title: The relationship between latent inhibition and performance at a non-intentional precognition task.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many spontaneous cases of extra-sensory perception (ESP) seem to occur without the conscious intent of the experient to manifest any anomalous phenomena. Indeed, Stanford׳s psi-mediated instrumental response (PMIR) theory, which frames ESP as a goal-oriented function, goes as far as to suggest that such intent may be counterproductive to psi.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study was the latest to build on the successful paradigm developed by Luke and colleagues in testing the non-intentional psi hypothesis and potential covariates of psi task success. This study focused on the ability of latent inhibition-an organism׳s cognitive tendency to filter out apparently irrelevant information-to predict an individual׳s sensitivity to psi stimuli.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 50 participants completed a two-part auditory discrimination performance measure of latent inhibition; a battery of questionnaires; and a 15-trial, binary, forced-choice, non-intentional precognition task. They were then either positively or negatively rewarded via images from subsets that they had pre-rated, seeing more images from their preferred subsets the better they performed at the psi task and vice versa.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants scored a mean hit rate of 7.96 [mean chance expectation (MCE) = 7.50], which just failed to reach a statistically significant level, t(48) = 1.62, P = .06, one-tailed, ESr (effect size correlation) = 0.23. However, latent inhibition was found to be unrelated to participants׳ precognitive performance.
authors: Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes, Division of Psychology, University of Northampton, Park Campus, Boughton Green Road, Northampton NN2 7AL, UK. Electronic address: glenn_hitchman@yahoo.co.uk.
authors: Glenn A M
authors: GA
authors: Hitchman
authors: Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes, Division of Psychology, University of Northampton, Park Campus, Boughton Green Road, Northampton NN2 7AL, UK.
authors: Simon J
authors: SJ
authors: Sherwood
authors: Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes, Division of Psychology, University of Northampton, Park Campus, Boughton Green Road, Northampton NN2 7AL, UK.
authors: Chris A
authors: CA
authors: Roe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D033182:Intention; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D010268:Parapsychology; D010551:Personality; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Extra-sensory perception; latent inhibition; non-intentional precognition