REVISED 5/27/80
April
1980 ^
Final Report
Covering the Period from
1 May 1979 to 31 March 1980
SPECIAL ORIENTATION TECHNIQUES
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L
J
OBJECTIVE
(U)
The objectives of
this n™
tnis Program are
th#»
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'-•
th. orientation of m..«T
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I—
leVelS *
es tabllshm3nt of
IndIVldUalS *°—
° enlaree the popuiation
lndlvlduils
,re 1227
.
proccdures
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II
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
(U)
A.
Basic Program Structure
(u)
*
In this report we present results and assessments
of a one-year
program for the optimization of remote viewing with*
^"^selected
individuals.
The objective of this program was
to familiarize these
individuals with the
SRI remote viewing protocols,
to produce enhanced
levels
of ability,
and to establish screening tests and procedures
for
enlarging the population from which such individuals are selected.
(U)
For the past seven
years
SRI
International has been investigating
a human perceptual/processing ability called remote viewing
(RV).
This
is
the subject matter of
the
current
study, and
it pertains
to the
acquisition and description,
by mental means,
of information blocked from
ordinary perception by distance or shielding and generally considered
to
be secure from such access
.
I
j At the start of this program,
six individuals were
choser^
"
'
j to participate in an RV technology transfer.
With the exception of one of the
six who had participated in an ESP study
several
years earlier,
these participants when selected were inexperienced
with regard to paranormal perception in general, and RV in particular.
A variety of different training protocols were examined with the goal
of
helping the participants
familiarize themselves with the SRI
RV techniques.
Formal assessment and transfer series were
carried out with each of
the
six participants,
in which they were asked to use mental imagery processes
to describe distant geographic locations
(bridges,
roads, buildings,
etc.),
hidden 35-mm slides
of
similar sites, and objects
placed in a controlled-
access
location.
Several other information series were carried out.
These
are all described
in
later sections
of this report.
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(U)
Four of the six participants each produced results
that de-
parted significantly from chance expectation in assessment series
that
were formally judged by very strict
criteria.
The other two produced
results
in the assessment series that were also suggestive of paranormal
perception.
Overall,
this result constitutes highly significant per-
-5
formance
(p
= 4 X 10
,
or odds
of one in 25,000 of such
a result occurring
by chance).
I We are including in this introduction one illustrative example
of an RV trial for
a real-time San Francisco Bay Area outdoor target.
The viewer,
No.
372, who contributed this
data, produced a mixture of
responses,
some excellent and some noncorresponding,
in his two series
at
SRI.
Several
of his
descriptions were among the best obtained in the
program,
and his overall consistency in performance resulted
in both
of
his
individual
series reaching statistical significance.
(U)
Current and proposed programs are directed at training partici-
pants
to bring their RV ability under more
conscious
control, and to
learn
to recognize and overcome the factors that
limit RV reliability.
These
limiting
factors
center around the generation of erroneous
data by the
viewer from
hi,s memory and imagination.
An example of
the successful
resolution of such noise
is
the following.
(U)
The viewer was
closeted with an interviewer in the
laboratory
at
SRI
to await
the target team's arrival
at
their destination.
The
target was the Stanford Art Museum on the Stanford campus
.
The viewer
made
several tentative outline sketches of different shapes
that
he said
were "associated with the face of
a building."
Finally,
he made
a
careful
perspective drawing of the building he was visualizing.
A photograph of
the target
is shown in Figure
1(a), and
the viewer’s drawing
is shown for
comparison in Figure
1(b).
The viewer's narrative described
the
face
of
the building as follows:
"There
is
a white and black pattern,
a white
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and black striped pattern."
...
"it's
like an Inverted rectangle, with a
square fastened to the back,
or a rectangle
laid down behind it."
"Like
two buildings
in one.
One building."
"I have the sense
that there
is
dirt
by the walls
"
He went on to talk about trees,
flowers, and
bicycles,
all of which
can be found directly in front
of the
target
building.
Task Summary
(U)
(U)
In the following we briefly summarize results
of the various
perceptual tasks that were undertaken:
*
^ ^
Bay Area Target
Site Remote Viewing .
In the
Phase One
activities
, six RV trials with local San Francisco Bay Area
sites
as targets were
carried out with each of the six
viewers.
In these six series, four of the viewers each
produced results
that were independently significant
(p
*' 0.05),
making the series
as a whole strongly
significant
(p = 4 X 10“5
;
odds of one
in 25,000).
•
(0)
Remote Viewing of 35-mm Slides
.
These trials
were
carried out under varying conditions for five
viewers
in Phase Two.
One viewer, who generated
significant results in Phase One, was again independently
significant
in his description of distant slides.
A
second viewer, also producing significant results
in
Phase One,
produced drawings in Phase Two that were
formally judged to have significant
correlations with
the slide targets, although his verbal material did not.
A third viewer was asked to describe slides before they
were chosen,
that would
be shown to him at
a
later time.
His results were suggestive of success
(p = 0.1)
but
not
statistically significant.
Similar trials with two other
viewers were also encouraging. but. nonsignificant.
-
-femote Vlewlng lnto
gj
/Area
.
A viewer who was
successful in the slide viewing trials also carried out
a
series using extended remote viewing, in which he spent
more than an hour on each of six attempts
to describe
objects held in
_j location,*
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C.
Report Organization
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In Section
III we describe the SRI RV protocols, including
results from the past,
and our expectations
for the present program.
We
also discuss
the screening procedures used to select viewers and the
judging procedures used
to evaluate the results of the investigations
carried
out
in the current program.
(U)
In Section
IV we describe the first phase of the study,
in
which we systematically carried out RV trials with the participants
to
obtain baseline data from each under similar experimental
conditions.
I ^In Section V we present
the exploratory work carried out
in
Phase Two in an effort
to extend
the repertoire
of RV tools available __
)
\
(U)
Our conclusions
and recommendations are presented in Section VI.
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VI
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
(U)
I-— in this report we have presented the results and assessment*
of a one-year program for the optimization of remote vising with
,
j
selected individuals.
To meet the objectives
of the program .e have
familiarized these individuals with the SRI RV protocol;
pursued
the
development
of enhanced levels of RV ability through exposure to several
different orientation/training strategies, and established screening
tests
and. procedures for enlarging the population from which such in-
dividuals: are selected.
I
|Our principal observation in working with the six^
i
,
•
K1o
ov-t Hpnce for remote viewing
volunteers
is
that we have found
considerab
functioning among
them.
In the basic local-site RV-familiarization .ash
(Phase-One study)
,
four
of
the six participants produces results that
were individually statistically significant
<p < 0.05),
rendering the
.
-
f
_
a v
i o
or odds
of one in
series strongly significant as
a whole
(p -
25,000).
(An entire summary of program data
is shown In Table
5.)
,
- A second observation from that
study
is
that in general,
there
.
.
,
+0 trial for
a given viewer than there
is
is
more variability from trial
to trial
between the viewers themselves,
^ere are
no viewers
in the group who
have not
shown some evidence for remote viewing, even though some of
their individual series
may
not have reached the
p < 0.05
level of
departure from chance expectation.
K
.
thmse four series exceeded this requirement by
M magnitude
, reaching significance
at
the
p - 0.003
level or better.
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probability
or
obtaining
result
by
chance,
p
£
0.05
is
accepted
standard
threshold
for
labeling
a
result
significant,
that
is,
non-chance.
Clearly
significant,
but
difficult
to
obtain
precise
probability
value.
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\ With regard to screening:
(1)
The individuals
chosen to parti cipate in the program
were pre-screenedi
^ from a population of
250 potential candidates, using broad personality
profile guidelines recommended by SRI, with final
selection determined on the basis of interview by the
SRI project
leaders
(R.
T. and H.
P,).
The
fact
that
the overall study was successful
lends support
to the
effectiveness
of
this initial screening-by-profile
procedure
.
(2)
The details of
the results
of the program indicate that
a half dozen local-site RV trials
may constitute a
meaningful screening- by-performance procedure to
separate the more reliable from the
less reliable
viewers,
in order for screening- by-performa nee
to be
successful,
it
is necessary that
the perfornance of
a viewer be relatively consistent.
We find that
those
individuals who were
the most successful
in the Phase-
One trials, were also the most successful
in Phase-Two,
even though different remote viewing tasks were pursued.
Of
the four successful viewers
in Phase-One,
two produced
significant results and one near-significant
(the fourth
was
not available
for the Phase-IVo study).
The two
viewers from Phase—One
that were
least successful there
(not reaching significance) again did not reach signifi-
cance
in Phase-Two.
Although the sample is too small
to
be definitive,
it appears
that the Phase-One local-
site RV series
itself offers evidence of constituting
a
useful screening-by-performance procedure.
P
‘
The data indicating that
a viewer
can describe an individual
slide as
it
is
shown on a screen shows that targeting on high-resolution
transient
targets
(charts,
maps,
etc.)
is
not
out
of the question.
This,
coupled with our findings
that
a viewer may be able to describe and identify
alphabet
letters
is
a most encouraging development, and one deserving
of
further work.
Extension of the RV process
to include high-resolution
material, especially with a reading ability, would constitute
a significant
breakthrough
!
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\ Certain of the individual responses
in the FRV
(future remote
viewing) series, both with slides and with
local sites
as targets,
appeared to give striking evidence of contact with the target.
However,
the trial-to-trial reliability was
low and no series reached statistical
significance.
Therefore,
although individual results were encouraging,
no definitive statement
can be made on the
basis
of this short
study.
Given
its
obvious applications potential,
should its existence
be capable
of unambiguous verification,
we consider it
a high-priority item for
further exploration.
A In the extended remote viewing
(ERV) trials
a viewer was
able
in each trial
of
the series
to identify significant elements
of an object
placed
in various
locations^
\
In these experiments
the
remote viewer worked alone over
extended periods
of time
(up to three hours).
At
a minimum,
the good
results
indicate that the RV process
is
not
so fragile that
it
must
be
carried
out under rigidly-specified conditions,
since in this
case an
alternative
style was
in use and the results
continued to
be reliable.
Further work would
be required,
however,
before
a definitive comparison
of
RV and ERV could
be made.
* Finally,
the encouraging results
obtained in the CRV
(coordinate
remote
viewing) trials
indicates
that
comparable accuracy and reliability
can be expected from experienced viewers
targeting either on the basis
of
a beacon person at
the
target,
or on the basis
of geographical
latitude
and
longitude alone.
As
a by-product
of
the CRV study, which involved
the use
of special procedures
being developed
in another program for
reliability enhancement,
the high-quality output provided additional
confirmation as
to
the effectiveness of certain new approaches
being
taken with regard to monitor/viewer interaction and
control of the RV
environment
.
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\
J T0 take advantage of the most recent developments in remote
viewing, and to achieve the goal of continuing to develop remote viewing
|
, we strongly recommend further development
of
capabilities
in the following areas:
•
Applications
of Remote Viewing .
A training procedure has
been developed that appeares
to greatly increase both the
accuracy and reliability of remote viewing by coordinates.
This technique should continue to
be examined, and applied
to targets_
•
Effects
of Feedback .
An extensive examination should be made
of the necessity for providing feedback in remote viewing
trials.
A systematic variation in the presence or absence
of feedback should, be used to determine the importance of
this
factor.
^
*
Target Demarcation .
Coordinate remote viewing experiments
should be carried out
in which the target
is demarcated by
means
of various types of coordinatesl
y
\
This should "be
done in order to
discover the part
piS^ecTby the target coordinate in
determining remote viewing accuracy.
*
Audio Analysis
.
In an effort
to separate correct from
incorrect
data available from taped subject descriptions
of remote viewing target
sites,
the use
of
speech and
audio analysis techniques should be investigated as
a tool
to provide selective editing.
Ihis should include semantic
analysis,
in which analysis of written transcripts are
carried out
to look for variations
in grammar,
style,
or
vocabulary to help separate correct from incorrect statements
in the RV transcript.
Tracking
.
Further effort
should be pursued to perfect the
RV process whereby,
instead of demarcating a
location to
obtain a target description,
one provides
a target description
and asks for
location'
t
•
*
>
*
%
SRI has under development certain
strategies
involving FRV feedback,
computer averaging
of
multiple
trials,
and so forth, which appear from pilot
efforts
to hold promise.
Spatial Resolution .
A study should be carried out
to
determine
the extent
to which
it
is possible
to aid
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IV
CONCLUSIONS
(U)
I
A protocol
has been developed
to address the relative evaluation
portion
of
the overall
RV transcript
assessment problem.
As
a demonstra-
tion
of
the technique,
we provide
in the following Appendix an analysis
of
a series
of four remote viewings
that were performed
as
calibrations
*
this
series
the
remote viewing products were of
relatively high quality,
but nonetheless
require
a sensitive technique
to differentiate because of
the
similarity
of
the
targets
and,
hence,
of the descriptions,
(The series was
chosen
primarily for that
reason.)
Application of
the assessment technique
resulted
in the correct blind matching
(highest
scoring in matches versus
cross matches)
of
three of
the four.
(U)
The material
in this document
thus
constitutes
an instruction
manual
or protocol
for application
of
a step-by-step procedure for quan-
titative assessment
of
the relative target /transcript
correlations
of
a
series
of
transcripts matched
into
a series
of
targets.
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*
viewers
in learning to read hidden and distant printed
material
that
is blocked from ordinary perception.
•
Temporal Resolution .
An ERV effort should
be pursued
to determine the accuracy of remote viewing as
a function
of time
for future targets.
•
ELF Experiments
.
Since one
of the prevalent
hypotheses
for paranormal perception requires the use of an ELF
electromagnetic carrier
, we suggest carrying out
definitive experiments
to examine
this hypothesis
(e.g.,
by using ELF generators
as beacons),
and to
provide analyses
correlating data from our past data
base with the daily record of geophysical parameters
known to affect ELF propagation.
•
Theoretical Studies
.
Modern physics
offers several
mathematical descriptions
of reality that may also
prove
to
be testable descriptions
of paranormal
perception in general,
and remote viewing in particular.
We recommend work with
leading physicists who have
agreed
to consult
for
SRI on these theoretical problems,
in an effort
to develop
a physical understanding
of
the
phenomena
we observe
in the
laboratory and
in the
field,
and to apply this
knowledge to improve remote viewing
functioning
.
•
Technical
Meetings
,
SRI proposes
to host private quarterly
conferences
to bring together selected U.S.
scientists
and government representatives who are
concerned with the
technical
issues
in psychoenergetic research.
\
,
Successful pursuit
of the above priority items
could
be expected
to result
in an increased reliability and breadth of utility of the
RV
function
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