Caroline Watt (born 1962) is a Scottish
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...
and professor of
parapsychology
Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry (paranormal), psychometry) and other paranormal cla ...
.
She is the holder of the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
.
[ She is a past president of the ]Parapsychological Association
The Parapsychological Association (PA) was formed in 1957 as a professional society for parapsychologists following an initiative by Joseph Banks Rhine, Joseph B. Rhine. Its purpose has been "to advance parapsychology as a science, to disseminate k ...
.
She is an author of several papers and books on parapsychology and runs an online course that helps educate the public about what parapsychology is and to think critically about paranormal claims.
Biography
Watt was born in Perthshire, Scotland in 1962. She graduated with a MA in psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
from the University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...
in 1984, and is a founding member of the University of Edinburgh's Koestler Parapsychology Unit
The Koestler Parapsychology Unit is a research group established in 1985 at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, to teach and conduct research concerning various aspects of parapsychology.
It hosts the only endowed chair of parapsychology in ...
, for which she was recruited as a research assistant in 1986.
She obtained a PhD in psychology in 1993, supervised by the parapsychologist Robert L. Morris.[ ]
Watt continued working at the Koestler Parapsychology unit as a research fellow until 2006, when she was appointed as senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
.[ She has also been Perrot-Warrick Senior Researcher since 2010, and in 2016 she took up the new position as second Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at the university.][
Watt coauthored the fifth edition of “An Introduction to Parapsychology”, published in 2007, which as of 2010 was the most frequently adopted text by those presenting academic courses on parapsychology and ]anomalistic psychology
In psychology, anomalistic psychology is the study of human behaviour and experience connected with what is often called the paranormal, with few assumptions made about the validity of the reported phenomena.
Early history
According to anomalisti ...
.
In 2016, Watt authored "Parapsychology: A Beginner's Guide".
Near-death studies
With neuroscientist
A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...
Dean Mobbs, in 2011, Watt published a paper on the near-death experience
A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death, which researchers describe as having similar characteristics. When positive, which the great majority are, such experiences may encompa ...
in the journal ''Trends in Cognitive Sciences
''Trends in Cognitive Sciences'' (''TiCS'') is a monthly peer-reviewed review journal published by Cell Press. It is one of 14 journals in the '' Trends'' series. its editor is Lindsey Drayton. ''Journal Citation Reports'' (Thomson Reuters) lists ...
''. The paper explains how many common attributes of a near-death experience (an awareness of being dead, out-of-body experiences, seeing a tunnel of light, meeting dead people and a feeling of well-being) have medical or scientific explanations. An awareness of being dead is known as Cotard delusion
Cotard's syndrome, also known as Cotard's delusion or walking corpse syndrome, is a rare mental disorder in which the affected person holds the delusional belief that they are deceased, do not exist, are putrefying, or have lost their blood or ...
and is attributed to a brain malfunction with possible causes such as brain tumour
A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...
, depression or migraine headache
Migraine (, ) is a complex neurological disorder characterized by episodes of moderate-to-severe headache, most often unilateral and generally associated with nausea, and light and sound sensitivity. Other characterizing symptoms may includ ...
s. The paper suggests "that out of-body experiences result from a failure to integrate multi-sensory information from one’s body, which results in the
disruption of the phenomenological elements of self-representation." Seeing a tunnel of light can be caused by a degradation of peripheral vision
Peripheral vision, or ''indirect vision'', is vision as it occurs outside the point of fixation, i.e. away from the center of gaze or, when viewed at large angles, in (or out of) the "corner of one's eye". The vast majority of the area in the ...
brought on by extreme fear or hypoxia of the eye. The experience of meeting dead people can be brought on by a number of conditions, such as dopamine
Dopamine (DA, a contraction of 3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamine) is a neuromodulatory molecule that plays several important roles in cells. It is an organic chemical of the catecholamine and phenethylamine families. It is an amine synthesized ...
malfunction or a macular degeneration
Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred vision, blurred or vision loss, no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no sym ...
such as Charles Bonnet syndrome
Visual release hallucinations, also known as Charles Bonnet syndrome or CBS, are a type of psychophysical visual disturbance in which a person with partial or severe blindness experiences visual hallucinations.
First described by Charles Bonnet ...
. A feeling of well-being could be caused by a response from the body's dopamine or endogenous opioid
Opioids are a class of Drug, drugs that derive from, or mimic, natural substances found in the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy plant. Opioids work on opioid receptors in the brain and other organs to produce a variety of morphine-like effects, ...
systems. The paper also cites a survey where it was found that approximately half of people reporting a near-death experience were not in danger of dying.
In regards to Sam Parnia
Sam Parnia is a British associate professor of medicine at the NYU Langone Medical Center, where he is also director of research into cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In the United Kingdom, he is director of the Human Consciousness Project at the ...
's near-death research, which had an objective test that involved pictures or figures hidden on shelves where a patient could not see them when lying down, but would be able to see them if having an out-of-body experience, Watt stated, "The one ‘verifiable period of conscious awareness’ that Parnia was able to report did not relate to this objective test. Rather, it was a patient giving a supposedly accurate report of events during his resuscitation. He didn't identify the pictures, he described the defibrillator machine noise. But that's not very impressive since many people know what goes on in an emergency room setting from seeing recreations on television."
Eye movement and lying
In 2011, Watt was part of a group, along with Richard Wiseman
Richard John Wiseman (born 16 September 1966) is a professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. He has written several psychology books. He has given keynote addresses to The Roy ...
, that published research into the connection between eye movements and telling lies. The research, which was widely reported in the media, found no evidence that eye movements can be used to determine if someone is lying. Reading eye movements is part of neuro-linguistic programming
Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy that first appeared in Richard Bandler and John Grinder's book ''The Structure of Magic I'' (1975). NLP ...
(NLP), as according to NLP, people move their eyes in different directions when recalling information compared to when constructing information, i.e., lying.
Watt said, "A large percentage of the public believes that certain eye movements are a sign of lying, and this idea is even taught in organisational training courses. Our research provides no support for the idea and so suggests that it is time to abandon this approach to detecting deceit."
Publication bias
The field of Parapsychology has been known for issues with study replication. Pre-registration of all studies seems to result in less publication bias. In 2012, she and Jim Kennedy founded a study register for their field and in 2019, she produced a scientific paper reporting on the success of such a technique.
Selected publications
*Pluviano, S, Watt, C, Della Sala, S. (2017). 'Misinformation lingers in memory: Failure of three pro-vaccination strategies' PLoS One, 12(7): e0181640.
*Watt C. (2016). 'Parapsychology: A Beginner's Guide (Oneworld Beginner's Guides)'. .
*Wiseman, R, Watt, C, ten Brinke, L, Porter, S, Couper, S-L & Rankin, C. (2012). "The Eyes Don’t Have It: Lie Detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming" PLoS One, vol. 7, no. 7, e40259.
*Mobbs, D. & Watt, C. (2011). "There is nothing paranormal about near-death experiences: How neuroscience can explain seeing bright lights, meeting the dead, or being convinced you are one of them". ''Trends in Cognitive Sciences
''Trends in Cognitive Sciences'' (''TiCS'') is a monthly peer-reviewed review journal published by Cell Press. It is one of 14 journals in the '' Trends'' series. its editor is Lindsey Drayton. ''Journal Citation Reports'' (Thomson Reuters) lists ...
'', 15, 447–506.
*Easter, A. & Watt, C. (2011). "It's good to know: How treatment knowledge and belief affect the outcome of distance healing intentionality for arthritis sufferers". ''Journal of Psychosomatic Research
The ''Journal of Psychosomatic Research'' is the official medical journal
A medical journal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that communicates medical information to physicians, other health professionals. Journals that cover many medical sp ...
'', 71, 86–89.
*Wiseman, R. & Watt, C. (2010). "'Twitter' as a new research tool: Proof of principle with a mass-participation test of remote viewing." European Journal of Parapsychology, 25, 89–100.
*Rabeyron, T. & Watt, C. (2010). "Paranormal experiences, mental health and mental boundaries, and psi". ''Personality and Individual Differences
''Personality and Individual Differences'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published 16 times per year by Elsevier. It was established in 1980 by Pergamon Press and is the official journal of the International Society for the Study of Individ ...
'', 48:4, 487–492.
*Irwin, Harvey J. and Watt, Caroline A. (2007) ''An Introduction to Parapsychology'', 5th edition. .
*Watt, C., Watson, S., & Wilson, L. (2007). "Cognitive and psychological mediators of anxiety: Evidence from a study of paranormal belief and perceived childhood control". ''Personality and Individual Differences'', 42:2, 335–343.
*Watt, C. (2006). "Research assistants or budding scientists? A Review of 96 undergraduate student projects at the Koestler Parapsychology Unit". ''Journal of Parapsychology
The ''Journal of Parapsychology'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on psi phenomena, including telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis, as well as human consciousness in general and anomalous experie ...
'', 70, 335–356.
*Wiseman, R. & Watt, C. (2006). "Belief in psychic ability and the misattribution hypothesis: A qualitative review". ''British Journal of Psychology
The ''British Journal of Psychology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed psychology journal. It was established in 1904 and is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the British Psychological Society. The editor-in-chief is Stefan R. Schweinberger ...
'', 97, 323–338.
*Wiseman, R., Watt, C., Stevens, P., Greening, E., & O’Keeffe, C. (2003). "An investigation into alleged ‘hauntings’". ''British Journal of Psychology'', 94, 195–211.
*Watt, C. & Wiseman, R. (2002). "Experimenter differences in cognitive correlates of paranormal belief and in psi". ''Journal of Parapsychology'', 66, 371–408.
References
External links
"The Search for Evidence"
by Caroline Watt, in ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 2009.
Caroline Watt's blog
Koestler Parapsychology Unit website.
List of research
"Parapsychology: The science of the paranormal - Caroline Watt"
interview on the Forward Thinking podcast, 29 September 2017.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, Caroline
1962 births
Living people
Scottish sceptics
British parapsychologists
Scottish psychologists
Scottish women psychologists
21st-century British psychologists
Alumni of the University of St Andrews
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Academics of the University of Edinburgh
People from Perth and Kinross
Place of birth missing (living people)