For as long as I can remember, I have always dreamed about having a twin. I mean, who wouldn’t want an extra closet and a constant best friend to turn to? Identical twins look like each other, act like each other and share the same DNA. Similarities such as these cause many to wonder if twins can understand what each other are thinking without communicating, and if they can speak telepathically. The concept of twin telepathy has been researched for centuries and along with many others, I have always wondered: is twin telepathy real?

Twin telepathy is the belief that without communicating by mouth or body, twins can understand and process information transferred mentally with one another. They can experience this to all different extents, ranging from knowing each other’s thoughts to feeling the physical pain of another person. From experience, I have learned that if you spend enough time with someone, you can often tell what he or she is thinking. With this in mind, how do we know identical twins have something special? Furthermore, the stories that are publicized by the media regarding twin telepathy tend to be over-dramatic anecdotal stories, therefore skewing the public’s perception of telepathy.

One study conducted by Adrian Parker, PhD, used four pairs of identical twins. The London-based study tested for “synchronous responses that occurred in the physiological data of one twin during the period when the other twin was exposed to shock and surprise stimuli.” Each twin tested under went five separate stimuli, and they were presented in a random order for each set of twins. Each stimuli or trial took place over a five minute time period, therefore creating a 25-minute session for each set of twins. Six of these trials showed signs of telepathy. Three of these six trials were expected to occur by chance, and a single pair of twins made four of the telepathy indicators. Therefore, with a p value greater than 0.05, the results of this test were not statistically significant.

If Parker had used hundreds of pairs of twins instead of just four, I believe that his results would be considerably different. Also, the report on this study failed to explain exactly what types of stimuli were displayed, as well as the ages, genders, and geographical locations of the participants.

Another study that showed no positive results was a series of experiments conducted by Samuel Soal. From 1941 to 1943, Soal conducted more than 128,000 trials of 160 participants. Through all of these trials, he found no evidence of telepathy.

Additionally, in 1993, Susan Blackmore attempted to prove the existence of telepathy. The parapsychologist experimented with six sets of both male and female twins, all between the ages of 11 and 20 years old. The experiment was carried out in classrooms, and consisted of one twin being the sender while the other twin was the receiver. The sender “was given selected objects, photographs or numbers and would attempt to psychically send the information to the receiver.” The receiver then attempted to draw what the sender was mentally describing. Form this experiment, no statistically significant results were found therefore resulting in a lack of evidence proving the existence of telepathy.

Through all of these studies, none have proven the existence of twin telepathy. Numerous additional experiments have been performed on telepathy in general, between spouses, friends, and siblings. None of the results from these experiments show any signs of telepathy. As we learned in class, everything can happen due to chance. Therefore it is likely that at some point in time, you will be able to guess what someone else is thinking. I am sure it has happened to you before, and I am nearly certain that it will happen again! If you spend enough time with someone, it gradually becomes easier for you to pick up on his or her thoughts and inner feelings. Therefore, twin telepathy, or telepathy of any kind may simply be pure coincidence and the reading of the other person’s body language.

I hate to burst any bubbles here, but next time you correctly guess what someone is thinking or feeling and therefore think you have telepathy, it is likely only due to chance. Since hundreds of studies conducted on twin telepathy are consistent with the null hypothesis that telepathy does not exist, any experiment that finds evidence that it does exist would likely be due to a fluke. However, as modern science improves, conducting experiments will become much easier and who knows, maybe we will end up proving the existence of telepathy in the future.