via Wired

Researchers at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research program, or Pear, have been attempting to measure the effect of human consciousness on machines since 1979.

Using random event generators — computers that spew random output — they have participants focus their intent on controlling the machines’ output. Out of several million trials, they’ve detected small but “statistically significant” signs that minds may be able to interact with machines. However, researchers are careful not to claim that minds cause an effect or that they know the nature of the communication.

Resonance with the machine is another important factor, Jahn said. He likens it to what happens when a great musician seems at one with her violin or a gifted athlete suddenly performs with his equipment in a way that is outside his normal bounds.

“(The difference is) we’re not talking about sending signals from the brain to the machine through a circuit,” Jahn said about the Pear experiments. “Whatever is going on, is going by some anomalous route. We don’t know the carrier of this information. We only know something about conditions that favor it.”