| Sumario: | ABSTRACT: For decades now, scientists have been examining the relationship between psychic (psi) phenomena and the human brain. As technology has advanced, more sophisticated methods have been used to study both the brain and psi phenomena. The advancement of technology has improved our understanding of how psi phenomena are mediated by the brain. This paper provides an overview of the research conducted in this area, beginning with the early references scientists made to the possible connection between psi phenomena and the specialized functions of the right cerebral hemisphere. Next, experiments that were conducted examining the relationship between brain hemisphere differences and ESP performance are reviewed. Results of studies conducted from the 1950s to the 1970s, when scientists began using the electroencephalograph (EEG) to explore a possible relationship between the proportion of alpha (a brainwave frequency between 8 and 12 Hz) and the number of correct guesses on an ESP task, are discussed. Following this period, the development of computerized or quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) has allowed scientists to more accurately record, process, and analyze the results of raw EEG data. Studies that have used QEEG to more precisely localize the dominant brain electrical activity of selected participants during psi tasks are reviewed. An analysis of QEEG data using a normative reference database, which has further advanced our understanding of how a selected participant's brain compares with a group of individuals representing the normal population, is reported and discussed. Finally, the results of the only known published study using single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) to study a selected participant's brain during a base-line and psi task are reviewed. The importance of more research being conducted using QEEG, normative reference databases, and other sophisticated brain imaging technologies such as SPECT, positron emission tomography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging on both selected and unselected participants during different types of psi tasks is asserted. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
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