Can Human Consciousness Influence Photons?

A Deep Dive into the Radin Double-Slit Experiments

For over a century, the double-slit experiment has been one of physics’ most mysterious demonstrations of the quantum world. Photons—tiny particles of light—behave like waves until they are observed, at which point they behave like particles. Traditionally, this “observation” means a measuring device, not a human mind.

But between 2012 and 2016, consciousness researcher Dean Radin, PhD, at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), attempted something bold:

Can focused human attention measurably influence the behavior of photons in a double-slit optical system?

The results were subtle, controversial, and endlessly fascinating.

🔬 The Double-Slit Experiment, In Brief

In the standard experiment:

• A laser passes through two narrow slits.

• On a screen behind them, the light forms an interference pattern—bright and dark fringes created by wave interference.

• If the photons are “observed” with a detector, the interference pattern collapses, and the photons behave like discrete particles.

This is one of the cornerstones of quantum weirdness.

Radin’s insight was simple and provocative:

If measurement collapses the wavefunction,

does conscious observation count as a kind of measurement?

📡 2012: Six Experiments Using Focused Human Attention

Citation

Radin, D., Michel, L., Galdamez, K., Wendland, P., Rickenbach, R., & Delorme, A. (2012).

Consciousness and the double-slit interference pattern: Six experiments.

Physics Essays, 25(2), 157–171.

DOI: 10.4006/0836-1398-25.2.157

This landmark paper reports six independent experiments using a shielded, low-power laser double-slit setup.

Participants were asked to:

• Focus their attention toward the optical system

• Intend that the interference pattern tighten (increase particle-like behavior)

• Alternate between focused intention and rest

Findings:

• During periods of focused attention, the interference pattern showed slightly reduced fringe visibility.

• This would be consistent (if real) with photons behaving more like particles than waves.

• The effect sizes were small, but statistically significant across multiple trials.

Experienced meditators tended to produce the largest deviations.

🖥️ 2016: Remote, Online, “Distant” Double-Slit Study

Citation

Radin, D., Michel, L., & Delorme, A. (2016).

Psychophysical modulation of fringe visibility in a distant double-slit optical system.

Physics Essays, 29(1), 14–22.

DOI: 10.4006/0836-1398-29.1.014

To address skepticism, Radin created an online interface allowing participants worldwide to direct intention toward a remote, automated optical system.

Findings:

• Once again, intention periods corresponded with small decreases in fringe visibility.

• The system was fully automated; humans never touched the equipment.

This broadened the claim:

If the effect exists, it doesn’t require physical proximity.

🔦 Single-Photon Variation (2015)

Citation

Radin, D., Michel, L., Pierce, A., & Delorme, A. (2015).

Psychophysical interactions with a single-photon double-slit optical system.

Quantum Biosystems, 6(1), 82–98.

Here Radin tested intention effects using a single-photon source—pushing the experiment to an even more strictly quantum regime.

🧭 Critiques and Re-Analyses (for Balance)

1. False-positive detection concerns

Walleczek, J., & von Stillfried, N. (2019).

False-positive effect in the Radin double-slit experiment on observer consciousness.

Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1891.

2. Independent data re-analysis

Tremblay, N. (2019).

Independent re-analysis of alleged mind-matter interaction in double-slit data.

3. Quantum measurement critique

Sassoli de Bianchi, M. (2012).

Quantum measurements are physical processes. Comment on Radin et al.

These critiques argue that:

• Subtle mechanical noise may explain the effect

• The analysis pipeline might inflate significance

• Consciousness need not be invoked

Even so, they acknowledge the data are unusual enough to warrant further research.

🌱 What Do These Experiments Actually Suggest?

✔ What they do show:

• During focused attention, small shifts in interference visibility did occur.

• The results were replicated across several experiments and configurations.

• Meditation experience correlates with stronger effects.

✘ What they don’t prove:

• That thoughts freely manipulate physical matter

• That consciousness collapses the wavefunction

• That quantum physics needs rewriting

The science is not settled — but the anomaly is real enough to be interesting.

🌀 Why This Matters for Consciousness Research

These experiments sit at the boundary between physics and mind-science. If even a fraction of these effects hold up under strict replication, the implications are profound:

• Consciousness may play a nontrivial role in measurement

• Mind–matter interaction may exist on micro-scales

• Meditation might interface with quantum-level processes

• “Observation” in physics may not be purely mechanical

At the very least, Radin’s work challenges us to ask deeper questions:

What, exactly, counts as an observer in the universe?

And how deeply is consciousness woven into the fabric of reality?

🌌 Final Thoughts

Whether these results represent:

• a genuine mind–matter interaction,

• a subtle experimental artifact,

• or an unexplained statistical anomaly,

…they open a powerful door.

They invite us to explore consciousness not as a passive byproduct of the brain, but as a participant in reality’s unfolding.

In that sense alone, Radin’s double-slit experiments mark a significant moment in the dialogue between physics, psychology, meditation, and mystery.