aa “ Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200620001-9 Distant Mental Influence of Hemolysis Rate 11 LABORATORY FLOOR PLAN en SUBJECT <<) APPARATUS Fig. Floor plan of the laboratory rooms in which the experiments were conducted. The apparatus room and the subject room are situated in separate suites of the same building, with an exterior corridor separating the two suite areas. Interior corridors separate the rooms within each suite area. The subject room is windowless. The windows of the apparatus room were completely occluded during experimental trials. to retrieve that envelope and open it to find the random sequence of the four 15-minute periods of the experiment. (The 32 period-sequence enve- lopes had been prepared beforehand by M.S. using the RAND table of random numbers and a private algorithm. Throughout the experiment, the envelopes remained hidden from the experimenter. M.S. retained a copy of the period sequences for the 32 envelopes.) During each of the two 15-minute control periods, the subject was to attempt to keep her or his mind off of the experiment and to think of other matters; if she or he could not help thinking about the experiment, the subject was asked to imagine hemolysis proceeding at its normal, rapid rate. During each of two 15- minute protect periods, the subject was to attempt to mentally retard the rate of hemolysis of the red blood cells in the tubes for that period using any of the mental strategies described on the instruction sheet. The experi- menter demonstrated a slide projector that could be used by the subject during the two protect periods. The 35 mm color slide depicted healthy, intact red blood cells, and it was included as a helpful aid to the subject’s visualization of the desired goal. The subject was told that the beginning of each period would be signaled by an appropriate number of tones (one for Period 1, two for Period 2, and so on) presented through headphones. Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200620001-9
xO wa “ a Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200620001-9 12 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research The subject was also told that the first period would be preceded by an 8-minute progressive relaxation and guided imagery exercise designed to help the subject reduce distractions and focus attention upon the desired goal event, that is, decreased hemolysis during the protect periods. The exercise was accompanied by low-volume, ambient music and ocean sounds. Low-volume ambient music was also presented through the sub- ject’s headphones throughout the four periods of the experiment and was interrupted only for the four-period signaling tone presentations. The con- clusion of the experiment was indicated to the subject by the cessation of the music. At that time, the subject was to sign and date his or her period sequence sheet and then be escorted back to the apparatus room by an assistant. The experimenter returned to the apparatus room, where the equipment had already been readied for use. Just before entering this room and closing the door, he indicated to an assistant that the experiment was about to begin. The assistant gave him a sealed envelope that contained infor- mation about his 2- versus 8-tube sequence for that session, and then de- livered another sealed envelope to the subject; this latter envelope con- tained the subject’s protect versus control period sequence for that session. The experimenter started the audiotape that presented the preliminary ex- ercises to the subject. He then conducted the 20 hemolysis measurements for the session. From his point of view, there were also four 15-minute periods of measurements, two of the periods (indicated on a sheet within his envelope) were to involve measurements of two tubes, and two of the periods were to involve measurements of eight tubes. This number of measurements factor was included to provide data for a differential test of the IDS and RA predictions of psi performance (see below). The subjects remained blind regarding the tube number schedule for the session. Each of 20 identical 10-mi glass spectroscope tubes had been filled be- forehand with 6.0 ml of 0.425% saline, and these had been kept in the refrigerator at 4° C. The saline for all tubes for all sessions came from the same stock solution of 0.85% normal physiological saline, purchased in 20-liter quantity from Fisher Scientific Supply Company and diluted with distilled water to 0.425% by the experimenter before the study began. This use of solution from the same stock eliminated variability that other- wise might have been contributed by that factor. The experimenter re- moved the main blood collection (Vacutainer) tube bearing that subject’s name from the refrigerator, inverted the tube eight times in order to assure a homogeneous suspension of its blood cells, opened the tube, and placed it in a test tube rack on the equipment table. He then removed the first of the hypotonic saline tubes from the refrigerator and allowed it to stand at room temperature and warm slightly so that moisture from the warmer room-temperature air no longer condensed on the tube after the latter was wiped with tissue. He placed the now frost-free saline tube into the holder of the spectrophotometer and adjusted the controls of the device so that a digital reading of precisely 100.0% light transmission was obtained for Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200620001-9
a ” a a 4 a “a Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200620001-9 Distant Mental Influence of Hemolysis Rate 13 this blank tube. He pressed a computer keyboard key to initiate a subrou- tine that signaled the subject in the distant room that a 15-minute period was about to begin. He next removed the tube from the holder and added to the tube 100 pl of whole blood from the main Vacutainer tube. He quickly stoppered the saline tube with a rubber stopper, inverted the tube twice to assure homogeneity of its contents, and quickly replaced the tube in the spectrophotometer holder. When the holder cover was closed, the chart recorder pen moved to indicate minimal light transmittance; at the point of greatest excursion of the pen, the experimenter pressed a key- board key to initiate the 1-minute sampling epoch for that tube. The Vacu- tainer blood collection tube was then returned to the refrigerator, and the next hypotonic saline tube was placed in the test tube holder so that it might warm slightly for the next trial. The precise timing of all procedural events was controlied by the experimenter through the use of several pro- cedural cues and by means of extreme stereotypy of responding. Throughout the sampling epoch, the chart recorder and the digital readout of the spectrophotometer were shielded so that they could not be observed by the experimenter. This was done in order to eliminate immediate feed- back to the experimenter in the hope that this might reduce the latter’s own psi contribution to the experimental outcome. Percent light transmittance measures at a wavelength of 660 mp (an absorbance minimum for hemoglobin) relative to the blank tube con- taining saline alone were taken by means of a Sequoia-Turner Model 390 spectrophotometer with digital and chart recorder readouts. The spectro- photometer provided an analog output that varied from 0 to 1.0 v DC and was linearly related to percent light transmittance (with Ov DC = 0% T and 1.0 v DC = 100% T). This output was increased by a factor of 10 by means of a differential amplifier, and the resulting 0 to 10.0 v DC signal was fed into an analog-to-digital converter installed in an IBM PC-XT compatible computer. The A/D converter (CGRS Microtech PC DIADAC 1) uses an industry standard AD 574A 12-bit A/D chip with 0.0024 volt accuracy and 35 psec conversion speed. A software program was written that sampled the A/D converter at the end of each second of the 1-minute trial period. Thus, the system automatically provided 60 measurements of the time course of hemolysis (i.e., percent transmittance) during each 1- minute trial. The 60 values were written to a floppy disk file and were also printed out at the end of the trial. In addition to this digital data collection, an analog chart record was obtained for each trial (using a Markson Model 1202 pen recorder). At the end of the 1-minute sampling epoch, the experimenter removed the tube from the holder and began his preparations for the remainder of the trials. Approximately one minute elapsed between trials. If a period called for the measurement of two tubes, those two tubes were measured at the middle of the 15-minute period, that is, at times corresponding to the measurement of tubes 4 and 5 of an eight-tube period. The main Va- cutainer blood collection tube and the hypotonic saline tubes remained in Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200620001-9