Environmental Modulation and Statistical Equilibrium in Mind-matter Interaction

Mind-matter interactions observed in laboratory experiments typically manifest as minute statistical fluctuations from chance expectation. Meta-analyses suggest that these small fluctuations reflect genuine, direct interactions between mind and matter, but lack of predictability of the effect has made systematic study of the phenomenon difficult. Two general factors that may contribute to erratic laboratory outcomes are (a) unavoidable environmental fluctuations and (b) a physical principle that tends to counterbalance mind-matter effects in time and space. Environment is used in the holistic sense, including cosmic, global, local, and personal variables. The physical principal is envisioned as a tendency for perturbations introduced into a system to be statistically balanced by opposing perturbations so as to maintain an overall condition of equilibrium. A longitudinal experiment with the experimenter as subject was designed to explore the possible influences of these two factors in mind-matter interaction. The results found strong indicators of environmental modulation, including a successful demonstration that a neural network could learn to predict mind-matter interaction performance based upon eight environmental variables. Evidence for a timeand space-like equilibrium principle was also observed in the data.