Confirmatory study of anomalous experiences in enchanted spaces

This pre-registered study tested the concept of an ‘enchantment–psi loop’ via distinct immersive visits to sacred, haunted, and augmented reality environments. In particular, we specified four hypotheses based on the premise that anomalous experiences and cognitions would significantly shift by applying a Paranormal Belief × Transliminality × Enchantment formula. A vetted sample of thin-boundary participants (n = 22) organized into small tour groups completed measures of environmental features, real-time encounter experiences, enchantment levels, and a computerized test of putative psi after counterbalanced exposure to each of the three ‘enchanted’ conditions, as well as paired testing sessions within a purposely ‘disenchanted’ environment. Our hypotheses received mixed support. Consistent with predictions, participants’ scores on both encounter experiences and psi performance increased in the enchanted vs. disenchanted conditions, though situational-enchantment levels correlated positively with encounter experiences and negatively with putative psi. Participants also tended to have above-chance scores in the enchanted conditions, but many of our predicted effects did not reach statistical significance. Tangential analyses revealed that both encounter experiences and putative psi were also influenced differentially by various emotional (i. e., feelings of happiness), motivational (i. e., attentional focus), and environmental (i. e., sentimentality and presence) factors. The results lend credence to aspects of the enchantment-psi loop yet indicate the need for future research to clarify important nuances or complexities with the model that likely affect the reliability or robustness of its predictions.