Commentary: Intentional Observer Effects on Quantum Randomness: A Bayesian Analysis Reveals Evidence Against Micro-Psychokinesis

TL;DR

This paper critically analyzes a study on micro-psychokinesis, using Bayesian methods to find no evidence supporting the effect and highlighting that observed data variations are likely due to chance.

Contribution

The authors provide a Bayesian reanalysis of previous experimental data, challenging claims of micro-psychokinesis effects and clarifying the role of data variation.

Findings

No significant evidence for micro-psychokinesis effects

Data variations are consistent with chance (p=0.328)

Reanalysis questions previous interpretations of the data

Abstract

The paper titled `Intentional Observer Effects on Quantum Randomness: A Bayesian Analysis Reveals Evidence Against Micro-Psychokinesis', published in Frontiers of Psychology in March 2018, reports on a mind-matter experiment with the main result of strong evidence against Micro-Psychokinesis. Despite this conclusion, the authors interpret the observed pattern in their data as possible evidence for Micro-Psychokinesis, albeit of a different kind. Suggesting a connection to some existing models, the authors put forward the hypothesis that a higher frequency of slow data variations can be observed in their experiment data than in a set of control data. This commentary analyses this claim and concludes that the variation in the data motivating this hypothesis would show up just by chance with a probability of p=0.328 under a null hypothesis. Therefore, there is no evidence for the hypothesis of faster data variations, and thus for this kind of suggested Micro-Psychokinesis in this experiment.