The Photo Telepathy Test

NB: We do not require further participants for this research.

Details of the experiment

Can you feel when someone is looking at your photo and thinking about you? You need one or two other people, preferably people you know well. The test takes less than 5 minutes. You will need to upload a digital photograph when registering.

Similar to the Joint Attention Telepathy Test, people often report they know when someone is looking at them. The sense of being watched can be a powerful experience and one which is investigated in the Photo Telepathy Test.

How the experiment works

This is collaborative research with Dr Rupert Sheldrake (www.sheldrake.org), using the online experiments available through his website. We are using a more stringent experimental setup for this project, but participants essentially take the same ‘telepathy test’. We no longer require participants for this project, but you can take Rupert’s own test here: www.sheldrake.org/experiments/ptt1sub

One of you is the subject, the other the observer. One person registers your pair and supplies a digital photograph of the subject. This should not be very high resolution image, or it will overload the system. Ideally, an image resolution of 640x480 is sufficient. Both participants then log on to the experiment at a prearranged time.

In a series of 20 trials, the observer is shown either the photo of the subject or a completely different photo, in a random sequence.  After ten seconds, the subject is asked to answer yes or no to the question, “Was you partner looking at a picture of you?”

The subject can choose whether or not to receive immediate feedback after each trial as to whether the guess was correct or not.

After each 20-trial test, you are told your score. The chance level is 10.