Correction to: 'Raising the value of research studies in psychological science by increasing the credibility of research reports: The Transparent Psi Project' (2023) by Kekecs et al.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1098/rsos.191375.][This corrects the article DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2500.].

Raising the value of research studies in psychological science by increasing the credibility of research reports: the transparent Psi project.

The low reproducibility rate in social sciences has produced hesitation among researchers in accepting published findings at their face value. Despite the advent of initiatives to increase transparency in research reporting, the field is still lacking tools to verify the credibility of research reports. In the present paper, we describe methodologies that let researchers craft highly credible research and allow their peers to verify this credibility. We demonstrate the application of these methods in a multi-laboratory replication of Bem's Experiment 1 (Bem 2011 J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 100, 407-425. (doi:10.1037/a0021524)) on extrasensory perception (ESP), which was co-designed by a consensus panel including both proponents and opponents of Bem's original hypothesis. In the study we applied direct data deposition in combination with born-open data and real-time research reports to extend transparency to protocol delivery and data collection. We also used piloting, checklists, laboratory logs and video-documented trial sessions to ascertain as-intended protocol delivery, and external research auditors to monitor research integrity. We found 49.89% successful guesses, while Bem reported 53.07% success rate, with the chance level being 50%. Thus, Bem's findings were not replicated in our study. In the paper, we discuss the implementation, feasibility and perceived usefulness of the credibility-enhancing methodologies used throughout the project.

Shared Death Experiences: A Multicultural Survey.

BACKGROUND: Shared-death-experiences (SDEs) and after-death-communication-experiences (ADCEs) are non-ordinary mental experiences related to the death of a known or unknown person. METHODS: These experiences were investigated by surveying four samples with different cultural backgrounds: Italian, Mexican, Brazilian and Taiwanese people. One-hundred-twenty-one participants reported 146 experiences of this type. RESULTS: Among the main characteristics of these experiences, visual, visual-auditory and feeling experiences, which comprised 74% of all experiences, were experienced both in the dream state and a normal state of consciousness. Furthermore, most of these experiences were lived before (47.3%) or after (39%) the death of the person in relationship with the participants. More importantly, these experiences influenced the participants' death interpretation favoring the belief that death affects only the body, but the consciousness of the deceased persons survives in another reality and sometimes can communicate with relatives and friends still alive in this reality. No substantial differences were observed among the different subsamples. CONCLUSION: As to the origin of SDEs/ADCEs, we discuss that whereas for most of them, in particular those lived after the death of a relative or a friend, we can assume hallucinatory characteristics triggered by emotional needs, for others, for example those related to unknown individuals and/or those experienced before the death of the person still in good health, it is not possible to exclude their anomalous connections and a real encounter with a deceased person.

The influence of journal submission guidelines on authors' reporting of statistics and use of open research practices: Five years later.

Changes in statistical practices and reporting have been documented by Giofrè et al. PLOS ONE 12(4), e0175583 (2017), who investigated ten statistical and open practices in two high-ranking journals (Psychological Science [PS] and Journal of Experimental Psychology-General [JEPG]): null hypothesis significance testing; confidence or credible intervals; meta-analysis of the results of multiple experiments; confidence interval interpretation; effect size interpretation; sample size determination; data exclusion; data availability; materials availability; and preregistered design and analysis plan. The investigation was based on an analysis of all papers published in these journals between 2013 and 2015. The aim of the present study was to follow up changes in both PS and JEPG in subsequent years, from 2016 to 2020, adding code availability as a further open practice. We found improvement in most practices, with some exceptions (i.e., confidence interval interpretation and meta-analysis). Despite these positive changes, our results indicate a need for further improvements in statistical practices and adoption of open practices.

Is There Someone in the Hereafter? Mediumship Accuracy of 100 Readings Obtained with a Triple Level of Blinding Protocol.

The accuracy of information obtained by 28 self-claimant mediums related to 100 readings obtained with a triple level of blinding was examined across three indices: percentage of correct reading identified by the sitters, global score of readings and percentage of difference between correct and incorrect information.All three indices showed statistical differences of the intended versus the control readings: correct identification 65%; global score: intended readings, mean = 2.4, SD = 1.5; control readings, mean = 1.7, SD = 1.2; percentage difference between correct and incorrect information: intended readings, mean = -7.9%, SD = 38.7%; control readings, mean = -27.3%, SD = 38%.Our results using a very large sample, confirm previous results, supporting the hypothesis that self-claimant mediums are able to retrieve correct information about deceased people without knowing and interacting with the sitters having access with only to the deceased persons' first name.

Mediumship accuracy: A quantitative and qualitative study with a triple-blind protocol.

AIMS: assess if mediums could give accurate information about the deceased in a triple-blind protocol and to investigate the source of information using a quantitative and qualitative analysis. METHODS: nine mediums produced thirty-eight readings related to thirty-eight deceased individuals chosen by thirty-six sitters using a triple-blind protocol with no direct interaction with the sitters themselves. In this protocol, the medium was provided with only the deceased's name by the interviewer, the latter having no further knowledge about the deceased. In every session, the medium was asked to provide information about two deceased persons of the same gender. This information, excluding generic details, was entered into two anonymous lists. The information of these two readings was sent to the research assistant charged with maintaining contact with the sitters. Each sitter was asked to assign a value to every piece of information listed using a four- point Likert scale from 'totally wrong' to 'totally correct', and to provide a global score for each reading. RESULTS: 65.8% of the intended readings were correctly identified with respect to the chance of 50%. Furthermore, intended readings had on average 29.5% more correct information than the control ones. Qualitative data indicate that mediums attain information both passively and actively, that is as if they retrieved information without or directly interacting with the deceased. CONCLUSIONS: this study provides further evidence that some mediums are able to obtain accurate information about deceased people knowing only the deceased's name and with no interaction with sitters; it also supports the hypothesis that, in some cases, the sources of the information are the deceased themselves.

Channeling: A Non-pathological Possession and Dissociative Identity Experience or Something Else?

Channeling experiences are often compared with Dissociative Trance/Possession Disorders and Dissociative Identity Disorders and more recent diagnostic criteria presented in the DSM 5 and ICD-11. From this comparison, it emerges quite clearly that, for most cases, channeling can either be considered an exceptional non-ordinary mental experience or a non-pathological Dissociative Trance/Possession experience. If this characterization is valid, the next step is to understand the origin of channeling experiences. Are they an expression of channeler's unconscious or voluntary mental mechanisms, or real connections with "other discarnate entities"? Given their peculiar characteristics, channeling experiences offer a unique opportunity for a scientific investigation and in particular, the origin of the information received by the channelers.

Hypno-death-experiences: Death experiences during hypnotic life regressions.

In this study we analyzed retrospectively a database of 44 alleged death experiences between incarnations, as reported by 36 participants during hypnotic life regression sessions with the same hypnotist. The descriptions of these experiences were evaluated using the Italian version of the Near-Death Experience Scale. A large part of the reported experiences were categorized as "Affective", with a majority reported as: "Feeling a sense of joy" and "Seeing and being enveloped by a bright light", as well as in the "Transcendental" category, with all experiences showing a similar frequency. Regarding the "Paranormal" category, the most often reported experience is that of: "The feeling of being separated from one's physical body".With respect to the total score, 18% fell within the range commonly used to identify true near-death-experiences. The death experiences undergone during the hypnotic life regressions contain very similar characteristics to those reported in classic near-death-experiences. Whether these experiences were actually lived or were, instead, accounts of events previously learned through conventional means, remains an open question.

Anomalous information reception by mediums: A meta-analysis of the scientific evidence.

Background and purpose Mediumship is the ostensible phenomenon of human-mediated communication between deceased and living persons. In this paper, we perform a meta-analysis of all available modern experimental evidence, specifically from 2001 to December 2019, investigating the accuracy of apparently anomalously received information provided by mediums about deceased individuals. Methods 14 papers passed our selection criteria, for a total of 18 experiments. Both Bayesian and frequentist random effects models were used to estimate the aggregate effect size across studies. Results The overall standardized effect size (proportion index), estimated with a frequentist and a Bayesian random effects model, yielded a value of .18 (95% C.I. = .12 - .25) above the chance level. Furthermore, these estimates passed the control of two publication bias tests. Conclusions The results of this meta-analysis support the hypothesis that some mediums can retrieve information about deceased persons through unknown means.

Stage 2 Registered Report: Anomalous perception in a Ganzfeld condition - A meta-analysis of more than 40 years investigation.

This meta-analysis is an investigation into anomalous perception (i.e., conscious identification of information without any conventional sensorial means). The technique used for eliciting an effect is the Ganzfeld condition (a form of sensory homogenization that eliminates distracting peripheral noise). The database consists of studies published between January 1974 and December 2020 inclusive. The overall effect size estimated both with a frequentist and a Bayesian random-effect model, were in close agreement yielding an effect size of approximately .08 (.04 -.12). This result passed four publication bias tests and seems not contaminated by questionable research practices. Trend analysis carried out with a cumulative meta-analysis and a meta-regression model with year of publication as a covariate, did not indicate sign of decline of this effect size. The moderators' analyses show that the selected participants' effect size was almost three-times that obtained by non-selected participants and that tasks that simulate telepathic communication show a two-fold effect size for tasks requiring the participants to guess a target. The Stage 1 Registered Report can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.24868.3.

A preregistered multi-lab replication of Maier et al. (2014, Exp. 4) testing retroactive avoidance.

The term "retroactive avoidance" refers to a special class of effects of future stimulus presentations on past behavioral responses. Specifically, it refers to the anticipatory avoidance of aversive stimuli that were unpredictable through random selection after the response. This phenomenon is supposed to challenge the common view of the arrow of time and the direction of causality. Preliminary evidence of "retroactive avoidance" has been published in mainstream psychological journals and started a heated debate about the robustness and the true existence of this effect. A series of seven experiments published in 2014 in the Journal of Consciousness Studies (Maier et al., 2014) tested the influence of randomly drawn future negative picture presentations on avoidance responses based on key presses preceding them. The final study in that series used a sophisticated quantum-based random stimulus selection procedure and implemented the most severe test of retroactive avoidance within this series. Evidence for the effect, though significant, was meager and anecdotal, Bayes factor (BF10) = 2. The research presented here represents an attempt to exactly replicate the original effect with a high-power (N = 2004) preregistered multi-lab study. The results indicate that the data favored the null effect (i.e., absence of retroactive avoidance) with a BF01 = 4.38. Given the empirical strengths of the study, namely its preregistration, multi-lab approach, high power, and Bayesian analysis used, this failed replication questions the validity and robustness of the original findings. Not reaching a decisive level of Bayesian evidence and not including skeptical researchers may be considered limitations of this study. Exploratory analyses of the change in evidence for the effect across time, performed on a post-hoc basis, revealed several potentially interesting anomalies in the data that might guide future research in this area.

Applying machine learning EEG signal classification to emotion­related brain anticipatory activity.

Machine learning approaches have been fruitfully applied to several neurophysiological signal classification problems. Considering the relevance of emotion in human cognition and behaviour, an important application of machine learning has been found in the field of emotion identification based on neurophysiological activity. Nonetheless, there is high variability in results in the literature depending on the neuronal activity measurement, the signal features and the classifier type. The present work aims to provide new methodological insight into machine learning applied to emotion identification based on electrophysiological brain activity. For this reason, we analysed previously recorded EEG activity measured while emotional stimuli, high and low arousal (auditory and visual) were provided to a group of healthy participants. Our target signal to classify was the pre-stimulus onset brain activity. Classification performance of three different classifiers (LDA, SVM and kNN) was compared using both spectral and temporal features. Furthermore, we also contrasted the performance of static and dynamic (time evolving) approaches. The best static feature-classifier combination was the SVM with spectral features (51.8%), followed by LDA with spectral features (51.4%) and kNN with temporal features (51%). The best dynamic feature classifier combination was the SVM with temporal features (63.8%), followed by kNN with temporal features (63.70%) and LDA with temporal features (63.68%). The results show a clear increase in classification accuracy with temporal dynamic features.

Stage 1 Registered Report: Anomalous perception in a Ganzfeld condition - A meta-analysis of more than 40 years investigation.

This meta-analysis is an investigation into anomalous perception (i.e., conscious identification of information without any conventional sensorial means). The technique used for eliciting an effect is the ganzfeld condition (a form of sensory homogenization that eliminates distracting peripheral noise). The database consists of peer-reviewed studies published between January 1974 and June 2020 inclusive. The overall effect size will be estimated using a frequentist and a Bayesian random-effect model. Moderators analyses will be used to examine the influence of level of experience of participants, the type of task and the peer-review level. Publication bias will be estimated by using four different tests. Trend analysis will be conducted with a cumulative meta-analysis and a meta-regression model with Year of publication as covariate.

EEG correlation at a distance: A re-analysis of two studies using a machine learning approach.

Background: In this paper, data from two studies relative to the relationship between the electroencephalogram (EEG) activities of two isolated and physically separated subjects were re-analyzed using machine-learning algorithms. The first dataset comprises the data of 25 pairs of participants where one member of each pair was stimulated with a visual and an auditory 500 Hz signals of 1 second duration. The second dataset consisted of the data of 20 pairs of participants where one member of each pair received visual and auditory stimulation lasting 1 second duration with on-off modulation at 10, 12, and 14 Hz. Methods and Results: Applying a 'linear discriminant classifier' to the first dataset, it was possible to correctly classify 50.74% of the EEG activity of non-stimulated participants, correlated to the remote sensorial stimulation of the distant partner. In the second dataset, the percentage of correctly classified EEG activity in the non-stimulated partners was 51.17%, 50.45% and 51.91%, respectively, for the 10, 12, and 14 Hz stimulations, with respect the condition of no stimulation in the distant partner. Conclusions: The analysis of EEG activity using machine-learning algorithms has produced advances in the study of the connection between the EEG activities of the stimulated partner and the isolated distant partner, opening new insight into the possibility to devise practical application for non-conventional "mental telecommunications" between physically and sensorially separated participants.

THE NEUROPHENOMENOLOGY OF OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES INDUCED BY HYPNOTIC SUGGESTIONS.

Inducing out-of-body experiences in hypnosis (H-OBEs) offers an almost unique opportunity to investigate them under controlled conditions. OBEs were induced as an imaginative task in a resting condition (I-OBE) or in hypnosis (H-OBE) in a group of 15 high hypnotizable subjects. A 32-channel EEG was recorded, and the spectral power and imaginary coherence of each frequency band and each couple of electrodes were calculated. At the end of each session, the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) was administered to assess the phenomenological aspects of the subjects' experience. Significantly higher scores in the altered state, positive affect altered experience, and attention subdimensions of the PCI were reported in H-OBE than in I-OBE, which were associated with a significant decrease of power in beta and gamma band activity in right parieto-temporal derivations. These results suggest that the H-OBE may offer a useful experimental model of spontaneous OBEs.

The lost children: The underdiagnosis of dyslexia in Italy. A cross-sectional national study.

BACKGROUND: Developmental dyslexia is one of the most common neurobehavioral disorders affecting children, but prevalence data on this condition are poor. The objective of the present study is to determine the prevalence of dyslexia in Italy in an unselected school population, using clearly defined diagnostic criteria and methods. METHODS: Cross-sectional study carried out in nine Italian Regions: two located in Northern Italy (Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto), three in Central Italy (Marche, Lazio and Umbria) and four in Southern Italy (Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia and Sardegna). Three consecutive levels of screening were carried out: the first two at school, to screen the population and identify children with suspect dyslexia; the last in centers with multi-professional staff specialized in learning disabilities to confirm the diagnosis. The key outcome measure is the prevalence of dyslexia, defined as the ratio between the number of children confirmed positive at the third level of screening and the total number of children enrolled in the study. RESULTS: We finally recruited 11094 children aged 8-10 years, of which 9964 constituted the final working sample after applying exclusion criteria and including only children who received parents' consent to participate. The prevalence of dyslexia in the whole sample was 3.5% (95% CI 3.2-3.9%), with little differences between Northern, Central and Southern Italy (respectively 3.6%, 3.2% and 3.7%). In almost two out of three children with dyslexia the disorder had not been previously diagnosed. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms that in primary school children at the age of 8-10 years in Italy dyslexia is widely underestimated. Reliable data on dyslexia prevalence are needed to allocate necessary human and financial resources both to Health Services and Schools, ensuring timely support to children and families.

Predictive physiological anticipatory activity preceding seemingly unpredictable stimuli: An update of Mossbridge et al's meta-analysis.

Background: This is an update of the Mossbridge et al's meta-analysis related to the physiological anticipation preceding seemingly unpredictable stimuli. The overall effect size observed was 0.21; 95% Confidence Intervals: 0.13 - 0.29 Methods: Eighteen new peer and non-peer reviewed studies completed from January 2008 to October 2017 were retrieved describing a total of 26 experiments and 34 associated effect sizes. Results: The overall weighted effect size, estimated with a frequentist multilevel random model, was: 0.29; 95% Confidence Intervals: 0.19-0.38; the overall weighted effect size, estimated with a multilevel Bayesian model, was: 0.29; 95% Credible Intervals: 0.18-0.39. Effect sizes of peer reviewed studies were slightly higher: 0.38; Confidence Intervals: 0.27-0.48 than non-peer reviewed articles: 0.22; Confidence Intervals: 0.05-0.39. The statistical estimation of the publication bias by using the Copas model suggest that the main findings are not contaminated by publication bias. Conclusions: In summary, with this update, the main findings reported in Mossbridge et al's meta-analysis, are confirmed.

On the Science of Consciousness: Epistemological Reflections and Clinical Implications.

Consciousness has been one of the most important and tantalizing issues ever since the origin of philosophy and medicine. The concept of consciousness and the so-called "hard problem" (i.e., the mind-brain relationship) are highly complex topics that have yet to be elucidated, involving the realms of both science and philosophy with profound epistemological implications. In the lively debate on the foundations of the science of consciousness there are several potential biases of an essentially philosophical nature, such as those related to the paradigm and axioms adopted, and the ostensible logical contradiction between monism and dualism. Their origin dates back largely to Descartes' thinking and the birth of the new sciences as a compromise with the Inquisition, but they have been handed down through the Enlightenment and Positivism. A proper investigation of consciousness and the world of subjectivity demands a careful reflection on the paradigm of scientific medicine to identify possible flaws and overcome the limits of the mechanistic-reductionist approach.

The influence of journal submission guidelines on authors' reporting of statistics and use of open research practices.

From January 2014, Psychological Science introduced new submission guidelines that encouraged the use of effect sizes, estimation, and meta-analysis (the "new statistics"), required extra detail of methods, and offered badges for use of open science practices. We investigated the use of these practices in empirical articles published by Psychological Science and, for comparison, by the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, during the period of January 2013 to December 2015. The use of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) was extremely high at all times and in both journals. In Psychological Science, the use of confidence intervals increased markedly overall, from 28% of articles in 2013 to 70% in 2015, as did the availability of open data (3 to 39%) and open materials (7 to 31%). The other journal showed smaller or much smaller changes. Our findings suggest that journal-specific submission guidelines may encourage desirable changes in authors' practices.

Driving with Intuition: A Preregistered Study about the EEG Anticipation of Simulated Random Car Accidents.

The study of neural pre-stimulus or "anticipatory" activity opened a new window for understanding how the brain actively constructs the forthcoming reality. Usually, experimental paradigms designed to study anticipatory activity make use of stimuli. The purpose of the present study is to expand the study of neural anticipatory activity upon the temporal occurrence of dichotomic, statistically unpredictable (random) stimuli within an ecological experimental paradigm. To this purpose, we used a simplified driving simulation including two possible, randomly-presented trial types: a car crash end trial and a no car crash end trial. Event Related Potentials (ERP) were extracted -3,000 ms before stimulus onset. We identified a fronto-central negativity starting around 1,000 ms before car crash presentation. By contrast, a whole-scalp distributed positivity characterized the anticipatory activity observed before the end of the trial in the no car crash end condition. The present data are in line with the hypothesis that the brain may also anticipate dichotomic, statistically unpredictable stimuli, relaying onto different pre-stimulus ERP activity. Possible integration with car-smart-systems is also suggested.