Sargent held a PhD in psychology (or experimental parapsychology), which he earned in 1979. He is known to have performed numerous ganzfeld experiments at the University of Cambridge (a photograph of Sargent performing such an experiment appears in the "", page 129). His published works in this field include "Explaining the Unexplained: Mysteries of the Paranormal", co-authored with Hans Eysenck. The book received a positive review in the "New Scientist" by John Beloff who described it as "an introduction to parapsychology that one can put into the hands of an inquiring student without embarrassment."