Sensory Perception Paper

Extrasensory perception (ESP) refers to a number of claims, including clairvoyance, telekinesis, and precognition, among others. (Goldstein, 2010, p. 412) This paper would be focussed on what parapsychologists coin as telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance, the modes of investigation on these claims, and their place in our current understanding of sensations and perceptions.

While the notion of ‘sixth sense’ or ‘second sight’ has been claimed for centuries, J. B. Rhine is the first person to adopt the term ESP. ‘Precognition’ is defined as the ‘noninferential prediction of future events.’ (Honorton & Ferrari, 1989, p.281). Rhine made conscious distinction between ‘clairvoyance’, the ‘extra-sensory perception of an object’, and ‘telepathy’,

It might be a possibility that if subsequent studies on the same subjects are done there could be higher effect sizes and more extensive evidence. While institutions, or more specifically, intelligence agencies such as the CIA has shown interest in using parapsychology to their advantage and has created certain results (Kress, 1999; Hyman, 1986), the subjects at stake are greatly different. The vast majority of the studies on precognition involved in these meta-analyses have come to their fruition. The existence of certain studies with low effects but impactful results does not rectify the fact that even with ‘substantial’ amounts of research, results only who little effects precognition and clairvoyance. Moreover, correlation does not prove causation. These statistical inference only assigns probabilities, and should be subject to scientific scepticism (Schwarzkopf, 2014, p.1), on which clairvoyance is built on shaky grounds, which will be explored further

As we all know, the inner workings of our sensory systems and their relationships and interactions are sophisticated and meticulous, and there still vast areas of them that we do not understand. If we have to prove the existence of precognition and telepathy, we have to make sure that the information received and interpretation of such information are not due to any other ‘conventional’ sensory mechanisms. Such kinds of investigation are seemingly still impossible in current day