U.K. Scientists Run Telepathy Tests via Video Game

Scientists from the United Kingdom’s Manchester University are testing for telepathic links between some 100 volunteer individuals—including friends, husbands and wives, and colleagues—by plunging them into a virtual world with nothing but a 3-D “helmet” and an electronic glove for navigation, ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk reports.

The participants have already spent hours exploring the virtual world, and they each took turns wandering through virtual rooms and locating electronically generated items like footballs and umbrellas, according to ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk.  As part of the tests, a “sender” selects objects discovered in the virtual world and tries to telepathically transmit the names of the items they selected to their partners, who have the option of picking various items from behind virtual doors and cabinets, ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk reports.

After a few months of analyzing their findings, the scientists will issue reports on the experiment, and they expect such documents to be published by year’s end, according to ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk.

Manchester University researcher David Wilde told ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk that there’s been a lot of interest in the experiment expressed by other academic entities.

“In the past there have been various pitfalls in any kind of testing for evidence of telepathy, including the possibility of participants being influenced,” Wilde told ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk. “Our aim is not to prove or disprove the existence of telepathy, but to create an experimental method which stands up to scientific scrutiny.”

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