f
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June
1974
MKMORAUDUM FOR TiE KiCORD
SUBJECT
SRI Trip Report:
17-18 June 1974
1«
Background and Salary u
|
I visited SRI on
17’ and
18 June
19?4,
principally for the purposes
of:
examining the criteria used
in
the
selection of paranormal subjects
and controls;
determining precisely what arrange-
ments had been made
for examining the subjects in the
'basic research'
context;
establishing procedures
for the reporting of all relevant data
to
us;
and discussing
such other
'basic'
and
'applied'
research issues
as
seemed appropriate.
We met
for
about
eight, hours with Mssrs Jones,
Puthoff and Targ oh 17 June and for one hour
with
the latter two on 18 June.
Despite what appeared to be conceptual problems
on the part of Puthoff and Targ,
relating largely to the kinds
of rigorous research
disciplines which we were espousing
as essential for the project,
the discussions
were business-like and well-focused and seemed to be useful for all concerned.
2.
Selection and Categorization of Subjects
. After five months of effort
SRI
has
selected only five of the nine
subjects:
the
three
super-stars,
one
of the three
mid-stars and one
of. the three controls.
We
stressed
that significant and useful
the basis of
research could commence only after they'd made definitive selections on/specific
and consistent criteria.
One of the problems
here, seems
to be
the
fact
that Puthoff
and Targ have been more interested
in the testing and enhancing of psychic powers
than in the establishment of rigorous research procedures --with the
consequence that,
as they've perceived ostensible improvements
in the psychic powers of their
'controls
they've tended
to slide them up into the psychic categories.
Given their basic belie
that everyone has psychic abilities,
this could be
a never-ending process.
We stress
that we'd like
to see all nine
subjects designated by the
end of July and they undent
to do
so.
We
then spent several hours defining the
three categories and specifying
tile pre-selection
tests and criteria used in screening the subjects.
a.
Screenin g Tests and Criteria
. All subjects will have been tested on
five
'paranormal'
tasks.
Those tasks,
together with
tile related protocols
ar.d
criteria,
were defined as
follows
.
(l) The Random
[lumbers Machine
( testing
' clairvoyance
' )
:
The basic
screening test will consist of 1000
trials
(2'j trials per run,
8 runs per day
for
clays)
and,
though many subjects have gone
well, beyond 1000
(.rials already
ORI will report
to
us
data and
' p
'
values on our nine
subjects just on
the
firs'
10°0
.
I" the context of their KARA project over ISO people have been
tested on this machine;
the data
(copies of which will
he
sens
to us)
are new
be-in;; Analyzed
and
ihe eriterj:
ion selection
as
'jv.jTaic
performance level
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this analysis.
The present
fu-:
-6
will, soon
be established on
the
basis of
this
is
that criteria will be
on the order of 10
(2) oon or Remote Viewing
(testing for
telepathy and/or clairvoyance )
;
The basic
screening
test will consist of 6 trials
(lasting about one-half hour
each),
one per day;
criteria for psychic performance level will soon be
estab-
lished but,
in any case,
it was
agreed
that results would have
to be at least
at the
.01 level.
It was also agreed that
a pool of 20 new sites would be used
for each subject;
we also discussed the desirability of replacing used
sites
in
subsequent trials
for each given subject
and,
while no definite agreement was
reached,
it may be that SRI will do
so.
We spent considerable
time discussing
the judging procedures,
the salient points being:
the
same five judges
(all
chosen by Mr Cox and representing
a
'hostile'
to
-friendly-
spread with respect
to paranormal research) will be used on a permanent basis;
each judge works
independently,
is given a list of the sites which were randomly selected for
the subject and copies of his transcripts;
he visits each site and selects
the
best matching transcript;
at the present
time
a plurality vote
(i.e,,
2 or more)
of the judges,
accurately matching 4 (or
5) of the
6 sites,
is considered signif-
icant-but,
as noted, precise criteria will be
specified by SRI in the near
future
.
(3) i^-Remote £tinul£^(£t^
Light)
(
testing for telepathy via psycho -
Eh^lol2Sl£ indicators): The basic screening test will consist of 8 runs,
trialE
P<" 1
1Un ‘
A
s en<iing'
subject
is
exposed
to randomly selected stimulus
(a 16 herz light
for 10 seconds)
or non-stimulus,
with one minute inter-trial
intervals;
the
-test'
subject
is
in a shielded room and,
upon hearing
a
-blip'
signal on the
intercom,
has to call stimulus or non-stimulus;
both subjects
are
being EEG -monitored and
(aside from his
calls)
they are watching for alpha
reduction in the
test subject during the stimulus periods.
Heretofore
SRI
had been averaging only the
"S"
and "NS"
alpha production for comparison
purposes but they will now also average
the inter-trial alpha
for use as
the
subject's base-line.
Criteria
for psychic level performance is now set
at
the
.01 level and will be confirmed by SRI.
( 4 )
Cards
in Envelopes
(testing
for clairvoyance ):
One
run of 10
trials,
otimulu.,
cards
(simple
line drawings of ordinary objects)
selected
randomly and double-blind
from
a pool of
50;
the subject
draws
his responses
and may,
if ho wishes,
supplement
the drawing by written commentary;
his
responses
are scored independently by two judges.
The criteria
for psychic
level performance will be
set
by
Six I but
is now tentatively at
the
.01 level.
^
Tori.
I on
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sc i c ojniii/j
will couciso
oi
u
C/Jic-iioiii'
rmi^
v/ithi
c.l'uci'iititiin.'y
rv it-c
’vrork’
and
'rest'
cycle:;;
during
the
six
'work
periods
the subject
is
instructed,
on
a randomly-selected basis,
to increase or decrease
the
aniplitude
(not
the
frequency)
of the pendulum' s
state.
Considerable
time was
spent discussing
the protocol
in terms
of how one could most accurately measure
states
and effects-
with the consensus being that
it would be best
to compare the last 6 cycles of
the
'work'
period with the
last 6
cycles of the preceding
'rest'
period.
The
tentative criteria
for psychic level performance,
to be confirmed by SRI,
is
two standard deviations on 4 out
of the 6
'work'
periods.
SRI was quite
impressed
by the gradiometer
' s
sensitivity and found
it
a sufficiently useful adjunct
to
the pendulum experiment
to investigate the possibility of acquiring one of
their own; barring that,
they might try to use
SRI's magnetometer.
They had
several anecdotes about two of their subjects'
prowess with this device
(one of
them allegedly having sent the scale soaring off the paper by telephone) but,
not
wanting to be exposed to the subjects, we declined invitations
to observe
experiments
(Note: With respect to all of the above testing,
SRI was informed that— as
far
as our nine ultimate subjects were concerned—we wanted to see all the raw test
scores
and not merely probability statements on the results.)
b. Definition of Subject Categories
. All nine subjects will be submitted
to all five of the above tests.
Their placement
as super-stars, mid-stars
or
controls will be determined on the following basis.
(1) Super Stars
:
Those who "consciously" perform at high
' p
'
values
(e.g.,
lO’6
)
on- at least one of the five
tasks.
(2) Mid Stars
:
Those who are only at chance on the "conscious"
level but
are at high
' p
'
value on the "unconscious"
physiological dimension--! .e .
,
on the
EEG
(and/or GSR,
plethysmograph)
test described
in a(3),
above.
(3)
Controls
:
Those who did not exceed chance within the prescribed
number of trials
on any of the
tasks.
(Note:
Wc stressed,
and SRI agreed,
that
once
a subject
is placed
in
a given
category he
is
to remain in that category for
the duration of
the project—no
matter what apparent increase or decline
of powers they might observe.)
3.
Status of Arrangements
for Examining Subjects
.
We discussed
the critical need
to finalize all
the arrangements and begin processing
at least their
'controls'
through
the entire battery of
tests within
the
next month.
Girt appeared to concur
fully and,
as
a matter of
fact, most
of
the arrangements
do now seem
to be well
in hand;
it
is
now a question
of how
ass.i duousJy
they
follow-up by complet
; ng
the
id-siti fj cation of
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tbeJr subjects and by setting up and observing
.sound procures
for
their processing.
It would appear
that
the will
is
there
(they arc,
perhaps,
even
too optimistic
aeons
the significance of the evidence
that might accrue
from the physical and psychologies
examinations) but
the organization and discipline might
still be lacking.
' m any cas
the
status
is
as
follows.
a.
Psychological and Behavioral Examinations
. Under the white tab
(attac
is
a chart SRI had prepared on the psychological testing
to be performed-showing for
each subject
the
status with respect
to all tests.
Color-coded to reflect the entity
responsible for administering each test,
the lower circle
in each box
(when filled in
signifies that
the arrangements have been made-while
the upper circle
(when filled
in
signifies
that, the test has already been administered to that
subject.
On 17 June Dr
Puthoff visited the Palo Alto Medical Clinic and came back with the
report that,
in
the psych-behavioral field,
they will also be
able
to administer
the following:
lusche
Color Test,
Rorschach,
MMPI,
Omnibus
(we
confirmed that we wanted both KMPI and the
Omnibus), Witkins Field Dependency,
In-Bepth Interviews-and that all the psych testis
done
at PAMC will be administered by one individual and scored blind by another.
Furf
8KL Wl11 admlnister:
Suggestibility Tests,
Flicker-Fusion and,
possibly,
a Signal
Detection Test.
We asked them to prepare
a new Psych-Behavioral matrix sheet-showing
all of the tests definitively agreed upon- and to use
that format
in reporting pregres
with each monthly report.
We also confirmed for them
(which they seemed not to have
realized)
that
|
[would not be doing the WAIS
in the future-but that we would be
content with the WAIS administered by PAMC.
All
in all,
although there are
a
few items
on our original list which have not been satisfied,
this battery of tests and interview
should be adequate for our purposes-particularly since,
after studying all of the
evidence on all subjects,
there's no reason why we couldn't call for a limited number
^o
(soe the blue
tab) SRI
h
b. Medic£l-Rqj£i£al-Sensory dominations / The PAK^m'Sdir^rfuaS
.
all of these examinations,
including:
in-depth medical history interviews;
a thorough
medical examination
(of the periodic checkup
type);
a comp£te/SS work-up;
full blood
and urine analysis;
chromosome
count and analysis;
protein break-down analysis;
eye and
ear examinations,
testing to
each subject's
extreme capability; plotting of entire
visual response
field,
with different
colors;
and they will farm-out
the CUV response
testing
to Stanford
(SRI undertook
to determine
for
us
the details on Stanford's
procedures
and conditions).
Further,
PAMC
is
able
to perform an E.M.I.
brain-scan,
a
low X-ray dosage examination of 6 plains
of the brain,
at an additional cost of $2C0
per subject;
we urged
and they agreed
that
the
KMC
be
done on^
if PAW
. S
cll;3rJLv
indicated
that
it would bo warranted.
The estimated cost
for all of PARC's work
on
each
subject
( i.K d Inal
.
’
•
m
to
;J:900
.
We
stressed
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