Seeing Ghosts and Demons? Science Says It Might be Because of Your Brain

Some say that seeing ghosts and demons equates to a higher sense of being. But some scientists believe it might have more to do with the type of brain a person has.

Specialized researchers in parapsychology- the paranormal psychological study - have devoted decades to studying how anomalies exist in nature, in and outside the human body, and why some are more prone to these experiences. On the other hand, skeptical scholars in the cognitive psychology and neuroscience fields have been trying to show that the phenomenon is more about how people perceive and process reality and the subjectivity of the brain.

Understanding the Ups and Downs of Parapsychology

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Despite popular belief, parapsychology is an academic branch of psychology currently being studied in various universities and research facilities worldwide. Scientists from the field believe that educated, experimental, analytical, and theoretical research will not be able to demonstrate the nature of the universe.

Brian Laythe, the director of the Institute for the Study of Religious and Anomalous Experience, told The Daily Beast that significant research and data suggest that oddities in mainstream sciences occur. Recently a meta-analysis of over 40 years of data regarding the phenomena was peer-reviewed and published. Laythe explains that experts often fight over the interpretations of the findings from a theological or philosophical lens as opposed to an issue of analytical science.

Critics, on the other hand, argue that the procedures and methods of parapsychology aren't in line with the rigorous standards of science, where results are flimsy, and many of the experiments aren't replicable, which cuts its validity of it. Another major issue is that there are no valid theories supporting most findings in the parapsychology realm. Some theories are based on physics, others on consciousness, and parapsychologists are having difficulty finalizing which concept explains all phenomena.

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Cognitive Differences Root of Varying Paranormal Experiences

Michiel Van Elk, a professor of cognitive psychology from the Leiden University, Netherlands, has a laboratory focusing on cognitive differences that he believes are the root of why some people think and experience paranormal activity while others don't.

According to Elk's research, people who believe in the paranormal are more inclined to trust intuition and emotions and less guided by analytical reflection. They appear to perceive what he calls illusory agents in random motion displays, which means they are biased toward seeing shapes and objects when there are none.

Charlotte Dean, a researcher at the University of Hertfordshire's Department of Psychology, published a meta-analysis of roughly 71 studies over three decades that explored the relationship between paranormal phenomena belief and cognitive function. Most findings agree with the hypothesis that paranormal activity experiences are linked to specific cognitive traits.

Dean explains that an intuitive thinking style typically characterizes believers in the paranormal. Hence, they explain something that they otherwise cannot. People skeptical of the paranormal are more likely to be more analytical and will go through different ways of solving a problem before jumping to conclusions.