Editing Ganzfeld experiment (section)

==Historical context==

The [[ganzfeld effect]] was originally introduced into [[experimental psychology]] due to the experiments of the German psychologist [[Wolfgang Metzger]] (1899–1979) who demonstrated that subjects who were presented with a homogeneous visual field would experience perceptual distortions that could rise to the level of [[hallucination]]s.<ref name="Tyson2011">{{cite book | last1=Tyson | first1=Philip J. | last2=Jones | first2=Dai | last3=Elcock | first3=Jonathan | title=Psychology in social context: issues and debates | publisher=Wiley-Blackwell | publication-place=Chichester, West Sussex, UK/Malden, MA | year=2011 | isbn=978-1405168236 | oclc=683247699 | pages=199–200}}</ref> In the early 1970s, [[Charles Honorton]] at the [[Maimonides Medical Center]] was trying to follow in the footsteps of psychical researchers such as [[Joseph Banks Rhine]] who had coined the term "ESP" to elevate the discourse around [[paranormal]] claims. Honorton focused on what he thought was the connection between ESP and [[dream]]s and began exposing his research subjects to the same sort of [[sensory deprivation]] that is used in demonstrations of the ganzfeld effect, hypothesizing that it was under such conditions that "[[Psi (parapsychology)|psi]]" (a catch-all term used in [[parapsychology]] to denote anomalous psychic abilities) might work.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Psi-mediated imagery and ideation in an experimental procedure for regulating perceptual input | author=Honorton & Harper | journal=Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research | year=1974 | issue=68 | pages=156–168}}</ref> Honorton believed that by reducing the ordinary [[Sensory processing|sensory input]], "psi-conductive states" would be enhanced and "psi-mediated information" could be more effectively transmitted.<ref name="Tyson2011"/>

Since the first full experiment was published by Honorton and Sharon Harper in the ''Journal of the [[American Society for Psychical Research]]'' in 1974, such "ganzfeld experiments" have remained a mainstay of parapsychological research.