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ABSTRACT (U)
Two remote
viewers participated
in an experiment
to determine whether the
overall quality of remote viewing (RV) would be enhanced by a hypnotic trance.
Each viewer
participated
in
16 RV sessions
while
in
trance.
No
significant evidence
of psychoenergetic
functioning was
obtained, and comparisons
with
previous work by
the same
viewers were
therefore rendered moot.
Implications of these results for further research are discussed.
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III RESULTS (U)
f
v*
A.
(U)
Hypnotizability scales
(U) Our
experienced
viewer
(No.
372)
produced
a
score
of
on
the
12-point
hypnotizability
scales, a 92 centile equivalent. Though he was unable to inhibit hand movement
on suggestion,
failed to respond to a hallucinated voice item, and experienced
conflict during
value and meaning alteradons, he produced a deep
state of relaxation, became absorbed
in
imagery processes, was able to regress, performed posthypnotic suggestions, and showed amnesia
and hypermnesia, trance logic, cognitive and role distortion.
Imaginal ability was highly rated
with the
ability to create, manipulate, and experience imagery in
all sensory
fields especially
when the image was positive and productive.
(U) The novice viewer (No.
137) scored a 7 on the hypnotizability scales, a 71
centile
equivalent.
She produced
a deep
state
of relaxation, showed
ability
to
regress and
to be
absorbed
in imagery, performed posthypnotic suggestions, and showed amnesia.
She showed
difficulty altering sensory phenomena, did not demonstrate hypermnesia, trance
logic,
or the
ability for cognitive and role distortion.
Again,
for this viewer imaginal ability was highly rated
with the
ability to create, manipulate, and experience imagery in
all sensory
fields.
B.
(U) RV results
The
results of the independent judge’s rank order
for each RV are shown
in
Table
(U) RANK BY SESSION NUMBER FOR 16 TRIALS
Session No.
Viewer 372
Viewer 137
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The sum of ranks for Viewer No. 372 is 50, with an associated p-value of 0.67.
For Viewer No.
137, the sum is 56, with a p-value of 0.93.
Since neither of these p-values
is
significant,
it
appears
that
there
has
been
no
informau'on
transfer
in
this
experiment.
Comparisons
with previous work by these
viewer’s would be
superfluous,
since
there
is no
significant evidence of
RV.
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IV DISCUSSION (U)
L
RV has been demonstrated to be a weak phenomenon such that success on any
given study^Jannot be expected 100 percent of the time.
The following discussion focuses on
three other possibilities for failure to achieve positive results in this study.
The
first possibility
is that the hypnotic trance was disruptive to the usual RV
processes.
Since each of the viewers had participated in well over 100 previous RV trials, their
particular methods
of producing an RV response
were
relatively
habituated.
The
viewers
received no particular training on how to perform under trance, how the RV experience would
differ while in trance, or extensive practice with hypnosis RV sessions.
It seems reasonable to
conclude that the addition of a training period prior to the taking of experimental data may have
produced more positive results.
^Conversely
it may be that the demands of the RV production process are such
that the trance state
is not at all conducive to producing high-quality RV.
If this
is so, then a
decrease
in performance over time might be expected as the viewers become accomplished
at
trance induction and deepening.
Both viewers showed a tendency in the direction of decreasing
performance as the study progressed
(r = 0.510 with 15 df for viewer # 372, r = 0.348 with 15 df
for viewer # 137).
In the pilot work mentioned above the viewer produced his responses while in
the waking
state using
a
stimulus word
that served
as
a post-hypnotic
suggestion.
Further
experimentation may show this to be the more efficient protocol, since
it dovetails nicely with our
standard stimulus-response method of conducting an RV session.
A second possibility is that the viewers chosen for this study were not the optimal
individuals
for this work.
While ranking relatively high on the
scale of hypnotizibility, these
particular viewers were not hypnotic virtuosos.
Demonstration of an effect using hypnosis may
require the most highly susceptible
subjects, corresponding to a
score of
12 on the Stanford
Hypnotizability Scales.
A third potential source of interference in the hypnosis task could have been
what
is known in the parapsychology literature7 as “displacement."
In
this instance the term
refers to the inability of the viewer to distinguish accurately between elements of the target and
elements of its decoys in the target packet. The division of the target pool into 20 packets of five
was done arbitrarily for simplicity of judging in another experiment.
In prior years a given target
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was randomized with decoys from orthogonal target clusters for judging purposes after the RV
session was concluded instead of before the session.
Displacement into the other targets in the
packet may have occurred, such that the viewer was confused about exactly what constituted the
target. To check this possibility, a new set of decoys for each target was randomly chosen from
orthogonal target clusters and a second judging was performed by a different judge. The second
judging produced marked variability in the ranks assigned and a decline in the sum-of-ranks,
with a p-value for the difference in means between the two judgings of 0.08.
While this result
does not achieve significance at the usual 0.05 level and may be due to judging differences,
it
could also suggest displacement effects.
In
order
to address
these
issues,
future experiments
should be
designed
to
eliminate these poiemial difficulties.
Specifically, an attempt seems warranted to replicate the
results of the successful pilot work mentioned above, where hypnosis was used as a memory aid
and targets were randomized with decoys after the viewing.
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