Attempting to elicit a precall effect using emotive images and participants with high levels of belief in psi

Precall refers to the explicit recall of target material, such as words or images, which incorporates the unusual notion that practice sessions occurring after the recall test will influence previous recall performance.

A recent attempt to elicit such an effect using arousing images was unsuccessful. However, it was noted that the failure to elicit a precall effect may have been the result of relying on images that were not sufficiently arousing and that the participants completing the task had lower than average levels of belief in psi. Hence, the current study addressed these points by utilising both positive and negative images that were rated as more arousing and by selectively recruiting participants with high levels of belief in psi.

The prediction was that post-recall practise would lead to greater precall of those items practised compared to items not practised. The deign utilised an on-line precall study to present the emotive images and was completed by 107 participants with high levels of belief in psi.

Comparison of recall accuracy between images that were subsequently repeated and those that were not showed no evidence of a precall effect. Nevertheless, post recall practise did improve recall performance.
The failure to find any evidence of a precall effect is consistent with the claims and findings of others who take a more sceptical approach to psi based effects. Nevertheless, reflection on the methodology of the current experiment offers some speculative possibilities as to why no precall effect was elicited.