Paranormal Discovery

Ideomotor Effect

The term "ideomotor effect" was coined in 1882 by William Benjamin Carpenter during his studies into the movement of pendulums, dowsing rods and table tipping by spirit mediums which was very much in vogue at the time. In brief, his theory,which was later proven, was that muscular movements can be initiated by the subconscious mind, without volition or emotions playing any part. Further scientific studies have shown that many so-called paranormal forces are actually caused by ideomotor action. So, what does this mean ? Basically, most examples of divination can be explained physiologically and without any involvement from the spirit beings or paranormal forces. This supports the Automatism Theory which can be attributed to one person or to a group of people when it is then known as Collective Automatism, eg when using a ouija board.  In this case, it is almost impossible for the dowser/participant to comprehend how his/her subconscious can possibly be affecting the tool used and that any movements/answers obtained can be the result of his/her own imagination. Therefore, the event is deemed to be of a paranormal nature.

The Spiritualist Theory is more simple. This supports the idea that spirits are indeed being contacted and that communication has been possible via the chosen divination method. The spirit is responsible for the movement of the pencil/glass/planchette etc but cannot physically move these items without human hands touching it. Movement may be dependant on the minute muscle actions of the participant. Spirits, then, are able to utilise this natural physiological ability in humans and use this to their own advantage in order to communicate. Or perhaps, there is another reason why the glass needs to be touched in order for it to move. Maybe the dowser/participant unknowingly  receives information or messages through their own psychic abilities and the glass or whatever is then moved subconsciously to pass this on.  The participant is used as a catalyst to allow communication to take place. Or is the expalantion more simple than that ? Is the energy emitted by the human required in order for the glass to move and mere contact from that person is all that is needed?

Paranormal Discovery team carry out various forms of divination both individually and as a group. It is our belief that these techniques are still worthwhile even though ideomotor action could realistically be responsible for some results obtained. However, it is worth remembering that just because ideomotor can explain movement, it deos not necessarily mean that every movement is the result of ideomotor action. The ideomotor effect alone does not actually disprove the idea of spirit communication or paranormal activity in every case. Sceptics would like to see the glass move of its own accord before admittting that something paranormal may be happening. We disagree. it is the team's belief that during divination, the 'spirit' (this term is used to cover a number of possibilities since we do not know what actually communicating with us) needs the human element to be able to move the divination tool.  Why this should be so is still a puzzle since we acknowledge that items can move of their own accord at other times other than during divination. In fact, this is something that has been witnessed by several members of the team on more than one occasion ! In addition to this, how can anyone know for sure that any information or message provided by the participant's subconscious (and which is later passed on via ideomtor movement of the divination tool) has not been transferred to this person from a 'spirit' or other source ?

Some would argue that divination is simply a poor use of the team's time at a location. Paranormal Discovery, however, feel that "nothing ventured, nothing gained". We will continue doing this and are ever hopeful of gaining information in the future which could not have been known or guessed by any of the people present. After all it is the result/answers that are important and not necessarily the method used to get these. If any answers obtained during divination are later proven to be the result of  telepathy, psychokinesis, remote viewing clairvoyance etc  then the team will consider this a success.  We are, after all, investigating the paranormal.