Integrated Knowledge Systems, Chatham, IL. USA; ISLA Laboratory for Statistics and Computation (LSC), Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: jim@drjimhouran.com.
5 papers in the library · 68 citations · publishing 2000-2026
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease November 1, 2000 James Houran 62 citations
The text provides only an author affiliation and does not contain a coherent summary of a study, argument, or findings.
Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition August 29, 2023 James Houran, Brian Laythe 4 citations
ChatGPT-3.5-generated narratives of mystical, supernatural, or anomalous entity encounters approximate but do not fully match the phenomenology of real-life accounts. The AI descriptions covered each encounter type, mapped to a Rasch hierarchy of anomalous perceptions, showed below-average scores on the Survey of Strange Events, and referenced at least one recognition pattern of Haunted People Syndrome. Inter-rater reliability was fair, and correlations among narratives were low but generally positive. The findings suggest that prototypical depictions based on popular source material can mimic core features of these experiences, yet they lack the full depth of spontaneous reports.
Spiritual Psychology and Counseling June 1, 2025 Neil Dagnall, Kenneth Drinkwater, Giovanni Caputo et al. 1 citation
A single case study of a 36-year-old man in France who reported ghostly encounters after playing the horror game Doki Doki Literature Club! tested the Haunted People Syndrome model, which describes such episodes as arising from people with heightened sensitivities, paranormal belief, and perceptual contagion. The participant showed slightly below-average haunt intensity, above-average recognition patterns for the syndrome, and scores indicating high transliminality, paranormal belief, and stress. His narrative aligned with the proposed process, and he experienced depersonalization, derealization, and dissociated identity, with aftereffects of situational enchantment. His understanding of the experiences evolved through active sense-making.
Journal of Scientific Exploration March 31, 2025 Ciarán O’keeffe, Brandon Massullo, Brian Laythe et al. 1 citation
A reanalysis of a case study by Auerbach et al. (2023) on a poltergeist-like disturbance investigated with virtual technology during the COVID-19 pandemic finds that the case strongly aligns with the Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S) model. HP-S conceptualizes ghostly episodes as an interactionist phenomenon arising from individuals with heightened somatic-sensory sensitivities, stirred by dis-ease states, contextualized with paranormal belief, and reinforced via perceptual contagion and threat-agency detection. Content analysis by an independent researcher showed the case had below-average 'haunt intensity' and a pattern resembling embellished or false testimony, yet it displayed most HP-S recognition patterns. The findings imply that ghostly episodes are best understood through a biopsychosocial lens, regardless of potential psi contributions.
Consciousness and cognition January 18, 2026 Marieta Pehlivanova, Rense Lange, Bruce Greyson et al.
Two scales measuring the phenomenology of near-death experiences—the 16-item NDE Scale and the 20-item NDE-C—were compared in 705 self-identified experiencers. The scales correlate nearly perfectly (r = 0.98), indicating they measure the same underlying construct. However, Rasch analysis revealed problems with the NDE-C's category structure and five novel items. The original NDE Scale's item hierarchy replicated across samples, showing long-term stability. Based on parsimony and psychometric evidence, the original NDE Scale with Rasch scoring and a validated cut-off of 7 (out of 32) is recommended for future research.