Dissertation Presented By Alan Starkie Of Liverpool Hope University In fulfilment of the module requirement for Degree of Bachelor of Science

Of Liverpool Hope University April 2009 Original

DeclarationofOriginality

I declare that this is an original study based on my own work And that I have not submitted it for any other course or degree

Signature..

Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................................. 6 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 Precognitive Habituation ............................................................................................................................. 10 Affective habituation .................................................................................................................................... 11 Mere exposure effect..................................................................................................................................... 11 The RH2S Protocol ......................................................................................................................................... 15 Hypotheses...................................................................................................................................................... 17 Method ................................................................................................................................................................. 17 Participants ..................................................................................................................................................... 17 Design .............................................................................................................................................................. 17 Apparatus/Materials ......................................................................................................................................... 17 Software .......................................................................................................................................................... 17 Security............................................................................................................................................................ 18 Materials.......................................................................................................................................................... 18 Hardware ......................................................................................................................................................... 18 Screen refresh rate ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Experimental procedure ............................................................................................................................... 19 Results .................................................................................................................................................................. 20 Outliers ............................................................................................................................................................ 20 Hypothesis 1, fear trials ................................................................................................................................ 20 Hypothesis 2, negative trials ........................................................................................................................ 20 Hypothesis 3, positive trials ......................................................................................................................... 20 Hypothesis 4, neutral trials .......................................................................................................................... 21 Predictive measures ...................................................................................................................................... 21 Exploratory analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 21 Sex differences ............................................................................................................................................... 21 Age differences ............................................................................................................................................... 21 Mean reaction time ....................................................................................................................................... 22 Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................ 22 Future research .............................................................................................................................................. 24 References ........................................................................................................................................................... 26 Ethics application form................................................................................................................................. 29 Appendix II .......................................................................................................................................................... 30 3

Supervisor contact sheet .............................................................................................................................. 30 Appendix III......................................................................................................................................................... 31 Measures and forms ...................................................................................................................................... 31

Abstract

Background: Precognition is at the heart of an emerging field of Psi research that investigates time-reversed phenomena. One such procedure was devised by Daryl Bem called Precognitive Habituation (PH), described as the Holy Grail of Psi research: a simple demonstration of Psi that could be run on any standard computer and replicated by any competent person (Bem, 2003). Recent studies provide support for the hypothesis, across six studies; the hit rate is significantly above 50% on negative trials (52.6%, p = .0008) and significantly below 50% on erotic trials (48.0%, p = .031) (Bem, Precognitive Aversion, 2005). Objectives: The present study aims to solve the ethical problems of PH and improve its effectiveness by replacing gruesome and pornographic stimuli with Pictures of Facial Affect (Ekman & Friesen, 1975). Methods: Fifty participants 32 female, 18 male (M = 32, SD = 13) used a modified version of the PH protocol: RH2S. Results: were not in the predicted direction however they were statistically significant for fear trials 44.6% (SD = 19.1), (t(48) = -2.00, p = .051, d = 0.29) and a small but not significant effect was found in negative trials 47.4% (SD = 10.2), (t(48) = -1.75, p = .087, d = 0.25). Conclusions: The unexpected directional results are consistent with studies of the amygdala using facial expressions. The RH2S protocol successfully demonstrated retroactive habituation with fear expressions and greater effects exhibited by females, participants <=38 years old and individuals who score highly on the PANAS-X basic positive affect scale.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Christine Simmonds-Moore for inspiring me with unwavering faith and patience during this project and for her infectious enthusiasm for the subject. I am also pleased to thank Professor Matthew Smith for his down-to-earth advice and the interest expressed for this study. To the various staff and students of Liverpool Hope University for agreeing to become willing participants in this study thank you. Special thanks are also given to Martin Guest and Bob Hewertson for making my visit to the New Labs at the Hope Park Campus so enjoyable. This is also a great opportunity to express my respect to Professor Daryl Bem, for his excellent work on the RH2S protocol and without whom this study could not have taken place. Finally, with thanks for endless cups of tea and the capacity to listen and offer advice, James. For sustenance, patience, sympathy and understanding without any complaints at all, thanks to my wife, Anne, to whom I dedicate this paper.

Retroactivehabituation:Exploringthetimereversedamygdalarresponseto picturesoffacialaffect

Alan Starkie Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, 2009

Introduction

The ancient oracle said that I was the wisest of all the Greeks. It is because I alone, of all the Greeks, know that I know nothing 1 For more than a millennium, people travelled from all over Ancient Greece and beyond to consult the Pythia, the high priestess of Apollo at the Oracle of Delphi. Farmers would consult the priestess on matters of planting and harvest and world leaders such as Alexander the Great consulted on matters of war and conquest. It is not known whether the Pythias cryptic premonitions were due to precognitive abilities or intoxicating vapours from the Castalian Spring that surrounded her, but her prophecies had the power to change nations. Although the voice of Apollo no longer resonates at Delphi, the idea that the future can be predicted continues to intrigue. The ability to foresee future events, or precognition, has long been of interest to parapsychologists. Precognition is perhaps the most common form of extra sensory perception (ESP), a term often used to describe this and other similar anomalous phenomena such as clairvoyance; the ability to perceive objects or events that are not immediately present to the senses, telepathy; that signifies mind-to-mind communication, presentiment; where information about future events may be experienced physically or emotionally and psychokinesis (PK); not a form of perception but the ability of the human mind to influence objects over a distance and even time; retro-psychokinesis (RPK). Contemporary texts collectively describe these as Psi phenomenon (Radin, 1997, p. 15). Precognition was first described in the classic An Experiment with Time by J. W. Dunne in 1927. In what was called The Theory of Serial Time, Dunne proposed that time exists in dimensional layers, each of which can be observed in different perspectives from different layers. In the 1930s, Joseph Banks Rhine and Louisa Rhine began systematic research of precognition at the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University. Rhines initial quest was
1Socrates 470 BC-399 BC 7

to prove the existence of telepathy but his experiments revealed psychokinesis (PK) and precognition, the latter becoming part of an ongoing research project (Guiley, 1991). Precognition may be thought of as an intuitive process, one that manifests itself as an unconscious physical response but also as an uneasy or feeling of foreboding before a significant event. Stanfords Psi Mediated Instrumental Response (PMIR) theory suggests that a person uses Psi to fulfil certain needs, even though the person may not realise they have such needs (Stanford, 1974a, 1974b). Stanford proposed: The organism nonintentionally uses psi to scan its environment for needrelevant objects or events or for information crucially related to such events, and when obtained, the organism tends to act in ways which are instrumental in satisfying its needs in relation to the particular object or event in question. (1974a, p. 35). Such environmental scanning is demonstrated in a well-known study from 1956. American parapsychologist W. E. Cox carried out a survey of passenger statistics and observed that on days when train crashes occurred, fewer people travelled by train than on previous control days. Cox asserted that unconscious precognition resulted in alternate travel choices on such days (Cox, 1956). Precognition is at the heart of an emerging field of Psi research, one that investigates temporally reversed cause and effect, or time-reversed phenomena. Such research takes a conventional psychological paradigm and runs it in reverse to see if information from the future can reach back in time to influence behaviour. This idea was originally inspired by the work of Holger Klintman of Lund University Sweden who performed a Stroop experiment and discovered what he described as temporal feedback loop (Klintman, 1983). The Stroop effect is a robust and widely adopted tool, used in clinical practice and investigation, devised by John Ridley Stroop in 1935. If a word, such as red is printed using ink differing from the semantic meaning of the word (for example, the word red printed with blue ink), the reader will experience a relative delay in processing the word when compared to congruous (same colour word and ink) words. Klintman first exposed the participants to stimulus 1(S1) followed by a brief time interval, then stimulus 2 (S2). If the semantic meaning of S1 is different from S2, the reaction time (RT) to S2 varies because of cognitive interference. Normally, only the RT to S2 is measured but in order to establish baseline timings, RT to S1 was also recorded. Klintman observed an
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unexpected anomaly: As predicted, RT to S2 was affected by S1 as a result of cognitive interference but there seemed to be a second type of interference where S2 affected the RT of S1. Since the computer randomly assigned S2 after accepting S1, Klintman had discovered a temporally reversed Stroop effect and coined the term Time Reversed Interference (TRI) (Radin, 2000). TRI is a direct challenge to the classical view of causality - the relationship between one event, the cause and the other event, the effect. Max Born states: "Antecedence postulates that the cause must be prior to, or at least simultaneous with, the effect (as cited in Sowa, 2001). Admitting that Psi exists means accepting that not everything in nature can be explained in physical terms and in some quarters is considered scientific heresy. Psi research is far removed from mainstream science because much of the current research, including the present study, concentrates on gathering evidence for the existence of Psi while accepting that existing theories cannot explain their existence. Albert Einstein once remarked: If the facts don't fit the theory; change the facts a rather depressing observation. If Psi does exist and can be successfully demonstrated, the pressure should be for mainstream science to reconsider accepted theories and accept the facts. Presentiment; a form of precognition, can be described as an unconscious, anomalous prestimulus response, resulting in physiological changes that can be measured using skin conductance, heart rate, electroencephalography (EEG) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Presentiment takes advantage of the Orienting Response, characterised by physiological changes that take place when an organism is faced with a fight or flight situation (Radin, 1997). The Orienting Response is not exclusive to aversive stimuli but applies to any novel or unexpected stimuli. The Orienting Response can easily be elicited, for example, by showing a person an emotionally shocking picture. The initial exposure generates the greatest Orienting Response that quickly diminishes after each successive exposure to the same stimulus, due to habituation. In a typical presentiment experiment, the participant is presented with sequence of low affect pictures (calm target) on a computer screen; each followed by a blank target or resting period, designed to allow the physiological responses to stabilise. In each trial, the computer will randomly select and place an emotional picture (emotional target) somewhere within the sequence. During this time, the participants skin conductance is measured (electrodermal activity) using fingertip electrodes along with a second device used to monitor heart rate and blood pressure. Biological data is recorded on the computer
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along with timings of the presented stimuli. Data analysis reveals that for certain individuals, electrodermal activity will rise before the target has been shown and is markedly higher directly when an emotional target has been shown (Radin, 1997). Figure 1 shows the participants biological responses predict the display of the emotional target; even before the computers random number generator (RNG) has decided to display the emotional target.

Figure 1. Stimulus presentation starts at sample 37 and demonstrates the galvanic skin response of emotional vs calm stimuli. From Bierman, D. & Radin, D. I. Anomalous unconscious emotional responses: Evidence for a reversal of the arrow of time. In Tucson III: Towards a Science of Consciousness. Cambridge,MA: MIT Press.

PrecognitiveHabituation
Daryl Bem devised a procedure called Precognitive Habituation (PH), described as the Holy Grail of Psi research: a reliable and straightforward demonstration of Psi that could be run on any standard PC or Mac, by any competent person, using a standard software package, requiring no more than a t-test to interpret the results (Bem, 2003). A simplified Psi experiment would be of considerable value to researchers, students and even skeptics who frequently allude to a variety of methodological flaws, inadequate controls, overcomplicated setups and even fraud as reasons for successful Psi studies. PH is described as a time-reversed mere effect procedure but the term Precognitive habituation is something of a misnomer because PH draws on both affective habituation and the mere exposure effect.
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Affectivehabituation
Affective Habituation describes the unconscious ability to quickly classify extreme stimuli from background information. For example, in a crowded room, a single smiling or fearful face may go unnoticed consciously but it is likely that an unconscious evaluative system will be at work, assessing potential dangers and triggering physiological changes. The dangers associated with facial expressions of fear or anger is obvious but smiling faces are less straightforward; do we perceive the face of a friendly stranger or the face of the laughing assassin? A study by Dijksterhuis & Smith (2002) explored affective habituation by exposing participants to six extremely positive and six extremely negative, randomly assigned words. The participants were then asked to rate the valence of 24 words, 12 of which were the original words (six positive, six negative). The results revealed that for words that participants were previously exposed to; positive words were rated as less positive and negative words were rated as less negative. Affective habituation is an effective unconscious background evaluation system that utilises the Orienting Response and quickly categorises and prioritises incoming stimuli, preventing us from being overwhelmed by love or eaten by lions (Dijksterhuis & Smith, 2002, p. 212). Affective habituation has been demonstrated with a variety of affective stimuli, including words, pictures, facial expression, sound and other extreme affective stimuli.

Mereexposureeffect
The second component of PH for stimuli rated as neutral is the mere exposure effect, a robust psychological phenomenon that explains why an individual will express a preference to a repeatedly exposed stimulus over a novel one (Zajonc, 1968). The mere effect has been successfully demonstrated with a wide variety of stimuli including words, faces, Chinese characters and abstract shapes. The mere effect is not dependent on conscious awareness of the stimuli and the effect may be stronger when stimuli are presented unconsciously (Bornstein & DAgostino, 1992). In a standard time-forward study, the participant would first be exposed (masked subliminal technique) to an image (called the habituation target). Next, the participant is shown an image pair (of equal positive affect) consisting of the original habituation target plus a novel image of equal valence (the non-target) and asked to make a preference choice. The theory predicts that the image chosen will be the one to which the participant has been repeatedly unconsciously exposed (the habituation target). This is because mere exposure will result in a preference for that image, rather than the nontarget. For an image pair of equal negative affect, the choice is also likely to be habituation target because it will be perceived as having less impact than the non-target due to habituation. The PH protocol uses a range of affective stimuli from positive to negative. Fig
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2 shows the relationship between emotional valence and the habituation type, e.g. affective habituation or mere effect.

Figure 2. Extreme positive and negative stimuli result in affective habituation effects. Neutral stimuli result in mere exposure effects.

In PH, it is useful to regard habituation and the mere effect as a single system of behaviour that vigilantly scans the environment for signs of threat or reward. Amygdalar response to repeated exposure to extreme negative stimuli (without negative consequences), rapidly diminish to allow discrimination of new threats. Conversely, repeated exposure to extreme positive stimuli (without reward) also diminish with preference given to novel positive stimuli. Repeated neutral stimuli are preferred to novel stimuli as a result of mere exposure. In PH, the preference task is presented to the participant before the habituation target is displayed. The participant is first exposed to a valence matched pair of positive, negative or neutral arousing images on a computer screen and asked to express a preference for one of the images. The computer then randomly selects one of the two images (the habituation target), and displays the target using a subliminal, backward masking technique, several times. If the participant chooses the future target, this is considered a hit. The rationale behind the PH hypothesis is that the participant will have been exposed to the habituation target several times in the future, thus rendering negative (violent) targets less negative and positive (erotic) targets less positive. The hypothesis predicts that the participant will be more likely to choose the target on negative trials and the non-target on positive trials. The mean hit rate expected by chance is 50%. Recent studies have provided support for the hypothesis, across six studies; the hit rate is significantly above 50% on
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negative trials (52.6%, p = .0008) and significantly below 50% on erotic trials (48.0%, p = .031) (Bem D. J., 2005). The PH protocol fulfilled the promise of straightforward demonstration of Psi that could be conducted with a standard desktop computer, using simple statistical tests. The programme was written in true BASIC and used images from the international affective picture system (IAPS) (Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 1999). IAPS provides one of the most widely used static image sets based on the dimensional model of emotion and include valence matched pictures depicting mutilation, insects, snakes, accidents, contamination, violence, eroticism and many more (Mikels, Fredrickson, Larkin, Lindberg, Maglio, & Reuter-Lorenz, 2005). The PH protocol uses three categories of stimuli; positive, negative and neutral. Positive stimuli use various erotic and pornographic imagery, negative stimuli consist of aversive stimuli such as snakes, mutilation and accidents. and neutral stimuli consists of landscapes, tables, chairs and other neutrally valenced imagery. The PH protocol offers great potential for Psi researchers and yet is fundamentally flawed in its primary objective replication. University ethics committees must balance scientific research against the moral standards of the institution and consider the well being of its student population they are often the participants in such studies. Undergraduate students are adult students but young people nevertheless. Any reasonable person would feel uncomfortable exposing undergraduates to extreme stimuli, particularly pornography. The obvious solution is to retain the PH protocol but use a more acceptable form of stimuli. One such solution was found in a replication by Savva, Child, & Smith, (2004) where such ethical difficulties were recognised: This adapted PH methodology therefore provides parapsychologists with an ethically less problematic tool than that developed by Bem (p. 227). Positive (erotic) targets were removed and negative targets (gruesome images) were replaced with images of spiders, based on earlier study where spider stimuli had replaced conventional extreme stimuli (Savva & French, 2001) and argued that the reaction to spider stimuli by the spider-fear group would be similar to violent images shown to normal participants. Participants were categorised into spider-fear and no fear groups. It was hypothesised that participants with a fear of spiders were more likely to select a target picture, when the picture was a spider rather than a low affect picture. The spiderfear group was more successful than the no fear group on anticipating the spider stimuli (54%, p = 0.51, one tailed), the overall hit rate was 51.3% and not significantly above chance

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(p = ns) (Savva, et al., 2004). The results were encouraging but the success of the study was limited only to participants who identified themselves as being fearful of spiders. The use of IAPS images may not be the most efficient way to elicit negative affect, particularly fear responses, according to Hariri, Tessitore, Mattay, Fera, & Weinberger, (2002). The amygdala is activated by scenes of mutilation, attacks and explosions but it shows a stronger response to facial expressions, especially fear and anger. Facial expressions and emotional scenes are similarly rated according to their valence (the attraction or aversion shown towards the stimuli). In a paper by Britton, Taylor, Sudheimer, & Liberzon, (2006), data suggests that expressive faces predominantly involve emotion recognition and IAPS type pictures elicit emotion evocation; a differential pattern of activation was detected in the superior temopral gyrus, insula and anterior cingulate, with more activation to expressive faces than to IAPS pictures. Sex differences in the processing of affective faces have also been observed in an fMRI study using Blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) technique according to Goldenring Fine, Semrud-Clikeman, & Zhu, (In Press), females activated more to negative faces but males activated more to positive faces, however; activation of the medial frontal gyrus, a brain area indicated in decision-making is the same in both females and males. The amygdala has been shown to rapidly habituate to repeated exposures of emotional faces, particularly expressions of anger and fear. Expressions of anger, may represent a direct and immediate threat (i.e. the face of the agressor), however, an expression of fear represents an unknown threat/aggressor and result may result in higher amygdalar response in anxious individuals (Ewbank, Lawrence, Passamonti, Keane, Peers, & Calder, 2009). Fearful faces are processed faster than any other facial expression according to Yang, Zald, & Blake, (2007), with happy faces being the slowest to process, suggesting that the brain has evolved mechanisms to quickly discriminate and detect environmental threat. A recent study by Li, Zinbarg, Boehm, & Paller, (2008), utilised subliminal affective priming using surprised faces preceded with subliminal happy or fearful faces as primes. Participants rated surprised faces primed with fearful faces more negatively than those primed with happy faces and participants with high trait anxiety demonstrated increased affective priming. According to to Matsumoto & Willingham, (2009), facial expressions may be hard-wired into our genes and are autonamous processes mediated directly by the amygdala without conscious awareness (see also Calder, 1996; Morris, et al., 1996; Williams, et al., 2006).
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TheRH2SProtocol
The present study aims to broaden the scope of the time-reversed paradigm by investigating whether emotional responses can be elicited using a conceptual adaptation of Bems PH procedure. The study will replace IAPS stimuli with Pictures of Facial Affect (Ekman & Friesen, 1975). The reasons for this are: 1. Ethical issues in using IAPS and other erotic stimuli. 2. Individual differences, e.g. some individuals are more affected by aversive stimuli (IAPS) than others. 3. The amygdala is universally hard-wired to detect facial expressions. Retroactive Habituation 2 Starkie (RH2S) is a procedure based on the PH protocol and was developed in association with Daryl Bem. The original IAPS positive, negative and neutral pictures were replaced with Pictures of Facial Affect, consisting of 110 greyscale images. Happy facial expressions are used for positive trials. Negative trials consist of fear, anger, disgust and sad facial expressions and neutral facial expressions are used for neutral trials. The term Precognitive Habituation has been replaced by the term Retroactive Habituation (RH), reflecting developments in PH and similar time reversed experiments by Bem (Bem, 2008). The original Ekman image set was insufficient to provide the required number of stimuli for each category; so additional facial composites were created using Abrosoft FantaMorph software and Adobe Photoshop. The use of commercial morphing software allowed the creation of novel faces while maintaining appropriate facial expressions. The use of artificially created and modified faces is not new in amygdalar research. For example, no difference was found between the use of schematic (line drawings) or human faces in the activation of the amygdala and fusiform gyrus (Britton, Shin, Feldman Barrett, Rauch, & Wright, 2008; Marsh, 2005), and the use of modified photographs and exaggerated fear poses (Thomas, et al., 2001). Additionally, visible picture reference numbers and borders were removed; images were resized to 500 pixels wide and converted to jpeg file format. The quality of the Ekman pictures varies considerably and final processing using Adobe Photoshop corrected exposure and contrast to acceptable levels suitable for display on a computer monitor. Figure 3 shows a finished composite image and the two original Ekman faces from which the composite image was derived.

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Image078
Friesen, 1975)

Image017

Composite

Figure 3. A novel composite face, created by morphing images 078 and 017 from the Ekman series. (Ekman &

The RH hypothesis predicts that the habituation target (if negative), will appear less negative and the habituation target (if positive), will appear less positive. Neutral targets will appear more positive due to the mere exposure effect. The original PH protocol relied on a number of individual measures regarded as predictive of Psi performance (Ni and Na scale). These have been retained within the RH2S protocol. Based on the following questions, these are: In general, how intense are your emotional reactions to movies, videos, or photographs that are violent, scary, or gruesome? (Ni) and In general, to what degree are you aware of, attuned to, or in touch with your emotional reactions to images that are violent, scary, or gruesome? (Na), (Bem, 2003, p. 7). Any person who scores above the midpoint on the NiNa scales is defined as emotionally reactive, all others are rated as emotionally non-reactive. Even though these measures have been successfully utilised in previous studies, the author considered two points: Firstly, Ni and Na are somewhat limited in measuring the entire construct of emotional reactiveness. Secondly, the questions are very wordy and perhaps easily misunderstood. For these reasons, the decision was made to use an additional pen and paper measure the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule extended form (PANAS-X) (Watson & Clark, 1994), providing a respected and validated measure of affect with high test-retest reliability. A 20 question measure of basic positive and negative emotion was utilised, based on the how you feel at this moment instruction (Watson & Clark, 1994).

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Hypotheses
Null hypothesis: Psi does not exist and results will be according to mean chance expectation (50%), H0: = .5.

1. Fear targets: There will be a significantly higher than chance (50%) hit rate for fear expression targets. 2. Negative targets: There will be a significantly higher than chance (50%) hit rate for negative facial expression targets. 3. Positive targets: There will be a significantly higher than chance (50%) hit rate for non-targets (RH predicts target misses for positive stimuli). 4. Neutral targets: There will be a significantly higher than chance (50%) hit rate for neutral facial expression trials. 5. Predictive measures: Participants identified as emotionally reactive as defined by scoring more than 3.5 on the combined Ni (Intensity of reaction to negative images) and Na (Awareness of reactions to negative images) will score more highly than those who are identified as emotionally non reactive.

Method
Participants
Fifty participants (32 women and 18 men) ranging in age from 18-61 (M = 32 years, SD = 13) were recruited by opportunity sampling from the student and staff population of Liverpool Hope University and Holy Cross College as well as friends and colleagues of the author. Participants were informed that the study was investigating how extra-sensory perception (ESP), specifically, how events in the future may affect our behavior in the present.

Design
To assess RH effects, the study used a (fearful, negative, neutral and positive affective stimuli) x (emotionally reactive, emotionally non-reactive) (4X2) design.

Apparatus/Materials
Software
RH2S is a software application compiled by Daryl Bem is designed to run on a Mac or PC. The stimuli are presented as pairs of images each 500 x 770 pixels, thus any monitor 15 or above and capable of at least 1024 x 768 resolution may be used. The program generated a
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unique text file for each participant that was later imported into a database engine that would allow full analysis of the results as well as the ability to filter and manipulate the variables. Data export to SPSS for further analysis is possible. Since the experiment is automated, the participant runs the experiment alone, thus minimising potential experimenter effects.

Security
The output generated by the software is recorded in plain and encrypted versions. This prevents the data from being tampered with after being recorded by the software.

Materials
The stimuli used in this study are Pictures of Facial Affect (Ekman & Friesen, 1975), consisting of 110 greyscale pictures of facial expression including anger, fear, surprise, happiness, sadness and disgust. The stimuli were organised into three categories: positive, negative and neutral. Each category consisted of 24 pictures (12 female and 12 male). The negative category consisted of four disgust, four anger, four sadness and 12 fear expressions.

Hardware
This study used Dell P4 desktop computers 2.2 GHz and Dell E127FP 17 LCD monitors at 1280 x 1024 screen resolution, running Windows XP operating system. For off-campus trials, a Toshiba L300 Satellite laptop computer 1.9GHz, 15.4 screen was used with a resolution of 1280 x 800, running Windows Vista operating system. The target was selected using the z and / keyboard keys. These were identified by means of two small self-adhesive, yellow smiley face labels. Other keys are disabled during the experiment except for the quit (q) key. Initial data entry and questionnaire was input by means of the keyboard and a standard two-button mouse. For audio, Sennheiser HD 280 headphones were used and retained for the duration of the experiment as they are of enclosed design and offered some protection from external noise sources.

Screenrefreshrate
The vertical refresh rate of computer CRT and LCD monitors is typically 100 Hz or less, resulting in minimum attainable exposures of 10 ms or more. Laptop computers and the majority of desktop computers use 60 Hz LCD monitors and work in non-interlaced or progressive mode - displaying one full screen image at a time. The RH2S software has a default target display period of 25 ms followed by masking stimuli of 83 ms. A 60Hz monitor will display a full-screen image for a minimum duration of 16.67 ms; thus, each target
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stimulus will be displayed for two full screen refreshes, or 33.34 ms. In subliminal presentations, even short exposures may be seen due to persistence of vision. In RH, a mask presented directly after the target (backward masking), disrupts the afterimage, preventing conscious processing of the target stimulus. In a standard time-forward mere exposure or habituation study, safeguards such as funnel debriefing procedures would be used to ensure that the participant was not aware of the target stimuli. In RH, however, this method was not used because identification of the target does not compromise the RH hypothesis for two reasons: Firstly, the participant selects the target before the subliminal exposures and secondly, significant RH effects have previously been successfully demonstrated with supraliminal exposures of 500 ms (Bem, 2003).

Experimentalprocedure
Participants were shown an information sheet and were given the opportunity to ask any questions. They were then asked to read and complete a consent form and were given the opportunity to request a copy of the findings of this study. Participants were told that the procedure investigated ESP by measuring reactions to pictures of faces and other than a brief pen and paper questionnaire, the experiment would be run entirely on a computer. Participants were told the way the procedure tests for ESP would be explained after they had completed the procedure. Any participant eligible for a course credit was approved using the Liverpool Hope online experiment management system, Sona. Before starting the experiment, participants were reminded that they were free to withdraw at any time and although the experimenter would not be present during the experiment, he would be close by, if assistance was needed. Participants were seated in front of the computer in a quiet comfortable location, free from distractions and were asked to switch off their mobile phones. The RH2S software was started and before proceeding, the participant was asked to complete the 20-item paperbased PANAS-X inventory. The participant was informed that all further activity would take place on the computer and full instructions would be provided on screen. By default, the RH2S program records the participants first name, last name, age and sex and administered a questionnaire of five measures found to be indicative of Psi performance. Please see appendix for screen shots of the questionnaire and all measures used in this study. The instruction screen explained that they would be shown two pictures, side-by-side and their task was to choose the picture they preferred as quickly as possible
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using the stickered keys on the keyboard. Using the left stickered key if they preferred the picture on the left and the right stickered key if they preferred the picture on the right. Participants were instructed just go with your immediate gut reaction, dont take time to analyse your preference. The RH2S procedure included an optional three minute pre-trial relaxation period, consisting of a video presentation of astrological images accompanied by new age music. The closing screen provided feedback on individual performance in the negative trials. Debriefing consisted of an explanation of the procedure, assisted by means of a visual aid: a double-sided card with a visual representation of a time-forward and time-reversed habituation procedure, incorporating an explanation of how the participants score related to the hypothesis.

Results
Data was transferred from Bems RH2S database and statistical software application into SPSS for analysis. Post-hoc effect sizes were calculated using G*Power software (Faul, Erdfelder, Lang, & Buchner, 2007).

Outliers
The data were screened for outliers, resulting in the removal of one record. In the fear trials, the result in question scored 100% in fear trials compared to a mean score of 44.6% (SD = 19.1) for the remaining records, a discrepancy of more than three standard deviations.

Hypothesis1,feartrials
The hit rate for the fear trials was 44.6% (SD = 19.1), a significant deviation from chance expectation but not in the predicted direction (t(48) = -2.00, p = .051, two-tailed, d = .29).

Hypothesis2,negativetrials
The hit rate for negative trials was 47.4% (SD = 10.2), (t(48) = -1.75, p = .087, two-tailed, d = .25), a small but not significant effect was found but not in the predicted direction.

Hypothesis3,positivetrials
The hit rate for positive trials was not in the predicted direction 50.5% (SD = 15.5) and as such, is not significantly different from mean chance expectation (t(48) = 0.23, p = .819, twotailed, d = .03).

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Hypothesis4,neutraltrials
The hit rate for neutral trials was not in the predicted direction 47.4% (SD = 14.2), and was a small but not significant deviation from the chance score of (50%) predicted for neutral trials, (t(48) = -1.25, p = .216, two-tailed, d = .18).

Predictivemeasures
The performance of participants identified by Bem as emotionally reactive (defined as scoring > 3 on the NiNa scale) was investigated; these were found to be predictive of Psi performance in earlier PH studies. Slight interactions were found in fear trials 44.7% (SD = 18.6), (t(37) = -1.74, p = .090, d = 0.28 and negative trials 47.1% (SD = 9.1), (t(37) = -1.92, p = .062 ns, d = .31) but no significant interactions were found in positive or neutral trials.

Exploratoryanalysis
The PANAS-X basic positive affect inventory produced more interesting interactions for participants who scored above the midrange (>29) using the basic positive affect measure (M 29.22, SD 6.58) Interactions were: Fear trials 40.6% (SD = 17.3), (t(22) = -2.61, p = .016, d = .54), negative trials 45.6% (SD = 9.7), (t(22) = -2.15, p = .043, d = .45). Positive trials were 52.5% (SD = 15.6) but not significant (t(22) = 0.78, p = .443 ns, d = .16). Neutral trials were 45.3% (SD = 13.9), (t(22) = -1.62, p = .120 ns, d = .38). No significant interactions were found in any of the trials using the basic negative affect inventory.

Sexdifferences
Striking sex differences were found. Females scores were found to significantly deviate from the chance (50%) score in fear trials 40.9% (SD = 17.7), (t(30) = -2.88, p = .007, d = .52). A small interaction was observed in negative trials 46.8% (SD = 9.3), (t(30) = -1.93, p = .063, d = .35) but no interaction was observed with positive and neutral trials. Conversely, a significant score for males in positive trials was observed 56.9% (SD = 11.2), (t(17) = 2.64, p = .017, d = .62). Male neutral trials were 43.1% (SD = 14.1), (t(17) = -2.09, p = .052, d = .49) but no significant interactions were found with fear and negative trials.

Agedifferences
It was found that participants aged <= 38 performed better in fear trials 40.7% (SD = 18.9), (t(33) = -2.87, p = .007, d = .49) and negative trials 46.1% (SD = 9.2), (t(33) = -2.48, p = .019, d = .42). For participants where age > 38, results for all trials were not significantly different from mean chance expectation.

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Meanreactiontime
In the preference task, participants were instructed to make their choice as quickly as possible so that conscious processing would not interfere with the task. A wide range of reaction times was recorded - 667 ms 3962 ms, (M = 1672, SD = 801) but no significant interaction within any of the trials was observed.

Discussion
The results fail to support the experimental hypotheses because they are not in the predicted direction. The most obvious reason (as stated by H0) is because Psi does not exist and that the results will be according to mean chance expectation (H0: = .5). In such circumstances, convention dictates that H0 should not be rejected, despite the fact that data are not consistent with chance expectation; they are ordered and demonstrate significant effects. H0 is rejected however, because this affords the possibility of considering alternative explanations that are not represented as post-hoc hypotheses. Put another way "We balance probabilities and choose the most likely. It is the scientific use of the imagination." 2 RH2S and the Bems original PH studies are operationally very similar and both use positive, negative and neutral affective stimuli. RH and PH studies have been successfully replicated with significant results. The results from the present study, however, seem to indicate Psimissing - a phenomenon often observed in Psi replications, where results appear to reveal unexpected and significantly worse than chance avoidance of the target. It is tempting to attribute the results of the present study to Psi missing but to do so would be to overlook certain key characteristics of the facial stimuli used in the present study. Small assumptions can lead to flawed reasoning. The assumption in question concerns the stimuli used in RH2S where it was assumed that IAPS and Ekman stimuli could be used interchangeably. Clues to the reasons for apparent target reversal may be found in studies of the amygdala and facial affect. As previously discussed, facial stimuli offer an ethically acceptable alternative form of stimuli compared to IAPS and present a more efficient way of eliciting affect (Hariri, Tessitore, Mattay, Fera, & Weinberger, 2002). Emotionally evocative scenes, such as those used in the IAPS collection and pictures of facial affect, such as Ekman are often used interchangeably and are selected according to their valence rating but substantial differences exist between these two stimuli type that have only recently been explored. Emotional faces (Ekman) generate emotion recognition whereas emotionally

Sherlock Holmes from The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) p. 687

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evocative scenes (IAPS) directly evoke the corresponding emotion (Hariri, Tessitore, Mattay, Fera, & Weinberger, 2002). Habituation of the target takes place with both IAPS and Ekman stimuli but in RH, the outcome is different depending on the stimulus used. Negative facial stimuli are not regarded as aversive in the same way as a picture of an accident victim or a mutilation scene but negative facial expressions per se represent a warning or indirect threat. In RH2S, negative facial stimuli represents a warning signal that diminishes during the habituation procedure. Thus with IAPS stimuli, the target is preferred because it appears less aversive than the non-target, allowing the individual to avoid confronting a direct negative emotional response. When using Ekman face targets, the warning signal diminishes due to habituation and the non-target preferred due to the orienting response and other attentional processes. In effect, the non-target appears more interesting. Two individual measures regarded as reliable predictors of Psi performance in PH studies were included in the RH2S protocol. These were defined by Bem as measures of emotional reactivity and were: Intensity of reaction to negative images (Ni) and Awareness of reactions to negative images (Na). These were adapted from Zuckermans sensation seeking scale (Bem, 2003). Analysis of the data using these measures failed to reveal any significant interactions. Once again, the nature of the stimuli used may explain this deviation from the results of previous studies. Intensity of reaction and awareness of reaction to negative images are inappropriate measures when using pictures of facial affect because unlike IAPS, which contain particularly graphic and disturbing imagery, facial expressions are not emotion eliciting stimuli. The PANAS-X provided a measure of positive or negative affect experienced by the participant at the time of the experiment. Participants who scored higher than the midpoint on the basic positive affect scale (>29) performed significantly better (albeit, not in the predicted direction) in fear and negative trials with a slight interaction in positive trials. No significant interactions were found using the basic negative affect scale, suggesting that mood might modulate emotion identification. These observations suggest that the positive emotional state of the individual is a more useful predictor of RH2S performance than the previous Ni and Na measure. One aspect of Bems PH studies did correlate with the present study. Bem reported strong sex differences and attributed most of the significant effects to women. The present study
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had similar findings. Females scored more highly in fear/negative trials whereas males scored more highly in positive and neutral trials. As discussed earlier, this interaction was observed in a conventional fMRI study by Goldenring Fine, et al, (In Press), further supporting the idea that the use of facial stimuli is the reason for the directional findings of the present study. One final observation of the data revealed an interesting parallel with the work of Ruffman, Sullivan, & Edge, (2006) who compared the abilities of young and older adults to rate pictures of faces and situations. There were no significant age differences in the ability to distinguish between low danger and high danger situations but older adults did not distinguish the difference between less dangerous and more dangerous faces to the same extent as younger adults. Bem did not report any age differences in earlier PH studies but the findings of the present study reveal that significant RH effects for fear and negative faces only occur in the <=38 age group. No significant RH effects were found for any of the trials in the >38 age group and this is entirely consistent with Sullivan et als study. The use of IAPS pictures in earlier PH and RH studies would not reveal such differences because neagative stimuli consisted entirely of situations, not faces. To say that similar age differences do not occur in Bems studies is speculation but one must wonder whether Bem would fail to notice or report such an unusual finding if it existed.

Futureresearch
The purpose of the RH2S protocol is to investigate the existence of Psi. Research has established that the human amygdala is hard-wired to detect emotional expressions, particularly those of anger and fear. In the absence of Psi, RH2S is designed to generate random data at chance levels and because the most striking results involve the use of negative stimuli, it is recommended that future studies should concentrate on negative facial expressions only. Furthermore, in the light of the results of this present study, Bems Ni and Na measure of emotional reactivity should be replaced with measures based on the recognised and validated PANAS-X inventory. One further improvement could be made: In order to investigate relationships between facial expression types, the sex and age of the participants and to establish a set of baseline data for future studies, a pilot study based on a conventional, time-forward RH2S study should be implemented. In conclusion, The present study presents a compelling case for the existence of Psi. Significant RH effects were observed in the fear and negative trials indicating retroactive
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habituation of the stimuli. The original predictions were based on the earlier PH rationale, using IAPS and erotic stimuli but retrospective evaluation of the research surrounding the function of the human amygdala and facial expression are consistent with the direction of the results. If Psi does exist, an opportunity is afforded to carry out replications using the RH2S protocol. RH2S shows great promise as a simple test of Psi, requiring no more than a modest laptop PC or Mac computer and one experimenter. If used with noise cancelling headphones and providing the participant carries out the task in a distraction-free location, this protocol could be successfully implemented outside the confines of the psychology lab. The software is self contained and capable of implementing all of the measures discussed. The data is internally security checked in order to minimise fraud and data analysis is built in to the software. The use of facial stimuli should not be of concern to any university ethics committee allowing any interested party, from serious investigator, committed skeptic or interested student, to investigate the fascinating phenomenon of Psi.

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References
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Klintman, H. (1983). Is There a Paranormal (Precognitive) Influence in Certain Types of Perceptual Sequences? Part 1. European Journal of Parapsychology , 1, 19-50. Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M., & Cuthbert, B. N. (1999). International affective picture system (IAPS): Technical manual and affective ratings. University of Florida, Center for Research in Psychophysiology, Gainesville. Li, W., Zinbarg, R. E., Boehm, S. G., & Paller, K. A. (2008). Neural and behavioral evidence for affective priming from unconsciously perceived emotional facial expressions and the influence of trait anxiety. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience , 20 (1), 95-107. Matsumoto, D., & Willingham, B. (2009). Spontaneous Facial Expressions of Emotion in Congenitally and Non-Congenitally Blind Individuals. The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 96 (1), 1-10. Mikels, J. A., Fredrickson, B. L., Larkin, G. R., Lindberg, C. M., Maglio, S. J., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (2005). Emotional category data on images from the International Affective Picture System. Behavior Research Methods , 37 (4), pp. 626-630. Morris, J. S., Frith, C. D., Perrett, D. I., Rowland, D., Young, A. W., Calder, A. J., et al. (1996). A differential neural response in the human amygdala to fearful and happy facial expressions. Nature (383), 812-815. Radin, D. I. (1997). The Conscious Universe. San Francisco: HarperCollins. Radin, D. I. (2000, July 31). Time-reversed human experience: experimental evidence and implications. Journal of Nonlocality and Remote Mental Interactions . Ruffman, T., Sullivan, S., & Edge, N. (2006). Differences in the Way Older and Younger Adults Rate Threat in Faces But Not Situations. Journal of Gerontology , 61B (4), 187-194. Savva, L., & French, C. C. (2001). Investigating the presentiment effect as an adapted behaviour. Evolution and psi. 25th International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research. Cambridge: Clare College. Savva, L., Child, R., & Smith, M. (2004). The precognitive habituation effect: an adaptation using spider stimuli. Proceedings of Presented Papers: The Parapsychological Association 47th Annual Convention, (pp. 223-229). Sowa, J. F. (2001, August 25). Processes and Causality. Retrieved April 11, 2009, from jfsowa.com: http://www.jfsowa.com/ontology/causal.htm Stanford, R. G. (1974a). An Experimentally Testable Model for Spontaneous Psi Events: I. Extrasensory Events. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (68), 34-57. Stanford, R. G. (1974b). An experimentally testable model for spontaneous psi events: II. Psychokinetic events. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (68), 321-356. Thomas, K. M., Drevets, W. C., Dahl, R. E., Ryan, N. D., Birmaher, B., Eccard, C. H., et al. (2001). Amygdala Response to Fearful Faces in Anxious and Depressed Children. Arch Gen Psychiatry (58), 1057-1063. Watson, D., & Clark, L. (1994). The PANAS-X: Manual for the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Expanded Form. Unpublished Manuscript . Iowa City: University of Iowa.

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Williams, L., Liddell, B., Kemp, A., Bryant, R., Meares, R., Peduto, A., et al. (2006). Amygdalaprefrontal dissociation of subliminal and supraliminal fear. Human Brian Mapping , 27, 652-661. Yang, E., Zald, D., & Blake, R. (2007, November). Fearful expressions gain preferential access to awareness during continuous flash suppression. Emotion , 882-886. Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal Effects of Mere Exposure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (9), 1-27.

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AppendixI
Ethicsapplicationform

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AppendixII
Supervisorcontactsheet

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AppendixIII
Measuresandforms

31