What did the 2019 Stanford telepathy replication find?

The ESP-Nexus library does not contain a study specifically identified as a “2019 Stanford telepathy replication.” No entry in the structured evidence base or the retrieved sources corresponds to that description.

A few clarifications worth making:

  • “Stanford” in parapsychology most often refers to Rex G. Stanford, a parapsychology researcher (not Stanford University as an institution). His ganzfeld-related work spans several decades, but the sources retrieved for this question do not include a 2019 replication study by him or attributed to Stanford University.
  • The structured evidence base for GESP/telepathy covers 25 studies ranging from 1976 through 2025, and none is identified as a 2019 Stanford replication. The closest entries by year are Schmidt (2009), Rey (2010), and Vernon (2020) — none of which is a Stanford-affiliated replication.
  • Stanford’s 2020 editorial in the Journal of Parapsychology discusses three ganzfeld-ESP reports published around that time, but it is a commentary piece, not an experimental replication, and the retrieved excerpt does not identify any of the three reports as originating from Stanford University.

What this means: either the study you have in mind is not yet in the ESP-Nexus library, the institutional affiliation differs from how it appears in the library, or the study may be misremembered or misattributed. The retrieved excerpts do not contain it, and I won’t speculate about its findings.

What you can do
  • Browse the Studies section — telepathy study-audit pages are grouped by topic and may surface the specific work if it is in the library.
  • Check the Rex G. Stanford profile if the “Stanford” in your question refers to him rather than the institution — his experimental output is documented there.
  • If you have a DOI, author name, or journal title, share it and I can look more precisely at what the library holds on that specific paper.
The studies behind this answer
PaperReported findingEffect / significanceBasis
Onetto-Bachler (1976), Education in Parapsychology (Parapsychology Foundation conference proceedings; contains a DISCUSSION transcript)GESP.—N = 234750 trials
Onetto (1998), Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine Journal [source]Overall GESP card-guessing performance.hit rate 0.204N = 3750 trials; 30 participants
Sheldrake (1999), Rivista di Biologia / Biology Forum [source]Pooled summary – total trials.hit rate 0.549N = 13903 trials
Sheldrake et al. (2000), Journal of Scientific Exploration [source]12 randomized-return-time experiments – all window visits.p < 1 × 10−4, hit rate 0.55k = 12
Sheldrake et al. (2003), Journal of Scientific Exploration [source]Majority scoring, all 19 key words – RPA/BRA headline.hit rate 0.197N = 117 trials
Sheldrake et al. (2003), Journal of the Society for Psychical Research [source]Overall caller identification.p = 4 × 10−16, hit rate 0.4k = 4; N = 571 trials; 63 participants
Sheldrake et al. (2003), The Journal of Parapsychology [source]All videotaped trials, all participants.p = 1 × 10−12, hit rate 0.45N = 271 trials; 4 participants
Sheldrake (2004), Revista Argentina de Psicologia Paranormal [source]Overall unfilmed series.p = 4 × 10−16, hit rate 0.4N = 571 trials; 63 participants
Sheldrake et al. (2005), Perceptual and Motor Skills [source]Series 1 overall.ES 0.42, z = 9.49, p = 2 × 10−19, hit rate 0.43N = 552 trials; 50 participants
Sheldrake et al. (2007), Journal of Scientific Exploration [source]Overall hit rate – 198 completed 10-trial tests.p = 6 × 10−6, hit rate 0.293N = 1980 trials
Sheldrake et al. (2009), Psychological Reports [source]Overall hit rate, 500 completed tests.ES 0.03, p = .002, hit rate 0.267N = 6000 trials
Schmidt et al. (2009), The Open Psychology Journal [source]Study 1 – Hypothesis 1.ES 0.04, z = 0.78, p = .23, hit rate 0.267N = 397 trials; 21 participants
Sheldrake et al. (2009), Journal of Scientific Exploration [source]Overall hit rate.ES 0.2, p = 1 × 10−4, hit rate 0.418N = 419 trials
Sheldrake et al. (2009), Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing [source]Overall SMS guessing test.ES 0.1, p = .001, hit rate 0.379N = 886 trials
Rey et al. (2010), Zeitschrift fuer Anomalistik / Journal of Anomalistics [source]H1 Telepathy condition.p = .26, hit rate 0.2054N = 2400 trials; 96 participants
Sheldrake et al. (2015), EXPLORE [source]Experiment 1: all tests pooled.ES 0.19, p < 1 × 10−15, hit rate 0.418N = 2080 trials
Vernon et al. (2020), Journal of Scientific Exploration [source]Primary one-sample t-test: first-choice hit rate vs chance.ES 0.2, p = .17, hit rate 0.2476N = 105 trials; 21 participants
Johnstad (2020), Journal of Scientific Exploration [source]Prevalence of reported psychedelic telepathy among interviewees.prevalence 0.4N = 40 participants
Vernon et al. (2020), Journal of Scientific Exploration [source]Primary analysis: target ranked 1st.ES 0.2, p = .17, hit rate 0.2476N = 21 participants
Wahbeh et al. (2023), EXPLORE [source]Telepathic/Pre-Selected – Completers.p < .001, hit rate 0.481N = 210 trials; 105 participants
Source: ESP-Nexus structured study database (25 studies; the table shows the 20 highest-ranked). ESP-Nexus reports what each study found and takes no position on whether the effects are genuine.
References
  1. Onetto-Bachler, B. (1976). Systematic Courses or Free Experimental Research Training. Education in Parapsychology (Parapsychology Foundation conference proceedings; contains a DISCUSSION transcript), 47–57.
  2. Onetto, B. (. O. B. (1998). Possible Parapsychological Relevance of Hiroshi Motoyama’s AMI Machine: A GESP Experiment with Physiological Measurements. Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine Journal, 133–149.
  3. Sheldrake, R. (1999). The “Sense of Being Stared At” Confirmed by Simple Experiments. Rivista di Biologia / Biology Forum, 92, 53–76.
  4. Sheldrake, R., & Smart, P. (2000). A Dog That Seems to Know When His Owner Is Coming Home: Videotaped Experiments and Observations. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 14(2), 233–255.
  5. Sheldrake, R., & Morgana, A. (2003). Testing a Language-Using Parrot for Telepathy. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 17(4), 601–616.
  6. Sheldrake, R., & Smart, P. (2003). Experimental Tests for Telephone Telepathy. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 67(872), 184–199.
  7. Sheldrake, R., & Smart, P. (2003). Videotaped Experiments on Telephone Telepathy. The Journal of Parapsychology, 67, 147–166.
  8. Sheldrake, R. (2004). Investigaciones Experimentales En Telepatia Por Telefono (Experimental Research on Telephone Telepathy). Revista Argentina de Psicologia Paranormal, 15(3-4), 209–230.
  9. Sheldrake, R., & Smart, P. (2005). Testing for Telepathy in Connection with E-mails. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 101, 771–786.
  10. Sheldrake, R., & Lambert, M. (2007). An Automated Online Telepathy Test. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 21(3), 511–522.
  11. Sheldrake, R., & Beharee, A. (2009). A Rapid Online Telepathy Test. Psychological Reports, 104, 957–970. https://doi.org/10.2466/PR0.104.3.957-970
  12. Schmidt, S., Erath, D., Ivanova, V., & Walach, H. (2009). Do You Know Who is Calling? Experiments on Anomalous Cognition in Phone Call Receivers. The Open Psychology Journal, 2, 12–18.
  13. Sheldrake, R., & Avraamides, L. (2009). An Automated Test for Telepathy in Connection with Emails. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 23(1), 29–36.
  14. Sheldrake, R., Avraamides, L., & Novák, M. (2009). Sensing the sending of SMS messages: an automated test. Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, 272–276.
  15. Rey, G. D., Berens, K., Dietz, E., Hesser, M., Schaefer, S., & Schirmer, A. (2010). Konzeptuelle Replikationsstudie zu Experimenten zur Aussersinnlichen Wahrnehmung (Conceptual Replication Study of Experiments on Extrasensory Perception). Zeitschrift fuer Anomalistik / Journal of Anomalistics, 10, 58–115.
  16. Sheldrake, R., Smart, P., & Avraamides, L. (2015). Automated Tests for Telephone Telepathy Using Mobile Phones. EXPLORE, 11(4), 310–319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2015.04.001
  17. Vernon, D., Sandford, T., & Moyo, E. (2020). Using Virtual Reality to Test for Telepathy: A Proof-of-Concept Study. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 34(4), 683–702. https://doi.org/10.31275/20201833
  18. Johnstad, P. G. (2020). Psychedelic Telepathy: An Interview Study. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 34(3), 493–512. https://doi.org/10.31275/20201747
  19. Wahbeh, H., Cannard, C., Radin, D., & Delorme, A. (2023). Who’s calling? Evaluating the accuracy of guessing who is on the phone. EXPLORE. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2023.08.008
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Last updated: 2026-08-30 22:58:24

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ESP-Nexus reports published parapsychology research as written by its own authors. Source-fidelity to cited documents is audited on every page; the site takes no position on the epistemic status of parapsychological claims themselves.