Parapsychology is a metaphysical concept that investigates the existence and causes of psychic abilities, near-death experiences, and life after death phenomena. Parapsychological experiments have included test for evidence of precognition and psychokinesis with both human and animal subjects. Parapsychological laboratory and field research is conducted through private institutions and several universities and most of the research is published in a small number of niche journals such as the Journal of Parapsychology, Journal of Near-Death Studies, Journal of Consciousness Studies and Journal of Scientific Exploration.