Gut feelings, intuition, and emotions: an exploratory study.
OBJECTIVE
Investigate whether the gut feelings of one person, as measured with an electrogastrogram (EGG), respond to the emotions of a distant person.


METHODS
In a double blind protocol, EGG activity was recorded in an individual relaxing in a heavily shielded chamber while, at a distance, a second person periodically viewed the live video image of the first person along with stimuli designed to evoke positive, negative, calming, or neutral emotions.


METHODS
Twenty-six (26) pairs of healthy adult volunteers.


METHODS
EGG maximum values recorded while the distant person was exposed to emotional stimuli were compared to similar values recorded during exposure to neutral stimuli.


RESULTS
EGG maximums were significantly larger on average when the distant person was experiencing positive (p = 0.006) and negative (p = 0.0009) emotions, as compared to neutral emotions. Nonparametric bootstrap procedures were employed to evaluate these differences, and the results survive correction for multiple analyses.


CONCLUSIONS
EGG activity increases in response to the emotions of a distant person, beyond the influence of ordinary sensory interactions. Relationships commonly reported between gut feelings and intuitive hunches may share a common, poorly understood, perceptive origin.
Radin
Dean I
DI
Institute of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma, CA 94952-9524, USA. DeanRadin@noetic.org
Schlitz
Marilyn J
MJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001364:Awareness; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D019545:Intuition; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012016:Reference Values; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013270:Stomach; D013315:Stress, Psychological