Event-related electroencephalographic correlations between isolated human subjects.

OBJECTIVE

To examine electroencephalograms (EEG) in pairs of people to see if event-related potentials evoked in one person's brain are correlated with concurrent responses in the brain of a distant, isolated person.

DESIGN

Simultaneously record EEGs using independent physiologic monitoring systems. One person relaxes in a double steel-walled, electromagnetically and acoustically shielded room while a second, located in a dimly lit room 20 meters away, is stimulated at random times by the live video image of the first person.

SUBJECTS

Thirteen (13) pairs of volunteers. Eleven (11) pairs of adult friends and 2 mother-daughter pairs.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Epochs of interest were the moments of stimulus onset and offset, +/- 5 seconds, in both participants' EEGs. A positive correlation was postulated to appear between the ensemble variance of the stimulated subjects' EEGs versus an identical measure in the nonstimulated subjects. Control data using the same equipment and test conditions, but without humans present, was collected to check for equipment and analytical artifacts. Nonparametric bootstrap methods were used to assess statistical significance of the observed correlations.

RESULTS

The control test resulted in a correlation of r =-0.03, p = 0.61; the experimental test resulted in r = 0.20, p = 0.0005. Three (3) of the 13 pairs of participants showed independently significant correlations. Examination of the stimulated subjects' event-related potentials showed that the stronger their responses, the larger the corresponding responses in the nonstimulated subjects (p = 0.0008).

CONCLUSION

Under certain conditions, the EEG of a sensorially isolated human subject can become correlated with event-related potentials in a distant person's EEG. This suggests the presence of an unknown form of energetic or informational interaction.