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Scientific investigation

The Ouija phenomenon is considered by the scientific community to be the result of the ideomotor
response.[6][14][15][16] Michael Faraday first described this effect in 1853, while investigating table-turning.
[17][18]

Various studies have been produced, recreating the effects of the Ouija board in the lab and showing
that, under laboratory conditions, the subjects were moving the planchette involuntarily.[14][19] A 2012
study found that when answering yes or no questions, ouija use was significantly more accurate than
guesswork, suggesting that it might draw on the unconscious mind. [15] Skeptics have described Ouija
board users as 'operators'.[20] Some critics noted that the messages ostensibly spelled out by spirits
were similar to whatever was going through the minds of the subjects.[21] According to Professor of
neurology Terence Hines in his book Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2003):

The planchette is guided by unconscious muscular exertions like those responsible for table
movement. Nonetheless, in both cases, the illusion that the object (table or planchette) is moving
under its own control is often extremely powerful and sufficient to convince many people that spirits
are truly at work... The unconscious muscle movements responsible for the moving tables and Ouija
board phenomena seen at seances are examples of a class of phenomena due to what
psychologists call a dissociative state. A dissociative state is one in which consciousness is
somehow divided or cut off from some aspects of the individual's normal cognitive, motor, or sensory
functions.[22]

In the 1970s Ouija board users were also described as "cult members" by sociologists, though this
was severely scrutinised in the field.[23]

Ouija boards have been criticized in the press since their inception, having been variously described
as "'vestigial remains' of primitive belief-systems" and a con to part fools from their money.[24] Some
journalists have described reports of Ouija board findings as 'half truths' and have suggested that
their inclusion in national newspapers lowers the national discourse overall. [25]
About
Scientific investigation
The ouija (/wid/ WEE-j or /widi/ WEE-jee), also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a
flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 09, the words "yes", "no", "hello"
(occasionally), and "goodbye", along with various symbols and graphics. It uses a small heart-
shaped piece of wood or plastic called a planchette. Participants place their fingers on the
planchette, and it is moved about the board to spell out words. "Ouija" is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc.,
[1]
but is often used generically to refer to any talking board.

Following its commercial introduction by businessman Elijah Bond on July 1, 1890,[1] the Ouija board
was regarded as a parlor game unrelated to the occult until American Spiritualist Pearl Curran
popularized its use as a divining tool during World War I.[2] Spiritualists believed that the dead were
able to contact the living and reportedly used a talking board very similar to a modern Ouija board at
their camps in Ohio in 1886 to ostensibly enable faster communication with spirits. [3]

Some Christian denominations have "warned against using Ouija boards", holding that they can lead
to demonic possession.[4][5] Occultists, on the other hand, are divided on the issue, with some saying
that it can be a positive transformation; others reiterate the warnings of many Christians and caution
"inexperienced users" against it.[4]

Paranormal and supernatural beliefs associated with Ouija have been harshly criticized by the
scientific community, since they are characterized as pseudoscience. The action of the board can
be parsimoniously explained by unconscious movements of those controlling the pointer,
a psychophysiological phenomenon known as the ideomotor effect.[6][7][8][9]

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