Replication of Results from a Test of the Consciousness Causes Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Priming Methodology

Abstract

The current study is an attempt to replicate previous research that employed subliminal priming to test the Consciousness Causes Collapse (CCC) interpretation of quantum mechanics.  Stimulus primes derived directly from patterns in a local source of radioactive decay were flashed on a screen for a duration of time too brief to be consciously experienced.  The primes were immediately followed by a presentation of a stimulus symbol that human participants were asked to rapidly respond to.  According to the CCC interpretation, because the primes had not yet been exposed to conscious observation, they should continue to exist in a state of superposition based on the radioactive decay from which they were derived.  It was hypothesized that a prime produced in this way should not affect subsequent response times as it would in a control condition where observation had deliberately occurred beforehand.  This hypothesis was supported.  The effects that the primes had in the observed condition were significantly greater than the effects that were obtained within the unobserved condition.  This finding is consistent with previous experimental results and provides additional support for the CCC interpretation of quantum mechanics.