagining the distant person in situations that would be expected to produce the desired bodily changes if the distant person actually were to find himself or herself in such situations; and (c) intending and wishing for the polygraph indicator (which reflected the electrodermal activity) to behave appropriately (i.e., in line with the influencer’s intentions. (Braud, 1997, p. 143)
Meta-analysis indicated statistically significant results. Meta-analysis indicated that 57% of the 37 experiments conducted were statistically significant (p< .05) whereas only 5% would be expected to be significant on the basis of random chance alone. The odds against 57% of the 37 experiments showing significant results on the basis of chance alone is more than one trillion to one.
This work on direct mental interactions involving living systems has two important implications for spirituality. First, the findings are consistent with the reported outcomes, within many spiritual traditions, of mental healing, spiritual healing, and intercessory prayer. Second, the fact that one person’s physiological activity can be shown to reflect or mirror that of another person, even when the two people are physically separated by distance and by shields, suggests that at certain levels the two apparently separate and distinct bodies are really one. Certain states of mind and stations of being can facilitate entrance into this realm wherein merging with another is possible. (Braud, 1997, p. 144)
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