ANOMALOUS COGNITION, DISSOCIATION, AND MOTOR AUTOMATISMS.

80 volunteers completed an anomalous cognition task reflecting motor automatism, preceded by a progressive relaxation exercise. Pasted on a computer writing tablet was a 4x4 grid of 16 1-inch squares each containing a number 1-4. For 36 trials, participants (Ps) explored the grid with the computer pen, recording their responses to the randomly selected target squares by stopping for 1 s. They were assigned to 4 cells in a 2x2 design with the independent variables being hand used (right or left) and a dissociation facilitator (mind-blanking with eyes closed vs. reading quotations on a screen). The dependent variable was location hits, an unweighted combination of standardized square and quadrant hits. ANOVA revealed significant psi-missing in the quotations/left condition and significant psi-hitting elsewhere (EQR). High scores on the Detachment (DET) component of the Dissociative Processes Scale (DPS) and reports of the hand being moved by an outside force (OF) during the AC task jointly predicted high location hit scores in the EQR condition, as did DPS Imagination (IMA). IMA and DET correlated significantly with hits on number across all conditions. This exploratory study was interpreted as reflecting psi mediation by a motor process and a cognition process on different trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]