I OBJECTIVE The purpose of the program is to determine the characteristics of those perceptual modalities through which individuals obtain information about their environment, wherein such information is not presented to any known sense. The program is divided into two categories of investigation of approximately equal effort, applied research and basic research. The purpose of the applied research effort is to explore experimentally the potential for applications of perceptual abilities of interest, with special attention given to accuracy and reliability. The purpose of the basic research effort is to identify the characteristics of individuals possessing such abilities, and to identify neurophysiologica correlates and basic mechanisms involved in such functioning. Il PROGRESS DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD A. Applied Research 1. Remote Viewin A number of efforts were begun with respect to obtaining further information concerning remote viewing phenomena. First, an experiment has been designed in consultation with SRI psychologists which will yield precise statistical data as to discrimination ability. Ten sites known to the subject are to be visited in random sequence by a target demarcation team. The subject must then make a choice as to which site is being visited, in addition to providing descriptive material for content analysis. Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1
oe ‘ ""} * Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 Secondly, a pilot scries involving real-time questioning of the subject by the target team via walkie talkie is being explored to provide information for designing a protocol to investigate real-time correlations, One viewing with positive results has been carried out, Finally, a preliminary remote viewing pilot experiment was carried out with a subject (H.H.) previously screened by the EEG correlates experiment described in, our paper submitted for publication (Appendix I). The target chosen at random was a small red clapboard schoolhouse structure with a bell steeple on top in a miniature golf course. The subject's response was that she saw a red clapboard structure with a steeple that seemed to be artificial as in a movie set. Based on this result, a series of remote viewing experiments under strict protocols are planned with this subject. 2. Detection of Variable Density Target Material Twenty-seven envelopes were submitted by the sponsor .to the client containing target drawings of variable content and density. | Several hundred sorting trials resulting from six passes per day through the 27 cards have been carried out, the goal to date being delineation of the twelve low density target cards from the pencil (6) and blank (9) cards, The nunbered envelopes containing the target material, sealed and specially secured by the sponsor, are randomized before each trial and placed inside non-numbered opaque envelopes before being presented to the subject for sorting. Statistical analysis of the results and comparison with the key (unknown to the client) will be carried out after completion of the experimental series. Approved For Release 2000/08/1 0: CIA-RDP96-00787R0001 00010001-1
SG1D SG1I SG1I SG1I ‘ Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 B. Basic Research 1. Testing Program During the first month of this program, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) instrument was administered by Po SG1l of ee to three subjects screened in other programs as being gifted in the area of paranormal perception. They are Mr. Patrick H. Price, screened for remote viewing ability, Mrs. Hella Hammid, screened for EEG correlates to remote stimuli, and Mr. Duane Elgin, screened for high scoring response to a random target generator, Further in-depth interviewing of the first two subjects was carried out by preparation by Pe = will be available to the contract BxEAtighens technical representatives when completed. On the basis of discussion with technical representative, Po SRI representatives have consulted with a number of Bay Area neurophysiologists concerning administration of the Halstead: Reitan (H-R) Neuropsychology Test Battery. Those contacted include Dr. Karl Pribram of the Stanford Medical School, Dr. Robert Ornstein of ‘the Langley-Porter Neuropsychiatric Clinic, and Dr. Donald Lim of the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Palo Alto, To date satisfactory arrangements for administration of the H-R instrument have not yet been made, as only the latter facility has personnel experienced in its administration, but not ordinarily available for subcontracted consulting. The three individuals named above have, however, agreed to help locate indians an appropriate individual or facility to carry out such testing so no difficulty is anticipated in meeting this requirement. ; Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1
cs Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 A measure of the visual acuity of one subject (P.P,) was obtained utilizing one of the instruments available in the optics group of the Electronics and Bioengineering Laboratory of SRI. The measurement method involves forced-choice discrimination on the part of the subject between alternate zero and finite-contrast grating images, for each of a number of spatial-frequency gratings. (See Appendix IL.) The system, which is automated, tracks and records the subject's forced-choice responses to yield a curve of threshold (75% correct choice) contrast sensitivity as a function of spatial frequency. As might be expected, higher contrast is required at the low and high frequency tails of the distribution, as compared with the middle range, to discriminate between grating and uniform images, The purpose of the test with regard to our program was to determine whether a subject possessing an unusual ability to view remote stimuli also possessed an unusual visual acuity response in a threshold-determining instrument, either because of unusual acuity in the ordinary sense, or through the use of an extraordinary ability to discriminate between a target and a blank under conditions of vanishingly-small information content. The resultant curve lay within the range of expected human variation indicating no unusual response activity. 2. Measurement Program A 10-channel polygraph facility under the direction of Dr. Jerry Lukas of the Sensory Sciences Research Center has been brought into the program and certain functions tailored to our specification. The facility will be used initially to monitor GSR, blood flow (plethysmograph), and EEG activity of subjects carrying out tasks ‘involving perception -of remote stimuli. For our purposes, the display of raw data has been augmented by a computer program which has been Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R00010001 0001-1
Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 written and debugged to provide on-line 5-second averages of EEG activity in the theta, alpha, and beta bands. Discussions are now in progress on experimental protocols to be employed in the utilization of this facility. EEG data taken prior to this progran, but unanalyzed, has been subjected to analysis in an effort to determine whether a particular protocol was a viable instrument for defining correlates of remote perception, The description of the experiment and the results of the analysis is given in the EEG section of a paper submitted for publication to Nature, given here as Appendix I. In an effort to determine the effects of motivation on paranormal functioning, the following test procedure has been initiated, One subject (P.P.) has completed 7075 trials on guessing the state of a four-stage electronic random target generator without monetary reward being associated with the scoring, and is now repeating the series wit! a monetary reward scaled to scoring, Upon completion of the series, the results will be analyzed to determine whether the difference betwe-1 scoring under the two conditions is significant. The reward system, shown in Table -1, is scaled linearly with difficulty. Table 1 REWARD SYSTEM FOR SCORING ON 25-TRIAL RUN, P=1/4 PER TRIAL Nr. hits/25-trial run,N Prob. of at least N hits Reward Bist 10 | : 0.071 $1 11 0.030 2 1200 0.010 5 13 . 0.0034 12 14 0.00092 | 35 5 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001 -1
Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 INFORMATION TRANSMISSION UNDER CONDITIONS OF SENSORY SHIELDING Russell Targ Harold Puthoff Electronics and Bioengineering Laboratory Stanford Research Institute Menlo Park, California Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 Boe nei
aty Approved For Release 2000/08/10: CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001 -1 FIGURE CAPTIONS l. Target pictures: and responses drawn by Uri Geller under shielded conditions. 2. Computer drawings and responses drawn by Uri Geller. a. Computer drawing stored on video display b. Computer drawing stored in computer memory only c. Computer drawing stored on video display with zero intensity 3. Occipital EEG spectra, 0 to 20 Hz, for one subject (H.H.) acting as receiver, showing amplitude changes in the 9 - 11 Hz band as a function of strobe frequency. Three cases: 0, 6, and 16 flashes per \ second (12 trial averages). Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1
ao Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 INTRODUCTION In this paper we present results of experiments suggesting the existence of one or more perceptual modalities through which individuals obtain information about their environment, wherein this information is not presented to any known sense. Such perceptual abilities are often considered to be paranormal. The literature in the field’ > coupled with our own observations have led us to conclude that such abilities can be studied under laboratory conditions. The phenomena we have investigated most extensively pertain to the ability of certain individuals to describe graphical material or remote scenes shielded against ordinary perception. In addition, we also performed pilot studies to determine if electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings might indicate perception of remote happenings even in the absence of correct overt responses. In these experiments we concentrated on what. we considered to be our primary responsibility--namely, to resolve under conditions as unambiguous as possible the basic issue of whether a certain class of paranormal perception phenomena exists. Therefore, we conducted our experiments with sufficient control, utilizing visual, acoustic, and electrical shielding, to ensure that all conventional paths of sensory input were blocked. At all times we were vigilant in the design of our experiments to take measures to prevent sensory leakage and to prevent deception, whether intentional or unintentional, on the part of our subjects. Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1
Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 The overall goal of our research program ts the determination of the laws underlying these phenomena. That is, our goal is not just to catalog interesting events, but rather to uncover patterns of cause-effect rela- tionships that Lend themselves to analysis and hypothesis in the forms with which we are familiar in scientific study. The results presented here constitute a first step toward that goal, in that we have established under known conditions a data base from which departures as a function of physical and psychological variables can be studied in future work. in this paper we describe three related experiments which we consider to represent a single ability exhibiting different rates of information transmission. First, we conducted experiments with Mr. Uri Geller in which we examined his ability, while located in an electrically shielded room, to reproduce target pictures drawn by experimenters located at remo locations. Second, we conducted double-blind experiments with two individuals, Mr. Ingo Swann and Mr. Pat Price, in which we measured their ability to describe remote outdoor scenes many miles from their physical location. Finally, we conducted preliminary tests using electroencephalo- grams (EEG), in which subjects were asked to perceive whether a remote light was flashing, and to determine whether a subject could perceive the presence of the light, even if only at a noncognitive level of awareness. REMOTE PERCEPTION OF GRAPHIC MATERIAL We describe here a series of experiments in paranormal perception with a 27 year old Israeli subject, Uri Geller. In preliminary testing Mr. Geller apparently demonstrated an ability to reproduce simple pictures 2 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 Bipihiange-
a Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 (line drawings) which had been drawn and placed in opaque sealed envelopes which Mr. Geller was not permitted to handle. However, since each of the targets was known to at least one experimenter in the room with Mr. Geller, it was not possible on the basis of the preliminary testing to discriminate between Mr. Geller's direct perception of envelope contents and perception via some mechanism involving the experimenters, whether paranormal or subliminal. Therefore, an experimental study was undertaken to examine the phenomenon under conditions specifically designed to eliminate all conventional information channels, overt or subliminal. This was accomplished blaege by separating Mr. Geller from both the target material and anyone knowledgeable of the target material, as in the recent experiments by Musso and Granero. The first part of the study consisted of a series of thirteen separate drawing experiments carried out over a seven day period. The thirteen- experiment data set constitutes the entire set of consecutive experiments carried out in the time available for the study, with no experiments deleted. The protocol for the experiments was as follows: At the beginning of the experiment either Mr. Geller or the experimenters entered a shielded room so that from that time forward Mr. Geller was at all times visually, acoustically, and electrically shielded from personnel and material at the target location. Only following Mr. Geller's isolation from the experimenters was a target chosen and drawn, a procedure designed to eliminate pre- experiment cueing. The method of target selection involved random procedures, such as randomly opening a dictionary and selecting the first word describing an ob‘ject that could reasonably be drawn. Furthermore, 3 . Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1
ee ag 1? Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 in order to eliminate the possibility of pre-experiment target forcing, Mr. Geller was kept ignorant as to the identity of the person selecting Lhe target and as to the method of target selection. Mr. Geiler's task was then to reproduce with pen on paper the line drawing being generated by the experimenters at the target location. Following a period of effort ranging from a Few minutes to half an hour, Mr. Geller either passed (when he did not feel confident) or indicated he was ready to submit a drawing to the experimenters, in which case the drawing was collected before Mr. Geller was permitted to see the target. In order to prevent sensory cueing of the target information, Experiments 1 through 10 were carried out using a shielded room in SRL's facility for EEG research. The degree of acoustic and visual isolation provided for this experiment is that afforded by a double-walled steel room, locked by means of an inner and outer door, each of which is secure. with a refrigerator-type. locking mechanism. The person inside the room is continuously monitored by means of a one-way audio monitor. The target picture was never discussed by the experimenters after the picture was drawn or brought near the shielded room. In our detailed examination of the shielded room and the protocol used in these experiments, no sensory Leakage has been found. The conditions and results for the ten experiments carried out in the shielded room are displayed in Table 1. As indicated in the Table, all experiments, except Experiments 4 and 5, were conducted with Mr. Geller closeted inside the shielded room. In Experiments 4 and 5, the procedure was reversed--i.e., the target was located inside the shielded room, with Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000100010001-1 Shia
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