Caroline Watt

Last updated
Caroline Watt
Caroline Watt EuroSkepCon2015.jpg
Watt lecturing at the European Skeptics Congress 2015
Born
Caroline Watt

1962 (age 6162)
Perthshire, Scotland
Alma mater
Scientific career
Institutions University of Edinburgh
Thesis The relationship between performance on a prototype measure of perceptual defence/vigilance and psi performance  (1993)
Doctoral advisor Robert L. Morris [1]

Caroline Watt (born 1962) is a Scottish psychologist and professor of parapsychology. [2] [3] She is the holder of the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh. [2] [4] She is a past president of the Parapsychological Association. [5] She is an author of several papers and books on parapsychology and runs an online course that helps educate the public about what parapsychology is and to think critically about paranormal claims. [6]

Contents

Biography

Watt was born in Perthshire, Scotland in 1962. She graduated with a MA in psychology from the University of St Andrews in 1984, and is a founding member of the University of Edinburgh's Koestler Parapsychology Unit, for which she was recruited as a research assistant in 1986. She obtained a PhD in psychology in 1993, supervised by the parapsychologist Robert L. Morris. [1]

Watt continued working at the Koestler Parapsychology unit as a research fellow until 2006, when she was appointed as senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Edinburgh. [3] She has also been Perrot-Warrick Senior Researcher since 2010, and in 2016 she took up the new position as second Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at the university. [2]

Watt coauthored the fifth edition of “An Introduction to Parapsychology”, published in 2007, which as of 2010 was the most frequently adopted text by those presenting academic courses on parapsychology and anomalistic psychology. [7]

In 2016, Watt authored "Parapsychology: A Beginner's Guide". [8]

Near-death studies

With neuroscientist Dean Mobbs, in 2011, Watt published a paper on the near-death experience in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences . [9] The paper explains how many common attributes of a near-death experience (an awareness of being dead, out-of-body experiences, seeing a tunnel of light, meeting dead people and a feeling of well-being) have medical or scientific explanations. An awareness of being dead is known as Cotard delusion and is attributed to a brain malfunction with possible causes such as brain tumour, depression or migraine headaches. The paper suggests "that out of-body experiences result from a failure to integrate multi-sensory information from one’s body, which results in the disruption of the phenomenological elements of self-representation." Seeing a tunnel of light can be caused by a degradation of peripheral vision brought on by extreme fear or hypoxia of the eye. The experience of meeting dead people can be brought on by a number of conditions, such as dopamine malfunction or a macular degeneration such as Charles Bonnet syndrome. A feeling of well-being could be caused by a response from the body's dopamine or endogenous opioid systems. The paper also cites a survey where it was found that approximately half of people reporting a near-death experience were not in danger of dying.

In regards to Sam Parnia's near-death research, [10] which had an objective test that involved pictures or figures hidden on shelves where a patient could not see them when lying down, but would be able to see them if having an out-of-body experience, Watt stated, "The one ‘verifiable period of conscious awareness’ that Parnia was able to report did not relate to this objective test. Rather, it was a patient giving a supposedly accurate report of events during his resuscitation. He didn't identify the pictures, he described the defibrillator machine noise. But that's not very impressive since many people know what goes on in an emergency room setting from seeing recreations on television." [11] [12]

Eye movement and lying

In 2011, Watt was part of a group, along with Richard Wiseman, that published research into the connection between eye movements and telling lies. The research, which was widely reported in the media, found no evidence that eye movements can be used to determine if someone is lying. [13] [14] Reading eye movements is part of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), as according to NLP, people move their eyes in different directions when recalling information compared to when constructing information, i.e., lying.

Watt said, "A large percentage of the public believes that certain eye movements are a sign of lying, and this idea is even taught in organisational training courses. Our research provides no support for the idea and so suggests that it is time to abandon this approach to detecting deceit." [15]

Publication bias

The field of Parapsychology has been known for issues with study replication. Pre-registration of all studies seems to result in less publication bias. In 2012, she and Jim Kennedy founded a study register for their field and in 2019, she produced a scientific paper reporting on the success of such a technique. [16]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clairvoyance</span> Claimed form of extrasensory perception

Clairvoyance is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parapsychology</span> Study of paranormal and psychic phenomena

Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near-death experiences, synchronicity, apparitional experiences, etc. Criticized as being a pseudoscience, the majority of mainstream scientists reject it. Parapsychology has also been criticized by mainstream critics for claims by many of its practitioners that their studies are plausible despite a lack of convincing evidence after more than a century of research for the existence of any psychic phenomena.

Parapsychology is a field of research that studies a number of ostensible paranormal phenomena, including telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, near-death experiences, reincarnation, and apparitional experiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telepathy</span> Psychic ability

Telepathy is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), and has remained more popular than the earlier expression thought-transference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychic</span> Person claiming extrasensory perception abilities

A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology such as extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, such as psychokinesis or teleportation. Although many people believe in psychic abilities, the scientific consensus is that there is no proof of the existence of such powers, and describes the practice as pseudoscience. The word "psychic" is also used as an adjective to describe such abilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ganzfeld experiment</span> Pseudoscientific test for extrasensory perception (ESP)

A ganzfeld experiment is an assessment used by parapsychologists that they contend can test for extrasensory perception (ESP) or telepathy. In these experiments, a "sender" attempts to mentally transmit an image to a "receiver" who is in a state of sensory deprivation. The receiver is normally asked to choose between a limited number of options for what the transmission was supposed to be and parapsychologists who propose that such telepathy is possible argue that rates of success above the expectation from randomness are evidence for ESP. Consistent, independent replication of ganzfeld experiments has not been achieved, and, in spite of strenuous arguments by parapsychologists to the contrary, there is no validated evidence accepted by the wider scientific community for the existence of any parapsychological phenomena. Ongoing parapsychology research using ganzfeld experiments has been criticized by independent reviewers as having the hallmarks of pseudoscience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Out-of-body experience</span> Phenomenon in which the soul (astral body) is said to exit the physical body

An out-of-body experience is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy, although this term is more commonly used to refer to the pathological condition of seeing a second self, or doppelgänger.

Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Notable paranormal beliefs include those that pertain to extrasensory perception, spiritualism and the pseudosciences of ghost hunting, cryptozoology, and ufology.

Charles Henry Honorton was an American parapsychologist and was one of the leaders of a collegial group of researchers who were determined to apply established scientific research methods to the examination of what they called "anomalous information transfer" and other phenomena associated with the "mind/body problem"—the idea that mind might, at least in some respects, have a physical existence independent of the body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris French</span> Psychologist specialising in paranormal beliefs (born 1956)

Christopher (Chris) Charles French is a British psychologist who is prominent in the field of anomalistic psychology, with a focus on the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. In addition to his academic activities, French frequently appears on radio and television to provide a skeptical perspective on paranormal claims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Krippner</span>

Stanley Krippner is an American psychologist and parapsychologist. He received a B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1954 and M.A. (1957) and Ph.D. (1961) degrees from Northwestern University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Wiseman</span> British psychologist (born 1966)

Richard J. Wiseman is a professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. He has written several psychology books. He has given keynote addresses to The Royal Society, The Swiss Economic Forum, Google and Amazon. He is a fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a patron of Humanists UK. Wiseman is also the creator of the YouTube channels Quirkology and In59Seconds.

Robert Lyle Morris was an American psychologist, parapsychologist and professor at the University of Edinburgh, where he was the first holder of the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at the Koestler Parapsychology Unit.

Erlendur Haraldsson was a professor emeritus of psychology on the faculty of social science at the University of Iceland. He published in various psychology and psychiatry journals. In addition, he published parapsychology books and authored a number of papers for parapsychology journals.

Michael Anthony Thalbourne was an Australian psychologist who worked in the field of parapsychology. He was educated at the University of Adelaide and the University of Edinburgh. His books include: A glossary of terms used in parapsychology (2003), The common thread between ESP and PK (2004), and Parapsychology in the Twenty-First Century: Essays on the future of Psychical Research (2005).

In psychology, anomalistic psychology is the study of human behaviour and experience connected with what is often called the paranormal, with few assumptions made about the validity of the reported phenomena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telekinesis</span> Influencing of objects without physical interaction

Telekinesis is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been criticized for lack of proper controls and repeatability. There is no reliable evidence that telekinesis is a real phenomenon, and the topic is generally regarded as pseudoscience.

The Perrott–Warrick Fund is administered by Trinity College, Cambridge, and awards grants for research in parapsychology. According to Susan Blackmore, it is the second largest source of grants for psychical research in the UK, after the University of Edinburgh's Koestler Parapsychology Unit. Caroline Watt of the University of Edinburgh has been Perrott–Warrick Senior Researcher since 2010. The position was previously held by Rupert Sheldrake, Richard Wiseman and Nicholas Humphrey.

The Koestler Parapsychology Unit is a research group established in 1985 at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, to teach and conduct research concerning various aspects of parapsychology. It hosts the only endowed chair of parapsychology in the UK, established by a bequest following the suicide in 1983 of internationally acclaimed intellectual, writer and journalist Arthur Koestler. The first person to hold the chair, beginning in 1985, was Robert L. Morris. John Beloff and Joshua Snyder were instrumental in setting it up. The chair is currently held by Professor Caroline Watt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Beloff</span> British psychologist and author

John Beloff was an English psychology professor at Edinburgh University and parapsychologist.

References

  1. 1 2 Watt, Caroline (1993). The relationship between performance on a prototype measure of perceptual defence/vigilance and psi performance (PhD thesis). University of Edinburgh. hdl:1842/20287. OCLC   606187212. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.663555. Lock-green.svg
  2. 1 2 3 "Koestler Chair of Parapsychology". University of Edinburgh. 14 December 2018. Archived from the original on 13 January 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Dr. Caroline Watt". Parapsychological Association. 17 August 2016. Archived from the original on 12 November 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  4. "Becoming Edinburgh's second Koestler Chair of Parapsychology". Koestler Parapsychology Unit. 8 August 2016. Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  5. "2001 - 2010 Board of Directors - the Parapsychological Association". The Parapsychological Association. Archived from the original on 29 June 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  6. "Online Parapsychology course overview". Koestler Parapsychology Unit. 2014-12-19. Archived from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  7. Sturgess, Kylie (March 2010). "A Skeptic Gets Schooled: An Introduction to Parapsychology". Skeptical Briefs. Vol. 20, no. 1. Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  8. Watt, Caroline (2016). Parapsychology: A beginner's Guide. OneWorld Publications. ISBN   978-1780748870 . Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  9. Choi, Charles Q. (12 September 2011). "Near-Death Experiences Explained by Science". Live Science . Archived from the original on 31 December 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  10. Lichfield, Gideon (April 2015). "The science of near-death experiences: Empirically investigating brushes with the afterlife". The Atlantic . Archived from the original on 2 January 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  11. Hill, Sharon (7 October 2014). "One not too impressive study does not prove life after death". Doubtful News. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  12. Hill, Sharon (8 October 2014). "No, this study is not evidence for "life after death"". James Randi Educational Foundation. Archived from the original on 16 July 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  13. "The truth about lying: it's the hands that betray you, not the eyes". The Independent. 12 July 2012. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  14. "It's (Not) All in the Eyes: Eye Movements Don't Indicate Lying". ABC News. 12 July 2012. Archived from the original on 13 January 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  15. Moore, Amber (July 12, 2012). "Eye Movements Won't Tell if You Are Lying". Medical Daily. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  16. Grossman, Wendy (21 January 2021). "Searching For Rigor: Caroline Watt". Skeptical Inquirer. Center for Inquiry. Retrieved 9 April 2021.