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Plain English Summary
Ever get a feeling you know who's calling before you pick up? Sheldrake and Smart tested that hunch with 271 videotaped trials. Four participants guessed which of four possible callers was ringing — luck alone would score 25%. The actual hit rate: a jaw-dropping 45%, with odds against chance at one in a trillion. Familiar callers pushed accuracy to 61%, while strangers dropped it right back to chance. Participants who felt confident were right 82% of the time. Controls were progressively tightened across four methods, yet hit rates held steady.
Actual Paper Abstract
The authors tested whether participants (N = 4) could tell who was calling before answering the telephone. In each trial, participants had 4 potential callers, one of whom was selected at random by the experimenter. Participants were filmed on time-coded videotape throughout the experimental period. When the telephone began ringing, the participants said to the camera whom they thought the caller was and, in many cases, also how confident they felt in their guesses. The callers were usually several miles away, and in some cases thousands of miles away. By guessing at random, there was a 25% chance of success. In a total of 271 trials, there were 122 (45%) correct guesses (p = 10-12). The 95% confidence limits of this success rate were from 39% to 51%. In most trials, some of the callers were familiar to the participants and others were unfamiliar. With familiar callers there was a success rate of 61% (n = 100; p = 10-13). With unfamiliar callers the success rate of 20% was not significantly different from chance. When they said they were confident about their guesses, participants were indeed more successful than when they were not confident.
Research Notes
Cornerstone of Sheldrake's telephone telepathy research program and key evidence in Controversy #13 (telephone/email telepathy). The dramatic familiar/unfamiliar split and maintained hit rates under progressive tightening of controls make it the most-cited study in the 2025 telecommunication telepathy meta-analysis.
Four participants were tested on whether they could identify which of four potential callers was telephoning before answering, across 271 videotaped trials using four progressively rigorous methods. The final method involved continuous filming of both participant and all callers at separate locations by independent cameramen. Overall success rate was 45% versus 25% chance (p = 10⁻¹², 95% CI [39%, 51%]). Familiar callers elicited 61% correct identification (p = 10⁻¹³) while unfamiliar callers yielded only 20%, not different from chance. Confidence ratings strongly predicted accuracy, with 82% success when participants felt confident. Increased experimental rigor did not reduce hit rates.
Related Papers
Cites
Cited By
Extended By
- A Filmed Experiment on Telephone Telepathy with the Nolan Sisters — Sheldrake, Rupert (2004)
- Testing for Telepathy in Connection with E-mails — Sheldrake, Rupert (2005)
- Telepathy in Connection with Telephone Calls, Text Messages and Emails — Sheldrake, Rupert (2014)
- Automated Tests for Telephone Telepathy Using Mobile Phones — Sheldrake, Rupert (2015)
- Sensing the Sending of SMS Messages: An Automated Test — Sheldrake, Rupert (2009)
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📋 Cite this paper
Sheldrake, Rupert, Smart, Pamela (2003). Videotaped Experiments on Telephone Telepathy. Journal of Parapsychology.
@article{sheldrake_2003_videotaped,
title = {Videotaped Experiments on Telephone Telepathy},
author = {Sheldrake, Rupert and Smart, Pamela},
year = {2003},
journal = {Journal of Parapsychology},
}