Overview

Chris A. Roe has established himself as a central figure in contemporary experimental parapsychology, directing the Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes at the University of Northampton and serving multiple terms as president of the Parapsychological Association. His research program integrates laboratory protocols for detecting anomalous cognition with systematic investigation of the phenomenological, personality, and physiological factors that correlate with psi performance. A recurring theme across his work is the exploration of altered states of consciousness (particularly ganzfeld stimulation and dream states) as contexts in which psi-conducive conditions may be optimized.

Roe’s contributions span six major research domains: remote viewing and ganzfeld protocols, dream ESP and GESP (general extrasensory perception), after-death communication and bereavement, mediumship and spiritual experiences, lucid dreaming incidence and personality correlates, and distant healing efficacy. Within each domain, he has combined experimental design with qualitative phenomenological analysis, seeking to understand not only whether anomalous effects occur but how experiencers describe and interpret them. His meta-analytic work on noncontact healing has become a standard reference in the field, establishing methodological benchmarks for evaluating distant healing claims.

Life and career

Roe has held a faculty position in psychology at the University of Northampton, where he founded and directed the Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes. He succeeded Deborah Delanoy as CSAPP director, continuing the centre’s mission to conduct rigorous empirical investigation of anomalous psychological phenomena. His leadership roles within the parapsychological community have included presidency of the Parapsychological Association and the Society for Psychical Research, as well as service as Perrott-Warrick Senior Researcher. He has also served as chair of the British Psychological Society’s Transpersonal Psychology Section.

Throughout his career, Roe has collaborated extensively with colleagues at Northampton and internationally, co-authoring studies with researchers including Sarah Sherwood, Elizabeth Roxburgh, Callum Cooper, and others. This collaborative approach has enabled large-scale data collection and meta-analytic synthesis across multiple laboratories and protocols. His work has been supported by grants from the Perrott-Warrick Fund, the Society for Psychical Research Research Grants Committee, and the Parapsychological Association Research Endowment Fund.

Research

Remote viewing and ganzfeld protocols

Roe’s systematic investigation of ganzfeld stimulation as an enhancement to remote viewing began with an exploratory pilot study and evolved into a series of three controlled experiments comparing performance in ganzfeld and waking conditions. In total, 110 participants completed a precognitive remote viewing task under both conditions in a counterbalanced repeated-measures design. Results showed that participants achieved 43 hits (39%) in the ganzfeld stimulation condition, representing a highly significant positive deviation from chance expectation (p = .000012), whereas in the waking remote viewing condition they achieved 30 hits (27.5%), which was marginally better than chance (p = .034).¹

Beyond overall performance differences, Roe examined the phenomenological correlates of successful performance. In the first experiment, participants completed Pekala’s Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory to assess their responsiveness to the ganzfeld protocol. Of the 12 sub-dimensions tested, ganzfeld performance correlated significantly with greater absorption in subjective experience, lower arousal, and less internal dialog.¹ In subsequent experiments, individual difference measures including transliminality, openness to experience, and dissociative experiences were tested but showed no consistent relationship to task success, suggesting that the phenomenological state during the ganzfeld session itself may be more predictive than trait-level personality measures.

Dream ESP and GESP research

Roe has conducted extensive research on extrasensory perception in dreams, building on the legacy of the Maimonides Dream ESP Program. His work has included both laboratory-based dream ESP studies and comprehensive reviews of the field. A meta-analysis of dream ESP studies conducted since the Maimonides program examined the correspondence between dream content and target material under laboratory conditions, synthesizing data across multiple investigations to assess the robustness of dream-based psi effects.⁶

Roe and colleagues have also investigated the roles of the sender and experimenter in dream ESP research, recognizing that interpersonal factors may influence psi task performance. This work has included exploratory investigations using consensus judging and both dynamic and static targets, as well as systematic reviews documenting the evolution of dream ESP methodology since the foundational Maimonides studies.⁷

After-death communication and bereavement

In recent years, Roe has become a leading investigator of after-death communication (ADC) experiences and their role in the bereavement process. His research team conducted a large-scale survey of 991 individuals reporting spontaneous ADCs, creating a detailed characterization of the sensory and phenomenological properties of these experiences. Results indicated that a majority of respondents perceived ADCs as distinctly different from simple thoughts about the deceased. Sensory distribution across modalities was 46% visual, 44% auditory, 48% tactile, and 28% olfactory, with 34% reporting a sense of presence without input from the five senses.⁴ Notably, ADCs were often perceived as external and possessing properties of the material world, such as solidity and tactile qualities, even in cases involving only a sense of presence.

A subsequent study of 70 bereaved individuals reporting partner ADCs found that 40% reported accelerated recovery from grief, and 42.9% confirmed that ADCs had a significant influence on their grieving process. Importantly, ADCs did not worsen grief-related pain; instead, 40% of respondents reported reduced sadness, and 47% acknowledged that ADCs eased their acceptance of loss.³ These findings suggest a potentially therapeutic role for spontaneous ADC experiences in the bereavement process, contrary to assumptions that such experiences might be pathological or distressing.

Mediumship and spiritual experiences

Roe has investigated mediumship as a form of anomalous experience, examining both the phenomenology of mediums’ lived experience and the psychological characteristics associated with mediumistic practice. In-depth interviews with spiritualist mediums explored how they communicate with the deceased, the meaning of spirit guide phenomena, and the purpose of mediumship. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, researchers identified three major themes: explanatory systems of mediumship, spirit guides as transcendental beings versus aspects of self, and the purpose of mediumship in the broader context of consciousness and transcendence.⁸

Additional research examined dissociation, boundary-thinness, and psychological wellbeing in spiritualist mental mediums, seeking to understand the personality and cognitive profiles associated with mediumistic experience. This work has contributed to a reframing of voices and visions using a spiritual model rather than a purely pathological one, recognizing that anomalous perceptual experiences may be integrated into coherent meaning-making systems by those who experience them.⁹

Lucid dreaming incidence and personality correlates

Roe collaborated on a quality effects meta-analysis of 50 years of lucid dreaming research, synthesizing data from 34 studies involving 24,282 respondents. The weighted average estimate of lucid dreaming prevalence, the proportion of individuals who have experienced at least one lucid dream in their lifetime, was 55% (95% CI [49%, 62%]). Using standard classification systems, 23% (95% CI [20%, 25%]) were identified as frequent lucid dreamers, experiencing one or more lucid dreams per month.⁵

In a subsequent 12-week induction study, Roe and colleagues investigated whether personality variables such as field independence, locus of control, and need for cognition predicted success at cultivating lucid dreams. The study found no baseline differences between those who did and did not report lucid dreams during the program on these measures. However, there was a significant change toward field independence between baseline and post-test for those successful at inducing lucid dreams, suggesting that lucid dreaming experience itself may cultivate cognitive changes rather than being predicted by pre-existing traits.¹⁰

Noncontact healing and meta-analysis

Roe’s meta-analytic work on noncontact healing has established rigorous methodological standards for evaluating distant healing claims. In a two-phase analysis, he and colleagues reviewed studies involving both non-whole human biological systems (plants, animals, tissue samples, cell cultures) and whole human participants. For the non-whole human studies, 49 investigations from 34 papers were eligible for review. The combined effect size weighted by sample size yielded a significant result (r = .258). However, effect sizes were heterogeneous and correlated with blind ratings of study quality. When restricted to studies meeting minimum quality thresholds, 22 studies yielded a reduced but still significant weighted effect (r = .115).²

For whole human studies, 57 investigations across 56 papers were eligible. When combined, these yielded a small but significant effect size (r = .203). This database was also heterogeneous and outcomes correlated with methodological quality ratings. When restricted to studies meeting quality thresholds, 27 studies yielded a weighted effect size of r = .224.² These results suggest that subjects in active healing conditions exhibit significant improvement in wellbeing relative to controls, even under circumstances less susceptible to placebo and expectancy effects.

Personality and individual differences in psi performance

Throughout his career, Roe has investigated how personality traits and individual differences correlate with psi task performance. His research has examined extraversion, openness to experience, paranormal beliefs, locus of control, and other psychological variables in relation to ESP and psychokinesis tasks. This work has contributed to understanding the psychological profile of individuals more likely to demonstrate anomalous cognition in laboratory settings, and has informed theoretical models of psi as a function of both cognitive aptitude and motivational or personality-based factors.

Influence and reception

Roe’s research has established him as a central authority on laboratory psi detection methods, particularly the integration of ganzfeld stimulation with remote viewing protocols. His meta-analytic work on noncontact healing has become a standard reference in reviews of distant healing efficacy, cited across parapsychology, complementary medicine, and psychology literature. His investigations of after-death communication have contributed to a growing body of research recognizing ADC experiences as a potentially adaptive aspect of bereavement rather than a pathological symptom.

His leadership roles, including presidency of the Parapsychological Association and the Society for Psychical Research, have positioned him as a spokesperson for rigorous empirical parapsychology within both academic and public contexts. His directorship of CSAPP has maintained the centre as a leading laboratory for anomalous psychology research in the UK, continuing the institutional legacy established by his predecessor.

Roe’s work is characterized by methodological rigor, large sample sizes, and systematic attention to both quantitative outcomes and qualitative phenomenology. His integration of altered-state protocols with individual-difference measurement has influenced subsequent research designs in psi laboratories internationally. His emphasis on quality assessment in meta-analytic work has raised standards for evaluating healing and anomalous cognition claims, establishing benchmarks that distinguish between preliminary findings and robust, replicable effects.