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Testing if Consciousness Collapses the Wave Function
Putting the Consciousness Causes Collapse (CCC) interpretation of quantum mechanics to an empirical test requires methods that are not limited to those of experimental physics. In cognitive psychology, the term priming refers to an effect where exposure to one stimulus influences a person's response to another stimulus. For example, a positive word such as “happy” is recognized and responded to faster after the word “joy” as compared to a negative word such as “sadness” or “death”. The word “up” is responded to faster following a prime such as “high” or “top” as opposed to “bottom” or “low”. The primes work by getting you to lean mentally in a particular direction, so when you have to respond to something that is already in that direction you can do it faster, while it takes you longer than normal to respond to something in the opposite direction. Psychologists have been exploiting these reliable reaction time effects for decades as a multipurpose research tool. In recent years, these methods have even been used to prime subjects subliminally (Dehaene et al, 1998; Greenwald et al, 2003; Kouider & Dehaene, 2009). In such research, subjects are flashed a prime (such as a word or a symbol) on a computer screen for a length of time that is just underneath the duration that can be consciously experienced (about 50 milliseconds). Despite subjects reporting to not be aware of seeing the prime, they demonstrated shorter reaction times responding to stimulus that is congruent with the prime than to incongruent stimulus. Their brains processed the meaning of the prime and began to react to it even though they were not aware of it. The prime was processed unconsciously.
This ability for humans to process information unconsciously makes it possible to measure the effects of something that is itself shielded from conscious observation. By deriving the direction of the primes from quantum events we can leverage subliminal priming methodology to put the CCC interpretation of quantum mechanics to an experimental test.
This ability for humans to process information unconsciously makes it possible to measure the effects of something that is itself shielded from conscious observation. By deriving the direction of the primes from quantum events we can leverage subliminal priming methodology to put the CCC interpretation of quantum mechanics to an experimental test.
Overview of Original Study
In this first study (Lucido, 2023) primes were derived from quantum events that were shielded from conscious observation. A Geiger counter was used to measure the radioactive decay from a small sample of uranium ore during a series of four second intervals of time. The frequency of clicks for each interval was transformed through the computer software and determined whether an odd or even number prime would be flashed on the screen for 50 milliseconds (too short a duration to be consciously experienced). The primes were followed by a stimulus number that was presented on the screen that subjects could experience and were asked to respond to by stating out loud whether that number was odd or even. The subject's reaction time, how long it took them to say "odd" or "even" was recorded. Details of the response time task
A prime in a state of superposition should not produce its full effect on response time as it will be simultaneously both congruent and incongruent with the stimulus. Therefore, it is hypothesized that if the CCC interpretation of quantum mechanics is correct the stimulus primes will not have the expected effect on reaction time (reducing it when congruent and increasing it when incongruent), as it would in a control condition in which the primes were directly observed by the experimenter beforehand.
A prime in a state of superposition should not produce its full effect on response time as it will be simultaneously both congruent and incongruent with the stimulus. Therefore, it is hypothesized that if the CCC interpretation of quantum mechanics is correct the stimulus primes will not have the expected effect on reaction time (reducing it when congruent and increasing it when incongruent), as it would in a control condition in which the primes were directly observed by the experimenter beforehand.
If it were the case that the physical measuring device alone collapsed the wave function, we would expect the radioactive decay to have collapsed into a series of definite states upon its initial interaction with the Geiger counter, and whether the experimenter later viewed the values on a computer screen would not have altered the effect the primes had on reaction time.
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Results of Original Study
Within the observed condition, items preceded by congruent primes were responded to 36 ms faster than items preceded by incongruent primes, while the priming effect was only 8 ms in the unobserved condition. This resulted in an average response time difference of 28 ms between the two conditions.
Replications
A follow-up study (Lucido, 2024) using a keystroke response modality to indicate odd or even, rather than saying the words in a microphone, yielded similar results. Two additional experiments were conducted that further varied response modality, and the duration of the prime presentation (Lucido, 2025), and lastly two more experiments were conducted that used alternative stimulus items and primes (Lucido, 2026). In all six of these experiments, primes that were previously exposed to human observation exhibited greater congruent-versus-incongruent response time differences as compared to those that were denied that observation. The nominal attenuation effects in the unobserved conditions across these experiments ranged from 40% to 77%.
Further Information
The Raw Data from all six experiments are available here: Raw Data,
Detailed results from the 6 study pooled analysis are available here: pooled analysis
The Experimental Procedures and Program Codes for replication are available here: Experimental Procedures. However, please note that this link takes you the page that details the code and methods used in the previous experiments. Improvements have been made (such as the removal of blind cut and pasting) to the code recently. The recommended replication tool would be the ccc test kit (prior observation detector) available here.
If considering replication please note
It is vital that the number of items processed by each individual participant be limited. Prior research indicates a reversal of subliminal priming effects can occur due to perceptual learning, an automatic attunement to the primes over time (Przekoracka-Krawczyk & Jaskowski, 2007) which one can also conclude could entangle them with the consciousness of the participants in the unobserved conditions. This has the potential to spoil the test. To be conservative about avoiding this learning effect, limit the number of items processed by any one individual to no more than 250.
Detailed results from the 6 study pooled analysis are available here: pooled analysis
The Experimental Procedures and Program Codes for replication are available here: Experimental Procedures. However, please note that this link takes you the page that details the code and methods used in the previous experiments. Improvements have been made (such as the removal of blind cut and pasting) to the code recently. The recommended replication tool would be the ccc test kit (prior observation detector) available here.
If considering replication please note
It is vital that the number of items processed by each individual participant be limited. Prior research indicates a reversal of subliminal priming effects can occur due to perceptual learning, an automatic attunement to the primes over time (Przekoracka-Krawczyk & Jaskowski, 2007) which one can also conclude could entangle them with the consciousness of the participants in the unobserved conditions. This has the potential to spoil the test. To be conservative about avoiding this learning effect, limit the number of items processed by any one individual to no more than 250.
New: Obtain Your Own CCC Test Kit (prior observation detector)
Lucido, R. J. (2023). Testing the Consciousness Causes Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Primes Derived from Random Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay. Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 14, 3, 185-194.
Lucido, R. J. (2024). Replication of Results from a Test of the Consciousness Causes Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Priming Methodology. Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 15, 3, 229-239.
Lucido, R. J. (2025). Do Cats Collapse the Wave Function? Confronting the Measurement Problem with Subliminal Priming. Journal of NeuroPhilosophy, 4(1).
Lucido, R. J. (2026). Detection of Prior Conscious Observation With Subliminal Priming: Exploratory Evidence Across Alternative Stimulus Designs and a Pooled Analysis of Six Experiments. (Unpublished Preprint 6/22/26)
Richard James Lucido, Ph.D.
[email protected]
ResearchGate Profile
Academia.edu Profile
Lucido, R. J. (2024). Replication of Results from a Test of the Consciousness Causes Collapse Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Using Subliminal Priming Methodology. Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 15, 3, 229-239.
Lucido, R. J. (2025). Do Cats Collapse the Wave Function? Confronting the Measurement Problem with Subliminal Priming. Journal of NeuroPhilosophy, 4(1).
Lucido, R. J. (2026). Detection of Prior Conscious Observation With Subliminal Priming: Exploratory Evidence Across Alternative Stimulus Designs and a Pooled Analysis of Six Experiments. (Unpublished Preprint 6/22/26)
Richard James Lucido, Ph.D.
[email protected]
ResearchGate Profile
Academia.edu Profile
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