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Neuroimaging findings in extrasensory perception research: A PRISMA-informed descriptive synthesis
Seyed Amir Hossein Batouli1, Mozhan Parsa2, Salman Safdari3
1Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Studies, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; BrainEE Research Group, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Explore (New York, N.Y.)
|July 15, 2026
Summary
This review synthesizes 92 studies on extrasensory perception (ESP) using neuroimaging. Findings show heterogeneous results, indicating descriptive patterns rather than a unified neural signature for anomalous cognition.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Parapsychology
Background:
- Extrasensory perception (ESP) research has historically employed neuroimaging and neurophysiological methods to investigate anomalous information transfer.
- Recent critical analyses have prompted a re-evaluation of the existing literature, shifting focus from establishing a unified neural signature to a descriptive synthesis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a PRISMA-informed descriptive synthesis of neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies related to ESP.
- To summarize study paradigms, modalities, reported brain activity, and methodological limitations within the ESP research field.
- To interpret findings as descriptive patterns rather than definitive evidence for a single neural correlate of ESP.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature search using PubMed and ScienceDirect, supplemented by an author archive, citation searching, and reference list screening.
- Inclusion criteria: empirical human data, neuroimaging or neurophysiological methods, and explicit ESP or anomalous information transfer tasks.
- Exclusion criteria: psychokinesis, distant healing, mediumship, survival research, ordinary hyperscanning, and altered-state studies without an ESP task.
Main Results:
- A total of 92 reports/studies were included in the qualitative synthesis.
- Electroencephalography/Event-Related Potentials (EEG/ERP) were the most common modalities, followed by fMRI, fNIRS, SPECT, PET, and optical topography.
- Reported findings included activity in posterior scalp/occipital regions, frontal, parietal, temporal, medial temporal, limbic areas, inter-brain measures, and receiver-response measures; null, weak, and non-specific findings were retained.
Conclusions:
- The ESP neuroimaging literature is characterized by heterogeneity in design, methodology, and reporting, precluding a formal meta-analysis.
- Findings are interpreted as descriptive patterns of reported results across diverse studies, not as evidence for a unified neural correlate of ESP.
- Theoretical interpretations (e.g., quantum, non-local) remain speculative frameworks requiring future empirical validation.
Related Concept Videos
01:23Extrasensory Perception
Extrasensory perception, or ESP, suggests the ability to perceive events beyond the conventional senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Parapsychologists, who research ESP and related psychic phenomena, categorize ESP into three main types: precognition, telepathy, and clairvoyance.
Precognition involves foreseeing future events, such as predicting an accident before it happens. An example of precognition could be someone dreaming about a specific event, like a car crash, which then occurs...
Precognition involves foreseeing future events, such as predicting an accident before it happens. An example of precognition could be someone dreaming about a specific event, like a car crash, which then occurs...
01:20Parallel Processing
The brain processes sensory information rapidly due to parallel processing, which involves sending data across multiple neural pathways at the same time. This method allows the brain to manage various sensory qualities, such as shapes, colors, movements, and locations, all concurrently. For instance, when observing a forest landscape, the brain simultaneously processes the movement of leaves, the shapes of trees, the depth between them, and the various shades of green. This enables a quick and...