Psychol Rep. 1992 Jun; 70(3 Pt 1): 891-6.

Geophysical variables and behavior: LXX. Testing electromagnetic explanations for a possible psychokinetic effect of therapeutic touch on germinating corn seed.

Bush AM, Geist CR.

University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Designs used to test claims for psychic healing of living systems not amenable to suggestion may produce artifact in the results when there is failure to control for other possible explanations. Some experimental methods in psychokinesis may produce electromagnetic field flux which could lead to erroneous conclusions. This study adds electrical and magnetic controls to assess their effect, leading to the conclusion that therapeutically touched corn seeds did not recover from saline injury significantly better than untreated controls.