Editing Ganzfeld experiment (section)

{{Short description|Pseudoscientific test for extrasensory perception (ESP)}}
{{For|the perceptual phenomenon when viewing a uniform stimulation field|Ganzfeld effect}}
[[File:Ganzfeld.jpg|frame|right|Participant in a ganzfeld experiment]]

A '''ganzfeld experiment''' (from the [[German language|German]] words for "entire" and "field") is an assessment used by [[parapsychology|parapsychologists]] that they contend can test for [[extrasensory perception]] (ESP) or [[telepathy]]. In these experiments, a "sender" attempts to mentally transmit an image to a "receiver" who is in a state of [[sensory deprivation]]. The receiver is normally asked to choose between a limited number of options for what the transmission was supposed to be and parapsychologists who propose that such telepathy is possible argue that rates of success above the expectation from [[randomness]] are evidence for ESP. Consistent, independent replication of ganzfeld experiments [[Replication crisis|has not been achieved]], and, in spite of strenuous arguments by parapsychologists to the contrary, there is no validated evidence accepted by the wider [[scientific community]] for the existence of any parapsychological phenomena. Ongoing parapsychology research using ganzfeld experiments has been criticized by independent reviewers as having the hallmarks of [[pseudoscience]].{{efn|name="pseudoscience"|Pseudoscience<ref>{{cite book | last=Frazier | first=Kendrick | author-link=Kendrick Frazier | title=The Hundredth monkey and other paradigms of the paranormal: a Skeptical inquirer collection | publisher=Prometheus Books | publication-place=Buffalo, NY | year=1991 | isbn=978-0879756550 | oclc=22909893 | pages=143–148}}</ref><ref>{{cite periodical |author-link=Ray Hyman |first=Ray |last=Hyman |year=1996 |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/evidence_for_psychic_functioning_claims_vs._reality/ |title=The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality |magazine=The Skeptical Inquirer |pages=24–26 |access-date=November 4, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Smith | first=J.C. | title=Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit | publisher=Wiley-Blackwell | year=2009 | isbn=978-1444358940 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sJgONrua8IkC | access-date=November 1, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Rathus |first=Spencer |year=2011 |title=Psychology: Concepts and Connections |publisher=Cengage Learning |page=143 |isbn=978-1111344856}}</ref><ref name="Marks 2000">{{cite book |author-link1=David Marks (psychologist)|last1=Marks |first1=David |last2=Kammann |first2=Richard |year=2000 |title=The Psychology of the Psychic |title-link=The Psychology of the Psychic |publisher=Prometheus Books |pages=97–106 |isbn=1573927988}}</ref>}}