Ganzfeld Effect In Cognitive Psychology

Ganzfeld Effect – This word is taken from German for “complete field”, or perceptual deprivation. it is a phenomenon of perception affected by exposure to a shapeless, uniform stimulation field. The effect is the result of the brain increasing neural noise in order to look for the missing visual signals. A ganzfeld experiment which is taken from the German for “entire field”. It is basically a practice used in parapsychology that is used to test individuals for extrasensory perception (ESP).

Experiments

Cut a Ping-Pong ball in two splits or use two plastic spoons. Paint them consistently in red, for example, making sure there are no splashes so that you really have one uniform field of color. Put them over your eyes so that your eyes are completely covered. Then stare toward a light source for a few minutes. At some point, your perception will change from the color red to gray because your cells have adapted to the persistent stimulus. Some people also perceive hallucinations and experience different states of consciousness when exposed to a Ganzfeld.

In a typical all-field experiment, a “receiver” is set up in a room where a comfortable chair with halved table tennis balls over the eyes relaxes and a red light shines on them. The receiver also carries a set of headphones that play white or pink noise (static). The recipient is in this state of mild sensory deprivation for half an hour. During this time, a “sender” observes a randomly chosen target and attempts to mentally send that information to the recipient. The receiver talks aloud during the thirty minutes and describes what he or she can see. This is recorded by the experimenter who is blind to the target either by recording on tape or by notes and is used to help the receiver during the evaluation process.

However Constant, independent replication of ganzfeld experiments has not been achieved.

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