1. Michael A Persinger was an American-Canadian professor of psychology at Laurentian University, a position he had held from 1971 until his death in 2018.
15 Facts About Michael Persinger
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Michael Persinger has published over 500 technical articles in scientific journals, more than a dozen chapters in various books, and seven of his own books.
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Michael Persinger argued that all phenomena including consciousness, spiritual experiences, and "paranormal events" can be explained by universal physical mechanisms and can be verified using the scientific method.
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Michael Persinger's work focuses on the commonalities that exist between the sciences, and aims to integrate fundamental concepts of various branches of science.
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Michael Persinger organized the Behavioral Neuroscience Program at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, integrating chemistry, biology, and psychology.
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The research received wide media coverage with high-profile visitors to Michael Persinger's laboratory including Susan Blackmore and Richard Dawkins reporting positive and negative results respectively.
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Michael Persinger responded that the researchers had an incorrect computer setup and that many of his previous experiments were indeed carried out double-blind.
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Michael Persinger argues that the labeling of these manifestations such as unidentified flying objects has changed over the centuries and reflects the characteristics of the culture despite a common mechanism.
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Michael Persinger considered the temporal contiguity of reports of unidentified luminous phenomena preceding local seismicity due to injections of fluids a quasi-experimental support for the hypothesis.
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Michael Persinger has stated that he studies parapsychological phenomena because "the ultimate subject matter of science is the unknown".
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Michael Persinger believes that verifiable spontaneous and experimental types of parapsychological phenomena are physical and associated with non-local interactions between human brain activity and geophysical processes.
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In 2016, Michael Persinger was controversially removed as the instructor of a first-year psychology course.
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Laurentian's provost objected to Michael Persinger's having asked students to sign a statement of understanding that vulgar language might be used in the class.
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The grievance was heard on October 30,2019, in Toronto, Ontario and on November 6,2019, a decision was rendered by Arbitrator Kevin Burkett that Dr Michael Persinger was improperly removed from teaching PSYC 1105 EL in December 2015.
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Michael Persinger died on August 14,2018, at the age of 73.