# Evaluating Extraordinary Claims: Mind Over Matter? Or Mind Over Mind?

DevFeed: [Evaluating Extraordinary Claims: Mind Over Matter? Or Mind Over Mind?](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/evaluating-extraordinary-claims-mind-over-matter-or-mind-over-mind-40581.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<http://norvig.com/prayer.html>)

Published: 2007-07-09T00:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Peter Norvig](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/peter-norvig.md>)

Topics: [Simulation](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/simulation.md>), [test](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/test.md>), [Software](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/software.md>)

Tags: [analysis](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/analysis.md>), [results](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/results.md>), [simulation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/simulation.md>)

## AI overview

An essay evaluates claims about the efficacy of intercessory prayer by examining experimental design and simulating fMRI results. It reports that random simulations found no significant differences, while simulations incorporating short-term participant anxiety sometimes produced significant results, illustrating how small samples and confounding factors can affect findings.

## Source excerpt

A companion to my essay on experiment design, this essay uses as an example the literature on the efficacy of intercessory prayer on medical conditions.