Sensed Presence and Mystical Experiences Are Predicted by Suggestibility, Not by the Application of Transcranial Weak Complex Magnetic Fields

Pehr Granqvist and six coauthors published this peer-reviewed article in Neuroscience Letters in 2005, an independently confirmed double-blind Uppsala University replication of Michael Persinger's God helmet experiments, which had claimed that weak transcranial magnetic fields could induce a sensed presence or mystical experience. Its strength is genuine methodological rigor, the study found that participants' suggestibility, not whether the magnetic field was actually applied, predicted who reported these experiences, a result that generated substantial subsequent scientific discussion including a published response from Persinger's own team. Its limit is that this remains one contested study within an active scientific debate over the God helmet paradigm, so a claim about the phenomenon's cause should note the dispute rather than treat this single replication as the final word.