Scott Wheeler
New Blood
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I am looking for references to any peer reviewed publications regarding any research or investigations into alien abductions or bigfoot.
peer reviewed publications
- Thread starter Scott Wheeler
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- peer publications reviewed
Scott Wheeler said:
Wait just a minute. Scott Wheeler? Scott makes lawn care products with WHEELS. How do we know that you are not a wheeled garden appliance? Bet Luci and T'ai Chi would agree with me that rigorous testing is called for. Common sense conclusions based on much experience is the trap that pseudo-sceptics fall into all of the time. T'ai and Luci insist on testing and so, by gosh, do I. I think that you are a Scotts® SpeedyGreen® 1000™ Broadcast Spreader.
Now bucko, prove me wrong, if you can. When the results appear in a peer reviewed journal, you can post again.
"Scott Wheeler", indeed. You think I fell off a turnip truck yesterday? Hurumph.
Scott Wheeler
New Blood
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Ed, I don't know if you fell off a turnip truck or any other truck. It does look like you are quick to pick a fight. I don't know why the question was met with such hostility. I figured that with the large number of claims on both alien abductions and bigfoot some legitimate scientists did a scientific investigations, found nothing and published those findings. If so, I'd like to know of some of them.
TruthSeeker
Illuminator
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Here, I'll play - peer reviewed articles about alien abduction:
J Abnorm Psychol. 2002 Aug;111(3):455-61.
Memory distortion in people reporting abduction by aliens.
Clancy SA, McNally RJ, Schacter DL, Lenzenweger MF, Pitman RK.
False memory creation was examined in people who reported having recovered memories of traumatic events that are unlikely to have occurred: abduction by space aliens. A variant of the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm (J. Deese. 1959; H. L. Roediger III & K. B. McDermott, 1995) was used to examine false recall and false recognition in 3 groups: people reporting recovered memories of alien abduction. people who believe they were abducted by aliens but have no memories, and people who deny having been abducted by aliens. Those reporting recovered and repressed memories of alien abduction were more prone than control participants to exhibit false recall and recognition. The groups did not differ in correct recall or recognition. Hypnotic suggestibility, depressive symptoms, and schizotypic features were significant predictors of false recall and false recognition.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Percept Mot Skills. 1992 Aug;75(1):259-66.
Neuropsychological profiles of adults who report "sudden remembering" of early childhood memories: implications for claims of sex abuse and alien visitation/abduction experiences.
Persinger MA.
Six adults, who had recently experienced sudden recall of preschool memories of sex abuse or alien abduction/visitation, were given complete neuropsychological assessments. All experiences "emerged" when hypnosis was utilized within a context of sex abuse or New Age religion and were followed by reduction in anxiety. As a group, these subjects displayed significant (T greater than 70) elevations of childhood imaginings, complex partial epileptic-like signs, and suggestibility. Neuropsychological data indicated right frontotemporal anomalies and reduced access to the right parietal lobe. MMPI profiles were normal. The results support the hypothesis that enhanced imagery due to temporal lobe lability within specific contexts can facilitate the creation of memories; they are strengthened further if there is also reduction in anxiety
J Abnorm Psychol. 2002 Aug;111(3):455-61.
Memory distortion in people reporting abduction by aliens.
Clancy SA, McNally RJ, Schacter DL, Lenzenweger MF, Pitman RK.
False memory creation was examined in people who reported having recovered memories of traumatic events that are unlikely to have occurred: abduction by space aliens. A variant of the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm (J. Deese. 1959; H. L. Roediger III & K. B. McDermott, 1995) was used to examine false recall and false recognition in 3 groups: people reporting recovered memories of alien abduction. people who believe they were abducted by aliens but have no memories, and people who deny having been abducted by aliens. Those reporting recovered and repressed memories of alien abduction were more prone than control participants to exhibit false recall and recognition. The groups did not differ in correct recall or recognition. Hypnotic suggestibility, depressive symptoms, and schizotypic features were significant predictors of false recall and false recognition.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Percept Mot Skills. 1992 Aug;75(1):259-66.
Neuropsychological profiles of adults who report "sudden remembering" of early childhood memories: implications for claims of sex abuse and alien visitation/abduction experiences.
Persinger MA.
Six adults, who had recently experienced sudden recall of preschool memories of sex abuse or alien abduction/visitation, were given complete neuropsychological assessments. All experiences "emerged" when hypnosis was utilized within a context of sex abuse or New Age religion and were followed by reduction in anxiety. As a group, these subjects displayed significant (T greater than 70) elevations of childhood imaginings, complex partial epileptic-like signs, and suggestibility. Neuropsychological data indicated right frontotemporal anomalies and reduced access to the right parietal lobe. MMPI profiles were normal. The results support the hypothesis that enhanced imagery due to temporal lobe lability within specific contexts can facilitate the creation of memories; they are strengthened further if there is also reduction in anxiety
TruthSeeker
Illuminator
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Scott Wheeler said:
Don't be absurd. The Scott thing was directed at two resident, highly credulous posters. Your name just happened to strike a creative spark. (You are a Muse, as it were, sorta like Sharon Stone). Do a search on their names and see. Frankly, I think that that was one of my better humerous efforts. You might try reading some threads and gauging peoples styles before you draw conclusions.
jj, I suspect, is right. It is a question of limited funds against the need to publish. Clearly, if there were anything in the paranormal that held up, it would be the hottest thing to research globally. As it is, what there is is sort of in the nature of fan magazines. Sorta gee whiz mutual admiration.
This is a key question: Why no worldwide attention? Scientists are averitious like the rest of us. They like riches and fame and the envy of their peers and all of that stuff. Why would they not glom on? For that matter, why do not some of the more vocal believers, even right here, design and impliment a good experiment? They could, you could, I could. There is areason for this. The reason is that these guys know that the paranormal is codswallop. They would not spend a second of their time or a nickle of their money on something that is preordained to be a disaster. That is my opinion, certainly but, the minor ripples as opposed to waves in this area is very telling.
Scott Wheeler
New Blood
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Truth Seeker, thank you. That was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.
Ed, sorry if I got the wrong impression. Your post looked pretty unfriendly.
Ed, sorry if I got the wrong impression. Your post looked pretty unfriendly.
dissonance
Critical Thinker
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2003
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- 273
OK, I'll play along.
TI: Title
Alien abduction experiences: Some clues from neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry
AU: Author
Holden, Katharine J; French, Christopher C
AF: Author Affiliation
U London, London, England [Holden]; U London, Goldsmiths Coll, Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, London, England [French]
SO: Source
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. Vol 7(3), Aug 2002, pp. 163-178
AB: Abstract
Many thousands of people around the world firmly believe that they have been abducted by alien beings and taken on board spaceships where they have been subjected to painful medical examination. Given that such accounts are almost certainly untrue, 4 areas of neuroscience are considered with respect to possible clues that may lead towards a fuller understanding of the alien abduction experience. First, it is argued that sleep paralysis may be implicated in many such claims. Second, research into false memories is considered. It is argued that abductees may be more prone to false memories than the general population. Third, evidence is considered relating to the mental health of abductees. It is concluded that there is currently no convincing evidence for higher rates of serious psychopathology amongst abductees compared to the general population. However, abductees do seem to show higher levels on some potentially relevant measures (e.g., tendency to dissociate). Finally, claims that alien abduction experiences may be linked to abnormal activity in the temporal lobes is considered. Although the neurosciences provide many clues to the nature of this bizarre experience, further research is required before a full understanding will be attained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2003 APA, all rights reserved)
------------------------
TI: Title
The ordinary nature of alien abduction memories
AU: Author
Banaji, Mahzarin R; Kihlstrom, John F
AF: Author Affiliation
Yale U, Dept of Psychology, New Haven, CT, US [Banaji]
SO: Source
Psychological Inquiry. Vol 7(2), 1996, pp. 132-135
AB: Abstract
Comments on the article by L. S. Newman and R. F. Baumeister (see record 199603869-001) concerning cognitive and motivational processes that might cause people to believe that they have been abducted by aliens. On the cognitive side, Newman and Baumeister focus on the reconstructive nature of memory and on the liabilities of refreshing memory by means of hypnosis. M. R. Banaji and J. F. Kihlstrom generally concur with their analysis. On the motivational side, much more supportive evidence is needed for Newman and Baumeister's attribution of the masochistic nature of contemporary UFO abduction narratives to a desire to escape ordinary self-awareness. An alternative cognitive-motivational hypothesis that focuses on people's need to explain anomalous personal experiences is suggested (i.e., abduction memories are delusions). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2003 APA, all rights reserved)
----------
Regarding the second one, I don't know much about the journal Psychological Inquiry. Banaji is a well-respected social psychologist, though, so it's probably decent enough. Adding to that impression is that the next citation I got from PsychINFO is in the same volume of the journal and includes Elizabeth Loftus as an author, and she's big-name. Looks like a special issue, as there are a number of alien abduction related articles in that volume.
Anyway, a PsycINFO search on Alien AND Abduction (restricted to english only and journal articles only) gets you 21 results. There's a fair number of weird psychoanalytic/dream interpretation articles, so the number of relevant ones to the question is less, but there's still a few.
I searched again and took out the journal only restriction, which netted me an additional 11 records, including someone's dissertation entitled "Exo-psychology research: A phenomenological study of people who believe themselves to be alien-human hybrids". Wow. There's also a number of book chapters.
TI: Title
Alien abduction experiences: Some clues from neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry
AU: Author
Holden, Katharine J; French, Christopher C
AF: Author Affiliation
U London, London, England [Holden]; U London, Goldsmiths Coll, Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, London, England [French]
SO: Source
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. Vol 7(3), Aug 2002, pp. 163-178
AB: Abstract
Many thousands of people around the world firmly believe that they have been abducted by alien beings and taken on board spaceships where they have been subjected to painful medical examination. Given that such accounts are almost certainly untrue, 4 areas of neuroscience are considered with respect to possible clues that may lead towards a fuller understanding of the alien abduction experience. First, it is argued that sleep paralysis may be implicated in many such claims. Second, research into false memories is considered. It is argued that abductees may be more prone to false memories than the general population. Third, evidence is considered relating to the mental health of abductees. It is concluded that there is currently no convincing evidence for higher rates of serious psychopathology amongst abductees compared to the general population. However, abductees do seem to show higher levels on some potentially relevant measures (e.g., tendency to dissociate). Finally, claims that alien abduction experiences may be linked to abnormal activity in the temporal lobes is considered. Although the neurosciences provide many clues to the nature of this bizarre experience, further research is required before a full understanding will be attained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2003 APA, all rights reserved)
------------------------
TI: Title
The ordinary nature of alien abduction memories
AU: Author
Banaji, Mahzarin R; Kihlstrom, John F
AF: Author Affiliation
Yale U, Dept of Psychology, New Haven, CT, US [Banaji]
SO: Source
Psychological Inquiry. Vol 7(2), 1996, pp. 132-135
AB: Abstract
Comments on the article by L. S. Newman and R. F. Baumeister (see record 199603869-001) concerning cognitive and motivational processes that might cause people to believe that they have been abducted by aliens. On the cognitive side, Newman and Baumeister focus on the reconstructive nature of memory and on the liabilities of refreshing memory by means of hypnosis. M. R. Banaji and J. F. Kihlstrom generally concur with their analysis. On the motivational side, much more supportive evidence is needed for Newman and Baumeister's attribution of the masochistic nature of contemporary UFO abduction narratives to a desire to escape ordinary self-awareness. An alternative cognitive-motivational hypothesis that focuses on people's need to explain anomalous personal experiences is suggested (i.e., abduction memories are delusions). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2003 APA, all rights reserved)
----------
Regarding the second one, I don't know much about the journal Psychological Inquiry. Banaji is a well-respected social psychologist, though, so it's probably decent enough. Adding to that impression is that the next citation I got from PsychINFO is in the same volume of the journal and includes Elizabeth Loftus as an author, and she's big-name. Looks like a special issue, as there are a number of alien abduction related articles in that volume.
Anyway, a PsycINFO search on Alien AND Abduction (restricted to english only and journal articles only) gets you 21 results. There's a fair number of weird psychoanalytic/dream interpretation articles, so the number of relevant ones to the question is less, but there's still a few.
I searched again and took out the journal only restriction, which netted me an additional 11 records, including someone's dissertation entitled "Exo-psychology research: A phenomenological study of people who believe themselves to be alien-human hybrids". Wow. There's also a number of book chapters.