Entangled in the Womb? A Pilot Study on the Possible Physiological Connectedness Between Identical Twins
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Plain English Summary
Can identical twins feel each other's pain — literally? This pilot study tested four twin pairs. One twin sat isolated with sensors tracking skin response, blood pressure, and breathing, while their sibling was startled at random with crashing plates, ice buckets, and electric shocks. Lie-detector experts then tried to match the isolated twin's body reactions to startle moments — completely blind to timing. Overall, results were a wash. But one rare twin type stole the show. These "mo-mo" twins shared the same placenta and fluid sac in the womb — something only 1-2% of identical twins experience. A blind expert correctly pinpointed 3 of 5 startle times for this pair, confirmed by a second independent expert, both statistically significant. They also reported the strongest daily feelings of connectedness. Tiny sample, so no grand conclusions, but the possibility that the closest womb-mates share a mysterious physiological link is genuinely intriguing.
Actual Paper Abstract
Objective: Studies of synchronous physiological responses to startle stimuli between monozygotic twins and other paired subjects have suffered from methodological flaws such as post-hoc specifications of "connectedness" criteria. The mechanisms that affect any such connectedness are unknown. With the logistic and financial support of a television company, we conducted a methodological pilot study with predefined objective hit criteria in which we used four pairs of twins with frequent experiences of connectedness.
Methods: While one twin was exposed during a 12-minute period to five randomly presented mild shock or surprise stimuli, the electrodermal activity, blood pressure, breathing, and bodily movements were simultaneously recorded in the second twin. An authorized polygraph expert who was blind to the stimulus exposure times examined the data for deviations from normal physiological patterns during relaxation and delivered precisely timed estimates of such deviations. "Hits" (indications of connectedness) were objectively defined as an estimate lying within a 15-second "hit window."
Results: Overall results were nonsignificant, P > .7. However, for one pair of twins, the polygraph expert identified 10 deviating patterns, of which three were hits were P < .03. This data set was sent to a second, independent expert, who blindly identified the same three hits, pointing to only eight patterns, P < .0003.
Discussion: We argue that the applied methodology for "hit" identification is objective and recommendable. Speculatively, because the "successful" pair of twins was reported to be monochorial-monoamnionic (as embryos, they shared the same placenta and the same bag of water), embryonic history might be further investigated as a potential factor for connectedness between monozygotic twins.
Key words: Entanglement, monozygotic twins, parapsychology, anomalous experiences
Research Notes
Published in Explore (Elsevier), Vol. 8, No. 6, pp. 339-347. Study funded and logistically supported by Danish national television (DR1); authors from Copenhagen University (Jensen, Neurobiology Research Unit) and University of Gothenburg (Parker). Methodological innovations include atomic clock synchronization across camera shots, randomized stimulus schedules, and hypergeometric statistics. The mo-mo embryonic variable (shared placenta + amnionic sac) is novel — only 1-2% of identical twins are mo-mo. Followed up by Parker (2013).
Pilot study testing physiological connectedness between identical twins using randomized startle stimuli, predefined objective hit criteria, and blind assessment by professional polygraph experts. Four pairs of monozygotic twins participated; one pair excluded for technical error. While one twin received 5 randomized startle stimuli (plates crashing, ice bucket, electric shock, lemon juice, jack-in-the-box) during a 12-minute period, the isolated twin's GSR, blood pressure, breathing, and movement were recorded. Overall results were nonsignificant (P > .7). However, for the monochorionic-monoamnionic (mo-mo) pair — twins who shared one placenta and one amnionic sac — a blind polygraph expert identified 3 of 5 stimulus times from 10 estimates (P = .03), confirmed independently by a second blind expert (P = .013). The mo-mo pair reported the most connectedness experiences and had the closest embryonic development.
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📋 Cite this paper
Jensen, C. G, Parker, A (2012). Entangled in the Womb? A Pilot Study on the Possible Physiological Connectedness Between Identical Twins. Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2012.08.001
@article{jensen_2012_entangled,
title = {Entangled in the Womb? A Pilot Study on the Possible Physiological Connectedness Between Identical Twins},
author = {Jensen, C. G and Parker, A},
year = {2012},
journal = {Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing},
doi = {10.1016/j.explore.2012.08.001},
}