Correlating Mediums’ Accuracy with Learning Styles and Sensory Modality Preferences

Abstract

This study obtained novel data regarding mediums’ accuracy when reporting different types of information and the relationship of accuracy to mediums’ learning styles and sensory modality preferences (LS/SMPs). The medium participants in this study were 12 Windbridge Certified Research Mediums (WCRMs) who were previously screened and certified using published criteria; 11 females, 1 male; average age: 58.9 ± 2.4 years. The mediums’ accuracy scores when asked, under blinded conditions, specific questions about a deceased person (physical description, personality, hobbies, and cause of death) were compared. The means (± SE) of 21 accuracy scores for each of the four question types varied (physical description: 53.9% ± 5.2%; personality: 67.0% ± 7.1%; hobbies: 49.4% ± 5.5%; and cause of death: 41.3% ± 6.5%) but no differences requiring further statistical analysis existed. Accuracy scores were also compared to participant responses to the following LS/SMP questionnaires: the Index of Learning Styles© (ILS), the Barsch Learning Style Inventory (BLSI), and the Learning Channel Preference (LCP). Correlation analyses indicated no significant correlations between accuracy and LS/SMPs although moderate correlations between the different question types existed. Though this sample size was not large, it may be appropriate to conclude that none of the four types of information requested is more or less difficult to report during a mediumship reading than any other. This finding is consistent with mediums’ descriptions of their experiences as passive perceptions and of the deceased as autonomous entities. Further, individual characteristics categorized as LS/SMPs may not impact mediumistic abilities. In addition, the multi-modal nature of mediumship would suggest that individual sensory preferences are irrelevant to accuracy. Future research may wish to explore the relationship of LS/SMPs to the anomalous acquisition of information not regularly experienced as autonomous.