Theresa Caputo has a thick long island accent and has a larger-than-life personality that makes many people attracted to her TV show, Long Island Medium. About 2.6 million viewers tune in on Sunday nights to watch Theresa go around to give readings to people on their dead loved ones. She now has a three million dollar net worth and makes about $25,000 per episode of the show, until it ended in December of 2019. Like Theresa Caputo, there are many people claiming to be mediums and making money off of being a medium, but Chris Roe and the Parapsychological Association are trying to determine what makes mediums different from the rest of us. Chris Roe does an interview on the Arthur Conan Doyle Centre YouTube channel talking about just a few of the experiments the Association does to determine the difference. In one particular section of the video, he talks about the EEG experiment. However, he makes deceitful claims about EEGs of mediums.

What is parapsychology?

Parapsychology, also known as parapsych, is a very questionable field within the scientific community, but what is parapsychology? According to Britannica, an online encyclopedia, “[p]arapsychology studies the cognitive phenomena.” This cognitive phenomena means a person gains knowledge on things such as “other people’s thoughts or of future events” (Britannica). Britannica also says, “[Parapsychology] also examines physical phenomena such as the levitation of objects and the bending of metal through psychokinesis.” All of which are extremely debatable within the scientific community as they are not of this natural world. Parapsychology is an extremely debated field within science and is still being explored by very few “experts”.

What is an EEG?

Electroencephalography is quite a mouthful to say, but more importantly, is mentioned quite a lot in this video. Luckily, there is some background that helps us understand electroencephalography and EEGs a bit more. According to Britannica, electroencephalography is a “technique for recording and interpreting the electrical activity of the brain.” The process works by attaching “8 to 16 pairs of” small electrodes to someone’s scalp to read the electrical impulses of the brain. “Each pair of electrodes transmits a signal.” This signal gets sent to the machine. According to Britannica the machine “measures and records these brain-wave patterns.” Britannica also says, “The recording produced by such instrument is called an electroencephalogram. commonly abbreviated EEG.” The EEGs are mentioned a lot in the video and in the blog so hopefully this helped you understand EEGs and electroencephalography.

Emotion Detection of EEGs

Chris Roe, the speaker in this video, talks of the EEG tests they do on mediums while they are giving a reading on a platform to many people. He says that the EEG of the mediums suggests “that […] they’re in a relatively deep relaxed state where they are introspecting.” This is interesting because Jason Teo, Nazmi Sofian Suhaimi, and James Mountstephens who published a book on EEGs and EEG-Based Emotion Recognition wrote about how sensitive the electrodes are. They say, “[W]hen the brainwave collection procedure is initiated, […] any small body or head movements may accidentally detach the electrodes.” Furthermore, any hair in the way of the electrode needs to be removed for the proper brainwave signals to be interpreted on the EEG. When a medium is giving a reading they are not likely to be very still 100% of the time so if an electrode is detached or something like that then the EEG cannot be properly read. Britannica also says in an article named, electroencephalography (which is just a fancy word for the process in which an EEG is taken) “Many of the more complex functions of the brain, such as those that underlie emotions and thought, cannot be related closely to EEG patterns.” This is interesting because it would be hard for an EEG to tell if the medium is in a relaxed state or not or even if they thought they were introspecting.

A Physical Change in Mediums

Chris Roe also mentions that mediums change their body language when they are “introspecting”; “In fact, from the work that we’ve done with mediums there’s a very clear shift physiologically when people enter deeper states of consciousness.” However, the physical change could be due to a lot of different things not just a “reading”. When a person talks about a physical change they are typically talking about body language. Kendra Cherry, a psychology expert, wrote an article about the different changes in body language and how to read them. She said people blink more when they are in an uncomfortable situation or not enough because the person is trying to control their eye movements. Kendra Cherry also explained, “[S]omtimes emotions can also cause small changes in pupil size.” Chris Roe never states what changes are noticed when the mediums are “introspecting” so we are to guess what changes there are. Kendra Cherry not only mentions the eyes but other body language as well. She says, “[C]hewing on the bottom lip may indicate that the individual is experiencing fellings of worry, fear, or insecurity.” Proving the point that the mediums could have done a multitude of different things for different reasons, such as nerves or because they feel fear of the tests. She also states, “Crossing the arms can indicate defensiveness” and “crossing legs away from another person may indicate dislike or discomfort with that individual.” Because Chris Roe never states the way that the mediums changed there is any number of reasons why the mediums changed physiologically.

Who are the experts on this pseudoscience?

Chris Roe is the speaker in this video but he comes from a group called the Parapsychological Association. This group studies in the field of parapsychology but it is not all that it is cracked up to be. When the Parapsychological Association has originally established their objectives were “to advance parapsychology as a science, to disseminate knowledge of the field, and to integrate the finding with those of other branches of science,” says an article on the Parapsychological Association written by Nature, a well-trusted science website. There are multiple things sketchy about this; one of them being that the Parapsychology never wanted to disprove the claims that others were making. They sought “to advance parapsychology” not to disprove the claims that others were making but to prove them. On top of all that “[a]s of the year 2002, there are approximately 300 PA members from all over the world” says the official website for the Parapsychological Association. For a so-called science that is not a lot of people believe and research in this field. This tells us that very little trust in this field of science. Also, keep in mind the date; the year 2002. 2002 was a long time ago and most modern science programs keep up to date on their members.

What did we learn?

Chris Roe’s claims about parapsychology and mediums are deceitful. He talks about EEGs and a physiological change in the mediums when it could be for a multitude of reasons. In a world that is constantly changing with death seeming to surround us, it can feel comforting to know that a loved one is at peace. However, we have to be wary in these situations because losing someone exposes a person’s vulnerability. The people who claim to be mediums can take advantage of that loss by making you pay for an unnecessary reading that would tell you little more than you already know. Everyone can learn to be more careful with their emotions so that they do not get taken advantage of. Jean Houston puts it best, “No matter the situation, never let your emotions overpower your intelligence.”

Featured Image: “EEG 1/2” by massdistraction is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0