2 Replications of the Oatmeal "Mind Over Matter" Experiment

In this post I reported on a "mind over matter" experiment I did with oatmeal, similar to the "mind over matter" experiments on rice originally done by Masuru Emoto. The Emoto-style rice experiments have been widely replicated, as you can see by doing a Google search for "Emoto rice experiment."  My first experiment was supportive of the "mind over matter" hypothesis. Below is a report of two simultaneously run experiments attempting to replicate this result.

On July 21, 2015 I prepared some oatmeal in a bowl that had been well-washed. I took four small glass jars, and steam-sterilized them. Having previously discovered that you can ruin lids of this type of jar if you try to steam sterilize them, I merely washed the lids in soap and hot water.

After waiting a few minutes for the sterilized jars to cool, I then spooned freshly made oatmeal into the jars, alternating which jar got a spoonful of oatmeal. When I was done, I tightly sealed the jars, labeling two of them with a "Love" label, and two of them with a "Hate" label. Below is the first set of jars.

The second set of jars looked like this:

For six days I would (several times a day) hold the small jars in my hand. To the jars marked "Hate" I would say things like, "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you -- die, die, die," while trying to feel strong feelings of hate. To the jars marked "Love" I would say, "I love you, I love you, I love you -- thank you, thank you," while trying to feel positive thoughts.

Below are the results of the two experiments (which I call experiments 2 and 3 because they are the second and third experiments I've done on oatmeal).

Experiment 2

After 6 days the jar marked "Love" had only slightly changed, having a slightly more liquid appearance. But the jar marked "Hate" had changed dramatically. Not only had it almost completely liquefied, but it had also changed color, turning into a kind of muddy brown color quite different from the original color.  The two jars are shown below (in a photo taken on the day the 6-day experiment ended).

Experiment 3

After 6 days the jar marked "Love" had little noticeable change. It still looked like good "spoonable" oatmeal that someone might eat without complaint. But the jar marked "Hate" had changed dramatically. Its color had not changed, but it had almost completely liquefied. The two jars are shown below (in a photo taken on the day the 6-day experiment ended).

Summary of the 3 Experiments


Below is a summary of the 3 experiments done thus far on this topic.

Oatmeal Experiment Number	Dates	Results	Supports “Mind Over Matter” Hypothesis?
1	July 16-July 21, 2015	The oatmeal in the jar marked “Hate” almost entirely liquefied, but the oatmeal in the jar marked “Love” did not liquefy, and did not change appearance.	Yes
2	July 21- July 27, 2015	The oatmeal in the jar marked “Hate” almost entirely liquefied and also changed to a muddy brown color, but the oatmeal in the jar marked “Love” did not change color and only slightly liquefied.	Yes
3	July 21- July 27, 2015	The oatmeal in the jar marked “Hate” almost entirely liquefied, but the oatmeal in the jar marked “Love” did not liquefy, and had little change in appearance.	Yes

What are the odds of getting these results by chance? Imagine we estimate probabilities such as these, which seem reasonable.

Chance of both jars not looking significantly different from each other at end of experiment (with or without changes): 80%.
Chance of the oatmeal in the "Love" jar looking significantly worse than the oatmeal in the "Hate" jar:  10%.
Chance of the oatmeal in the "Hate" jar looking significantly worse than the oatmeal in the "Love" jar:  10%.

Given such probabilities, the chance of doing this experiment 3 times and getting each time a result suggestive of "mind over matter" (with the oatmeal in the "Hate" jar looking significantly worse than the oatmeal in the "Love" jar) is 10% multiplied by 10% multiplied by 10%, or about 1 in 1000.

So these results so far are rather suggestive of the "mind over matter" hypothesis, but I would need to do additional experiments before I could claim to have any evidence that is highly suggestive of such a hypothesis.

Postscript: All of the jars in these experiments were stored in the same place,  in a dresser drawer. The jars were held for equal lengths of time, and handled in the same way. None of the jars were shaken during the experiment.