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11 abilities · what was tested, and how it went

Psychic abilities

Psychic abilities are claimed powers such as clairvoyance, telepathy and mediumship. Of the eleven listed here, seven were tested and produced no effect that held up, three have never been tested as distinct abilities, and one is still argued over. Below, each one with the study, the sample size and the result.

Each claimed ability, and what the tests found: mediumship, clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition, clairsentience, clairaudience, psychometry, psychic empathy, astral projection, psychic healing and aura reading.

Psychic Abilities: Each Claim and What the Tests Found

The number every article leaves out

Guessing blind scores 25%

25% is the baseline in the ganzfeld protocol — one image chosen from four. Any claimed hit rate means nothing until you know it.
7 of the 11 were tested and did not survive independent replication.
3 have never been tested as separate abilities — every protocol scores the answer, not the channel it arrived through.

Untested is not disproven, and we keep those apart. Psychometry has been available for testing since 1842 and has attracted almost none — that is a fact about the research, not about the claim.

All 11, and what happened when they were tested

When each psychic term came into use, and the year of its key test
When each psychic term came into use, and the year of its key testTimeline from 1800 to today: for each of 11 claimed abilities, a ring or band where the word came into use, a dot at the year of the key study cited on its page, and a dashed line to today for the three never tested on their own.Word in useKey test cited on its pageNo test that isolates it18001850190019502000MediumshipMediumship: word in use, 1850s1850sMediumship: key test 2007Beischel 2007ClairvoyanceClairvoyance: word in use, 1840s1840sClairvoyance: key test 1994ganzfeld 1994TelepathyTelepathy: word in use, 18821882Telepathy: key test 1994ganzfeld 1994PrecognitionPrecognition: word in use, 1880s1880sPrecognition: key test 2011Bem 2011ClairsentienceClairsentience: word in use, 20th c.20th c.noneClairaudienceClairaudience: word in use, 19th c.19th c.nonePsychometryPsychometry: word in use, 18421842nonePsychic empathyPsychic empathy: word in use, 19091909Psychic empathy: key test 1993Hatfield 1993Astral projectionAstral projection: word in use, 1880s1880sAstral projection: key test 1968Tart 1968Psychic healingPsychic healing: word in use, Reiki 1922Reiki 1922Psychic healing: key test 2006STEP 2006Aura readingAura reading: word in use, 1880s1880sAura reading: key test 1997screens 1997Source: the studies and word histories set out on each ability pageastrohot.com
When each psychic term came into use, and the year of its key testTimeline from 1800 to today: for each of 11 claimed abilities, a ring or band where the word came into use, a dot at the year of the key study cited on its page, and a dashed line to today for the three never tested on their own.Word in useKey testNo isolating test18001850190019502000Mediumship: 1850s → 2007Mediumship: word in use, 1850sMediumship: key test 2007Clairvoyance: 1840s → 1994Clairvoyance: word in use, 1840sClairvoyance: key test 1994Telepathy: 1882 → 1994Telepathy: word in use, 1882Telepathy: key test 1994Precognition: 1880s → 2011Precognition: word in use, 1880sPrecognition: key test 2011Clairsentience: 20th c. → no testClairsentience: word in use, 20th c.Clairaudience: 19th c. → no testClairaudience: word in use, 19th c.Psychometry: 1842 → no testPsychometry: word in use, 1842Psychic empathy: 1909 → 1993Psychic empathy: word in use, 1909Psychic empathy: key test 1993Astral projection: 1880s → 1968Astral projection: word in use, 1880sAstral projection: key test 1968Psychic healing: Reiki 1922 → 2006Psychic healing: word in use, Reiki 1922Psychic healing: key test 2006Aura reading: 1880s → 1997Aura reading: word in use, 1880sAura reading: key test 1997Source: studies and word histories on our pagesastrohot.com

Most of the words date from the 1800s, while the key tests run from 1968 to 2011. 8 of the 11 have such a test; clairsentience, clairaudience and psychometry have none of their own.

AbilityThe claimKey testStatus
Mediumship Receiving information from people who have died 2007 Tested, contested
Clairvoyance Seeing objects, places or events beyond the reach of the senses 1994 Tested, replication failed
Telepathy Transferring thought directly between minds 1994 Tested, indistinguishable from clairvoyance
Precognition Knowing an event before it occurs 2011 Tested, replication failed
Clairsentience Receiving information as a physical sensation rather than an image None Never tested separately
Clairaudience Hearing voices or sounds beyond ordinary hearing None Never tested separately
Psychometry Reading the history of an object by holding it None Essentially untested
Psychic empathy Feeling other people's emotions directly, at a distance or without cues 1993 The ordinary version is real, the distance version is not shown
Astral projection Leaving the body and perceiving from outside it 1968 Tested, target never read
Psychic healing Improving health by intention, touch without contact, or prayer at a distance 2006 Tested at scale, no benefit found
Aura reading Seeing a colored field around a person and reading it 1997 Tested, never passed

The single most informative experiment

Between 2008 and 2012 the AWARE study installed visual targets on high shelves in 15 hospitals — images that could only be read from near the ceiling. Across 2,060 cardiac arrests, 140 survivors were interviewed. Of the 101 who completed the detailed interview, 9 had near-death experiences and 2 described seeing or hearing real events during their resuscitation.

Neither reported a target. The one account that could be checked against events took place in an area where no shelf had been installed.

AWARE, 2008 to 2012: from 2,060 cardiac arrests to the shelf targets
AWARE, 2008 to 2012: from 2,060 cardiac arrests to the shelf targetsBar chart of the AWARE study funnel: 2,060 cardiac arrests, 140 survivors interviewed, 101 detailed interviews, 9 near-death experiences, 2 recalling real events, 0 shelf targets read.Cardiac arrestsCardiac arrests: 2,0602,060Survivors interviewedSurvivors interviewed: 140140Detailed interviewDetailed interview: 101101Near-death experienceNear-death experience: 99Recalled real eventsRecalled real events: 22Read a shelf targetRead a shelf target: 00Source: Parnia et al. (2014), Resuscitation 85astrohot.com
AWARE, 2008 to 2012: from 2,060 cardiac arrests to the shelf targetsBar chart of the AWARE study funnel: 2,060 cardiac arrests, 140 survivors interviewed, 101 detailed interviews, 9 near-death experiences, 2 recalling real events, 0 shelf targets read.Cardiac arrestsCardiac arrests: 2,0602,060Survivors interviewedSurvivors interviewed: 140140Detailed interviewDetailed interview: 101101Near-death experienceNear-death experience: 99Recalled real eventsRecalled real events: 22Read a shelf targetRead a shelf target: 00Source: Parnia et al. (2014), Resuscitation 85astrohot.com

Only about 7 in every 100 arrests led to an interview, since most patients did not survive. The last bar, a target read from the ceiling, is empty.

That is the shape of the whole field in one result: the experience is real, reportable and common enough to study, and the claim attached to it does not survive a shelf with a picture on it.

The full AWARE result →   Aura colors against the spectrum →

Sources

  1. Parnia et al. (2014), “AWARE — AWAreness during REsuscitation”, Resuscitation 85

Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.

Cite this page

AstroHot. “Psychic Abilities: Each Claim and What the Tests Found.” Accessed November 2, 2026. https://astrohot.com/psychic/

For Wikipedia {{cite web |title=Psychic Abilities: Each Claim and What the Tests Found |url=https://astrohot.com/psychic/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-11-02}}