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(u)
tend to imply that subjects should be sought out from groups that have members with superior
verbal
abilities.
(U)
Other candidate populations might include groups whose members exhibit
superior
skills
in drawing,
draftsmanship,
or other visual
abilities.
This approach
is suggested
because pictorial representation
is another rich modality for debriefing the RV signal.
(S/NF)
A third approach might center on drawing from
populations whose members
excel
at pattern recognition or
in the ability
to discern
a tenuous
signal
line
in
a noisy background.
Such groups might
include Photo
Interpreters
(Pi's)
or other Intelligence
specialists,
for
example.
Also subsumed under this category are groups whose members
show
an aptitude for
institutional decision-making— i.e.,
what might be
referred
to
in the vernacular as
"playing hunches
. "
Such groups might
include,
for example,
police detectives,
businessmen who make consistently
correct decisions
in risky or problematical ventures,
or
individuals with
a special proclivity
for
locating oil.
(U) These are but a representative few of the kinds of populations that might
be targeted for screening initially.
It
is anticipated that other promising populations will emerge
empirically as the screening system
is deployed on a pilot basis.
e.
(U) Methodology and Deployment
(U)
Research issues pertaining to screening methodology and deployment
fall
into two principal categories:
(1) manipulation of intra-session variables for arriving at the most
meaningful and efficient screening procedure, and (2) standardization of inter—session guidelines
for deploying that procedure in a variety of settings.
The
first area focuses primarily on the most
profitable
use
of
the
hardware,
while
the
second
area
emphasizes
standardization
across
screening sessions.
(U)
Primary research
issues concerning the design of the optimal screening
package include
(1) determination of feedback conditions
(e.g., whether there should be a “no
feedback”
target in each screening session)
,
(2)
identification of the optimal number of targets
per session and their randomization
(e.g., whether targets should be presented on a gradient of
complexity, or whether they should be randomly selected), and (3) determination of the analysis
techniques to be employed
(e.g., forced-choice guess by the subject versus detailed verbal and
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(U)
visual assessment by an independent
analyst).
Recent developments
in the uses of fuzzy
set
theory and
cluster analysis show promise
for affording “on-line”
analysis
of RV on National
Geographic Magazine targets.
(U)
In the second major area of investigation, several preliminary guidelines
have emerged with respect to optimizing //Ucr-session standardization.
First, screening settings
must be chosen
with the aim
of
mitigating
a
subject’s performance
anxiety:
a one-on-one
private or semi-private session with a trained monitor
is indicated.
Second,
a series of general
instructions must be devised that serve to inform the naive subject as to what the RV task entails.
These instructions must be specific enough to elicit RV performance without biasing the subject
towards any particular RV technology.
Third, monitors must be thoroughly conversant with a
standard set of screening procedures, in order to minimize idiosyncratic variability in such areas
as feedback to the subject.
Monitors may be required,
for example,
to memorize scripts that
dictate the nature of subject/monitor interactions
for each target.
Scripts might also serve the
function of providing the framework for the systematic elicitation of RV data along a number of
predetermined dimensions—e.g., visual, conceptual, functional, depending on the nature of the
target material.
Fourth, a standardized questionnaire must be devised to address psychological
parameters.
It would include a section for standard biographical data and a section for questions
drawn from the MBTI and the Psychophysical Research Laboratory’s PIF.
The purpose of the
form would be
to
investigate,
across
a
large
population,
whether
psychological
self-report
correlates with RV
ability.
If such
correlations were obtained,
then the
questionnaire might
profitably be used as an
initial pre-screening device.
(U)
All
of
the
research
issues
presented
in
this
discussion
will
be
most
profitably determined and
refined from
actually using the system.
If possible,
the optimal
approach would
entail
successive
pilot deployments
of the
screening
device
in
a
variety
of
settings.
20.
(U)
Objective F, Task 8—Host Physiology Conference
(S/NF)
On
28 July 1987,
SRI
International hosted
a classified
physiology conference.
In attendance were
D.
Arthur,
Ph.D.
,
and
E.
Flynn,
Ph.D from Los Alamos National Laboratory;
S.
Kornguth,
Ph.D.
from the
Neurology Department
of
the University of Wisconsin;
R.
Murray,
M.D.
,
Chairman,
the Department
of Medicine,
Michigan State University;
R.
Dickhaut,
Spectra Research
Institute;
M.
Hecker,
Ph.D.,
SRI
International,
— ^rrncT
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(S/NF)
T.
Piantanida,
Ph.D.,
SRI
International,
E.
May,
Ph.D.
,
SRI
International;
and Colonel
P.
McNelis,
DSW,
USAMRDC
.
(S/NF)
The goal
of
the conference was
to determine
the proper
direction for
investigat ing possible correlates
to psychoenergetic
functioning,
and
to recommend specific experiments
to search for
correlates.
The primary emphasis was on neurophysiology
.
Attendee
comments
are available upon request.
(S/NF) After an overview of
the Enhanced Human Performance
Investigation project by May,
the discussions centered upon metabolic
measurements
(PET)
and possible physiological
indicators
of
psychoenergetic functioning with visual evoked response.
(S/NF)
Other topics
that were discussed were other possible
physiological
areas
of
investigation,
including technical voice analysis.
It was generally decided,
however,
that except
for
PET,
and certain
button-pressing experiments,
physiological correlates
to
the
subtle
forms
of psychoenergetic functioning would be difficult
to
find.
(S/NF)
As
a direct result
of
the conference,
the Los Alamos group
will use visual evoked response techniques with the MEG
to replicate
earlier successful experiments demonstrating physiological responses
to
a
remote
stimulus.
(U) A number of the participants responded to the conference in letter form.
These
letters are contained in Appendix B.
21.
(U)
Objective F, Task 9— Neuropsychological Assessment
(U)
During FY
1986
exploratory
work
was
begun
to
attempt
the
discovery
of
neuropsychological
correlates
of psychoenergetic
function.
As
part
of that
effort,
Dr. Ralph
Kiernan of the Stanford Medical School developed a battery of tests designed to test the function
of the
frontal lobes which he hypothesized to be involved
in psychoenergetic
function.
As
a
follow-on
to
his
theoretical
formulation
and
hypothesis
generation,
Dr.
Kiernan
tested
subjects who had participated in previous RV and Search/Dowsing studies.
His test battery was
composed mainly of scales from Guilford’s measure of intelligence, and scales were combined to
give a score
for productive ideation,
a component directly related to positive frontal function.
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(U)
Analysis of the results showed evidence that the factor of productive ideation was
partially
related
to
measures
of psychoenergetic
function.
Subjects who showed
significant
computer dowsing ability in the time condition of the Search/Dowsing study showed a tendency
to have higher scores
for productive
ideation while
subjects
scoring
significantly
in the space
condition showed a tendency to have lower productive ideation scores.
(U) Two
groups
of remote
viewers were
tested:
(1)
a group
consisting
of
four
experienced viewers who had shown significant remote viewing ability in previous experiments,
and (2) a group of novice viewers from the FY 1986 training program.
Two of the experienced
viewers
(009 and 372)
received the
highest productive
ideation scores
of
all
the
individuals
tested.
The nine novice viewers were ranked in order of performance on the last six sessions of
the novice training.
The best novice viewer had one of the lowest productive ideation scores of
all the persons tested.
The other eight showed a pattern of increasing productive ideation scores
as average measures of RV function increased.
(U) The
scores
on
two
of
the
tests,
Sketches
and
Possible
Jobs,
showed
high
correlation with the
total scores on
all ten tests.
Since these tests require about
15 minutes to
perform and can be done in a group setting,
it may be possible to use them as part of a screening
effort.
22.
(U)
Objective F, Task 10—Investigate RV of Analytical Information
(U)
In the pilot phase of the exploratory analytics program, we have continued to
research some of the fundamental mechanisms of RV.
The goal of these analytic experiments
is
to identify the internal mental processes and other variables that enhance and/or inhibit psychic
functioning
in forced-choice RV.
We used one
viewer.
As during FY
1986,
the FY
1987
experiments have been long distance; Viewer 002 was in New York City, and the experimenters
were at SRI International in Menlo Park,
California.
(U)
During the
first half of FY
1987, we conducted
a
series of approximately 300
trials of the forced-choice format where, before declaring his response, Viewer 002 stated how
he
felt about his contact with the target.
Specifically,
for each
trial, he declared one of three
conditions:
(1) “yes,” he had contact with the target,
(2) “no,” he did not have contact with the
target, or
(3)
he was unsure whether or not he had contact with the target. For these trials,
the viewer and an experimenter communicated by telephone.
Targets were objects, Zener cards,
or words or numerals written on 3” x 5” cards.
The experimenter, who worked in an office with
a computer,
chose two possible
targets and described them
to the
viewer.
Using
a random
number generator (RNG), the experimenter selected one of the two possible targets for the
trial,
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