Hyperesthesia

Hyperesthesia

Hyperesthesia, or why drinking coffee or energy drinks during a paranormal investigation could lead to a paranormal attributed sensation that is explainable through medical science.

 Most paranormal investigators like to ply their trade at night, there are a number of very good reasons for this. The darkness adds a spooky factor, some locations are closed to the public at night, giving the investigator free range of the location without interference or interruption. Others like the quietness, and the fact that the cooler air temperature allows sounds to travel further, some work during the day, and the night is the only time they have to ghost hunt – whatever the reason, almost all will use a stimulant, like coffee or energy drinks to help them stay awake during their investigation.

Excessive consumption of caffeine can induce Hyperesthesia[i] in humans (this is not the only cause, but the one I am focusing on for this blog). The caffeine creates stimulation of the spinal cord, the cortex and the medulla in the central nervous system, thus bringing about a temporary state of hypersensitivity where an investigator may have an elevated height of senses.

 Why is this bad you ask, wouldn’t heightened sense be preferred on an investigation to better hear/feel/see something paranormal?

  No, as you’re leaving yourself open to experience sounds, touch or smells that are minute and normally indistinguishable, experienced at a much higher level (or in a more concentrated way) than normal, thus giving a “personal experience” that is not quantifiable.

A person may have a twitch in their body, on a daily basis this twitch happens irregularly and is often not noticed by a person, but introduce hyperesthesia and a paranormal investigation, and suddenly that twitch, which is now felt at a heightened level, along with the psychological priming of expected paranormal phenomena via being on a ghost hunt, and you have a person sensing they are being touched by a ghost when in actual fact, it is the same muscle twitch they’ve always had, but just didn’t notice without the heightened senses. 

Another example could be a person walking through an old haunted hotel, a place they are familiar with. As they walk through in the hypersensitive state, they begin notice begin to notice the smell of tobacco, a smell that is there normally, but unnoticed when not in the heightened state, that heightened state of sensitivity and the smell of the tobacco then invokes the idea that a spirit may be present, and therefore the person has a ghostly experience – but it isn’t real, as the smell is always present, but not usually noticed in the person's natural state.

Hyperesthesia works in other ways too, such is in psychic “readings”. In this case, the psychic maybe someone who can manipulate their own mind (or through other means) to gain a level of hyperesthesia.

 While in this state, they can perceive useful information, via their now heightened sense, such as subtle facial expression, body movement, or voice tones, that in a normal state one would not notice. They can then answer questions, or change the course of a “reading” via their interpretation of their hyperaesthetic state.

I know a number of questions are going to arise from this blog, so I am going to try and answer the ones that have popped into my head already – and if you have more questions, please pop them on the thread for this post on the Facebook page.

1.      If two people smell the same “tobacco smoke” smell, does that rule out one person’s hyperesthesia?

No. simply because the power of suggestion is incredibly strong. For example, in 1899, Slosson presented a study on the spatial-temporal spreading of ambiguous perceptions among a group of observers. In a classroom demonstration, he poured unscented distilled water over a small white cotton ball and led his students to believe that a chemical odour, one never smelt before, was being emitted. Within 15 seconds, the students in the front row claimed they could smell the odour, then came the students at the rear, within a few minutes three-quarters of the class could smell the odour. Are the students suffering from olfactory hallucinations or bowing to peer pressure, not wanting to be “left out by”, or “be different” to their peers? Whatever the reason, Slosson’s study concludes that hallucinations of smell are easily induced by suggestion.

2.      So, if we cannot rely on our senses, how do we quantify paranormal phenomena during investigations?

 Quite simply, you can’t. The truth is no ghost has ever been confirmed, caught and examined, studied or measured by anyone. If it had, the scientific community would be all over it, and all us amateur ghost sleuths would be pushed out of every supposed haunted location so scientific research teams, with endless Government and private sector funding, could recreate the capture, then study the ghosts. Whether you like that explanation or not, it is the truth, there is absolutely no hard evidence for ghosts existing.
That should not stop you from going out and investigating and trying to find a ghost. Just make sure if you do so, that your evidence, and the way you collected it, stands up to scientific scrutiny…otherwise, ghost hunt for the thrill and fun, and for personal experience, not everyone gets to go into big spooky places after dark!

I am sure there will be many questions other than the two I’ve answered here. If you do have a question, please post it on the Haunts of Adelaide Facebook page, and I will try my best to answer it.

Allen Tiller

www.allentiller.com.au

researched and written by Allen Tiller  © 2017

Bibliography and Footnotes.

Donnelly K, 2011, Hyperesthesia, Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology, p 1279, viewed 12 Mar 2017, http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-0-387-79948-3_742

Gertrude Schmeidler (schmeidler, 1952, Schmeidler & McConnell, 1958) demonstrated that attitudes effect psi performance. If you believe, you are more likely to encounter a paranormal experience.

Glicksohn J & Alon A & Perlmutter A & Purisman R, 2001, Symbolic and Syncretic Cognition Among Schizophrenics and Visual Artists, Creativity Research Journal, Vol 13, Iss 2, viewed 13 Mar 2017, http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hcrj20/current

Molto K, 2008, More True Tales of the Paranormal: Ghosts, Poltergeists, Near-Death Experiences and Other Mysterious Events, Dundurn, Canada.

 Peyron, R., Laurent, B., & García-Larrea, L. ,2000, Functional imaging of brain responses to pain. A review and meta-analysis. Neurophysiologie Clinique, 30(5), 263–288. Review. PubMed PMID

 Robinson, M. D., & Shannon, S. 2002. Rehabilitation of peripheral nerve injuries. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America, 13(1), 109–135. Review. PubMed PMID: 11878078.

Saleen, S 2012, Hyperesthesia: Causes, Diagnosis and Treatment, Medicalopedia, viewed 13 Mar 2017, https://medicalopedia.org/2462/hyperesthesia-causes-diagnosis-and-treatment/

Slosson, E. E., 1899, Shorter communications and discussions: A lecture experiment in hallucinations. Psychological Review, Vol 6(4), Jul 1899, 407-408. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0071184
 

Schmeidler GR, & McConnell RA 1958, ESP and personality patterns, New Haven, CT:Yale University Press,

Schmeidler, G R, 1952, Personal values and ESP scores, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 47, 757-761

Schmeidler, G R, 1966, Quantitative investigation of a “haunted house” Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 60, 137-149

Thalbourne MA & Dunbar KA & Delin PS 1995, an investigation into correlates of belief in the paranormal, Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 89, 215-231

Thalbourne MA 2000, Transliminality, a review, International Journal of Parapsychology, 11, 1-34

Thalbourne MA, 1996, An attempt to predict precognition scores using transliminality-relevant variables, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 61, 129-140

Thalbourne, MA, 1998, Transliminality: further correlates and a short measure, Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 92, 402-419

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[i] Hyperesthesia is an increased sensitivity to stimuli. It could be elevated sensation of touch, hearing, smell or vision, sometimes referred to as “Hyper-sensitivity”

Psychology: Legend Tripping

Legend Tripping

(first published on the "Eidolon Blog" on Wednesday, August 17, 2016 as "Let's Go Legend Tripping!!)

“Let’s go legend tripping!” doesn’t have the same impact as “let’s go ghost hunting!”, but for some ghost hunters, it is exactly what they are doing!

“Whatchoo talkin’ ‘bout Allen?" I hear you say.

What I am talking about is a thing called “ostension”, a term which is explained in the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary as “an act or process of showing, pointing out or exhibiting”. The word comes from the Latin word ‘ostendere’, which means ‘to show’.

Ostension is the act of making an action to explain a word without saying the word, such as “flippin’ the bird" to say…well you know what it means...

Way back last century, in 1983, an article was published titled “Does the word 'dog’ bite? Ostensive Action as a Means of Legend Telling” by folklorists, Linda Degh and Andrew Vazsonyi.

Basically this article laid out the foundations of what folklorists termed “legend tripping”, the act of engaging in “playacting” involving supernatural elements, of which ghost hunting is the most common, but also of which Bigfoot hunting, werewolf hunting and other aspects of the paranormal fall under.

In a book published this century, “Aliens, Ghosts and Cult: Legends We Live” by Bill Ellis. Mr Ellis, a folklorist delves further into the world ostension, pointing out that many ghost hunters take themselves quite seriously, and the ‘work’ they do and would never consider that they are, in fact,

playacting.

There are numerous ghost hunting teams that venture out into the dark with their gadgets, try and confront supernatural beings or ghosts with an onslaught of questions, then return to the safety of their home, secure in the knowledge they have taken on the unknown, and won. There is no research into the locations history, how their equipment actually works, what it is used for in the real world, and its actual capabilities. There is no investigation into natural explanations, weather patterns, psychology or anything else for that matter – it is in essence, exactly what the folklorists state it is “play acting”.

Bill Ellis wrapped it up rather well in his previously mentioned book with this quote (ghost hunters) "venture out to challenge supernatural beings, confront them in consciously dramatized form, then return to safety. ... The stated purpose of such activities is not entertainment but a sincere effort to test and define boundaries of the 'real' world.' "

Back to the article by Degh and Vazsonyi. Essentially what the writers are trying to convey is that if a “legend” is widely known and exposed to a wide audience, some members of that audience will engage themselves in actualising or ‘living’ the ‘legend’ or parts of the narrative associated with it. In the paranormal industry, this would be the aspect of ghost hunting that involves persons who want to copy their favourite ghost hunting TV star and live out what they see on TV, for the thrill and for the status.

There is a distinct difference between the casual ghost hunter and the serious paranormal investigator, but at the end of the day, even the serious paranormal investigator can engage in “legend tripping”, and the casual ghost hunter can become a serious paranormal researcher and investigator, but at the end of the day we have to ask ourselves, are we getting involved in other people’s legends when we investigate the paranormal and living out their expectations of what will happen, or are we going in armed with research, knowledge and no expectations?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ostension

http://www.ostension.org/whats_ostension.html

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EEQVGW2/?&tag=livescience01-20

Perception & the Paranormal: Top Down Processing

Perception: Top Down Processing

At any given time whilst investigating the paranormal our senses are exposed to a limitless amount of sensations. Sounds, smells, sights, textures, light and darkness, touch, all flooding your central nervous system and brain which then must process all these events at once, to give you what you perceive as reality.
 We can break these systems down to two essential processes;

 Sensation; what we are feeling through our senses.

Perception; how our brain deals with the sensory input and then make sense of the input information.

In general, these two terms, when put together, are referred to as Processing.

In psychology, there are generally two types of processing, Schema-Driven (Top Down Processing) and Data-Driven (Bottom Up Processing). In this article, we are looking only at Top-Down Processing as a perception that may lead a paranormal investigator to perceive an anomalous event as “paranormal” when it is a natural event misinterpreted by pre-conceived notions or biases.
 Many paranormal events can be explained by various cognitive mechanisms such as fantasy. The way we analyse statistical probabilities and anecdotal evidence can also lead us to draw faulty conclusions when it comes to anomalous events.

An example of this is demonstrated live by Professor Chris French of the Anomalistic Psychological Research Unit at Goldsmiths College, University of London. In his demonstration, Professor French plays a recording of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”” in reverse.
 The recording makes no sense in reverse and sounds like garbled words. It is not until Prof. French puts forward what other people think is being said within the reverse recording, that listeners begin to hear the same phrases that he has suggested.
 This is common in the paranormal community with EVP recordings – without the text suggesting the words in an EVP video, people will hear all kinds of different words or sounds, but once it has the context of words added, people will almost always hear the words suggested.
 

We often experienced a variation of on ghost tours we hosted. People would come to the tour hyped up (we referred to it as “hypersensitive”) expecting to see, feel, hear or be touched by a “ghost”. The slightest change in temperature, a creek of a floorboard or something that is easily explainable, these people, through no fault of their own, other than the hype (and “legend Tripping”) would believe the interaction was paranormal in nature – when, clearly, to myself and my wife, it was not.
 This is an excellent example of a schema-driven process, the experiencer is processing information based on prior knowledge and influence, and making a fantasy inspired conclusion on a misperception.

Top-Down Processing: The brain is at the top of the cognitive processes, therefore thought comes before perceptions, such as the senses like touch, sight etc. using contextual information in pattern recognition.
 An example of this is understanding difficult to read handwriting. It is easier to understand a complete sentence due to the context of the words around it, rather than the individual words with no context.

Bottom-Up Processing: Simply put, this is the processing of information in the reverse of Top Down Processing.  The body reacts first, causing emotion, which triggers the brains cognitive process, engaging thought, then action. You may be a Bottom-up processor if your understanding of concepts begins with the ideas behind a concept, then working your way up to the main idea of a concept.

The Necker Cube:

The ambiguity of perception is best explained with the example of The Necker Cube. When you stare at the crosses on the cube the orientation can suddenly change, or 'flip'.

It is argued that the object appears to ‘flip’ because the brain creates two plausible propositions for the orientation of the object and it, therefore, cannot decide between the two options.

There is no change in sensory input, therefore the perception of distance must be set downward by prevailing perceptual hypothesis of what is near and what is far – top down processing.  

The Stroop Effect, named after its discoverer, J. Ridley Stroop who discovered the phenomenon in the 1930s, is a classic example of Top-Down Processing.

The Stroop Effect contains several colours written as words, but printed in a different colour than the word read. So, for instance, the word “blue” might be written in green text, the word “Pink” might be written in the colour yellow.

The idea here is to say the colour of the word, but not say the word itself – so for our previous examples, the correct answers would be “green” and “yellow”. When reaction times are calculated, people are much slower at saying the correct colour when the colour and word are different.

Want to test your skills with the Stroop Effect – go here: https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/timesc.html

Written and researched by Allen Tiller © 2017

Bibliography

2017. Top-Down Processing: Examples & Definition - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://study.com/academy/lesson/top-down-processing-examples-definition-quiz.html. [Accessed 22 February 2017].

Bottom-Up Processing definition | Psychology Glossary | alleydog.com. 2017. Bottom-Up Processing definition | Psychology Glossary | alleydog.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Bottom-Up%20Processing. [Accessed 22 February 2017].

Classics in the History of Psychology -- Stroop (1935). 2017. Classics in the History of Psychology -- Stroop (1935). [ONLINE] Available at: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Stroop/. [Accessed 22 February 2017].

Cognitive Mechanisms. 2017. Cognitive Mechanisms. [ONLINE] Available at: http://changingminds.org/explanations/behaviors/coping/cognitive_mechanisms.htm. [Accessed 22 February 2017].

Neuroscience For Kids - stroop effect . 2017. Neuroscience For Kids - stroop effect . [ONLINE] Available at: https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/words.html. [Accessed 22 February 2017].


Sincero, SM, 2013. Top-Down VS Bottom-Up Processing. [ONLINE] Available at: https://explorable.com/top-down-vs-bottom-up-processing. [Accessed 22 February 2017].

Watt, Caroline; Wiseman, Richard. The Journal of Parapsychology; Durham66.4 (Dec 2002): 371-385.