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EXPERIMENTAL PSI RESEARCH:
IMPLICATIONS FOR PHYSICS
by
H.
E.
Puthoff,
R.
Targ,
E.
C. May
Radio Physics Laboratory
SRI
International
Menlo Park,
California
I
ABSTRACT
Experimental laboratory work continues to provide evidence for the
existence
of so-called psi
processes,
a
class
of interactions
between
consciousness and the physical world as
yet unexplained.
These include
(1)
the acquisition of information not presented to any obvious
sense,
and
(2)
the production of physical effects
not mediated by any obvious
mechanism.
At
SRI we have
concentrated primarily on the former,
inves-
tigating
a phenomenon we
call "remote viewing," the ability of certain
individuals
to access and describe,
by means
of mental processes ^infor-
mation blocked from ordinary perception by distance or shielding.
Our data base
consists
of more than 100 experiments
in the remote viewing
of targets ranging from objects
in nearby light-tight
cannisters
geographic sites
at transcontinental distances, viewed from locations
which include shielded Faraday cages and a submerged submarine.
Data
from these observations
indicate that
models put forward to explain psi
processes
must account
for bit
rates
on the order of
0.1 bits/s, resolu-
tion of approximately
mm,
apparent ineffectiveness
of ordinary electrical
shielding,
and relative insensitivity to distance up to at
least
10,000 km.
Although such phenomena might appear to be in conflict with the
laws
of physics, we anticipate that with further work much of the data will
be accounted for either within the framework of
physics
as presently
understood,
or on the basis
of extrapolations that have been proposed
to account
for other
(non-psi)
data, and that,
conversely,
the psi
data
base may shed
light on some of the
current problems in physics, e.g.,
with regards
to the foundations
of quantum theory.
II
INTRODUCTION
For
the past seven years we have been investigating aspects
of human
perception that appear to fall outside the range of well-understood
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perceptual/processing capabilities.
Of particular interest
is
a human
information-accessing
capability that we
call
"remote viewing."
This
phenomenon pertains
to the ability of certain individuals
to access and
describe,
by means
of mental processes, remote geographical locations up
to several thousand km distant from their physical location given only a
known person on whom to target.
These abilities are developed in several
individuals sufficiently to allow them to describe— often in considerable
detail—geographical
or technical material such as buildings,
roads,
natural formations
,
interior laboratory apparatus
,
and sealed targets
,
along with the real-time activities
of persons
at
the target
site.
The experimental evidence indicates that
(1) although the information
channel
is
imperfect,
the data generated by the remote viewing process
exceeds
any reasonable bounds
of
chance correlation,
and
(2)
the extent
of physical
distance separating the subject from the target
site up to
transcontinental distances
does
not appear to significantly affect the
i
accuracy of perception.
As observed in the laboratory,
the basic phenomenon appears
to cover
a range of subjective experiences variously referred to in the literature
as autoscopy
(in the medical
literature);
exteriorization or disassociation
(psychological literature);
simple
clairvoyance,
traveling clairvoyance,
or out-of-body experience
(parapsychological
literature);
or astral pro-
jection
(occult
literature).
We choose the term "remote viewing"
as
a
neutral descriptive term free from prior associations and bias as to
mechanisms
.
Since the initial publication of
our investigations
of this remarkable
phenomenon,
a number
of replication studies have been carried out
in other
laboratories,
the bulk of which have been successful.7-16
Thus,
it appears
that
the remote viewing function can be elicited under a wide variety of
laboratory conditions.
Ill
REMOTE VIEWING OF LOCAL
(SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA)
TARGET SITES
We begin with a synopsis
of our basic data base
of more than fifty
local remote viewing trials with nine subjects. 8
The general protocol
is
to
closet
a subject with an experimenter at
SRI, and at
a prearranged
time to obtain from the subject
a description of an undisclosed, remote
site being visited
by a target team, one of whose members
is known to the
subject and who thereby constitutes
a target person.
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A #
Experimental Procedure
At the beginning of a trial,
a subject
is
closeted with an
exDerimenter at
SRI to await an agreed-upon start time.
At
e same
a target team is
sent, without
communication with the subject
°g
®X^n
‘
isco
menter remaining
at
SRI,
to a target location somewhere in the San Fran
Bay Area
(-500 square km).
The target
is
determined by random-number
access to a target pool
of sealed travelling orders previously prepare
by an independent experimenter and kept locked in a secure safe.
The
target pool consists
of more than 100 target
locations chosen from
target-rich environment.
During a predetermined viewing period,
typically of
15 mnutes
duration
the subject
is asked to render drawings and describe into a
ape
recorder 'his impressions
of
the target
site being visited by the ou
oun
target team.
The experimenter with the
subject
is kept ignorant
of the
target, and is therefore free to question the subject
to clarify
i
descriptions without
fear
of
cueing,
overt
or
subliminal.
The expen
is
thus
of the double-blind type.
When the target team returns
to SRI following the remote viewing
period, the subject is then taken to the target
site
so that he may obtain
direct feedback.
Following a series
of such trials over a several
ay
period,
a formal blind judging procedure
(described below)
is used to
evaluate the data and quantify the results.
B.
Initial Experimental Series
To give a concrete example, we summarize the results obtained
with the first subject in the local remote viewing series
.
This
subject
(designated here as
SI) participated in nine trials.
Subject
SI
came to
our experiments with a reported history of
spontaneous remote viewing
experiences.
In general,
the subject's ability in these trials to describe
correctly buildings,
docks,
roads,
gardens, and the
like,
including
structural materials,
color, ambience,
and activity-sometimes in great
detail—indicated the functioning of a remote perceptual abili
y.
landmark Hoover Tower target,
for example, was recognized and correctly
named;
a boat marina was described in a consistent narrative that began
with "what
I'm looking at
is
a little boat
jetty or boat dock along the
bay
...," and so forth.
Nonetheless, the descriptions generally contained inaccuracies
as well as correct statements.
A typical example
is indicated by the
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drawing shown in Figure
1,
First,
the
subject correctly described a park-
like area containing
two pools
of water:
one rectangular,
60 X 89
ft
(actual
dimensions
75 X 100 ft);
the other
circular,
diameter 120 ft
(actual
diameter
110 ft).
However,
as
can
be seen from his drawing,
the subject
also included some elements,
such as
the tanks
shown in the upper right,
that are
not present
at
the target
site.
We also note an apparent
left-
right reversal,
often observed in paranormal perception experiments.
Finally,
the subject incorrectly indicated
the function of
the site as water
purification rather than recreational swimming.
Thus we observe essentially
a correct description of
certain basic elements and patterns
coupled with
incomplete
or erroneous
analysis
of function.
This
latter theme emerged
as
a thread which continued throughout
our work and eventually led to uncovering
a possible relationship between
paranormal perception and cerebral functioning,
namely:
that paranormal
functioning may involve specialization characteristic
of
the nonanalytic
part
of
the
brain's
cognitive apparatus, which predominates
in spatial and
other holistic processing,
in contrast
to that
part which predominates
in
1 7— 1
verbal and other analytical functioning,
C.
Judging
of Results
To obtain a numerical evaluation of
the accuracy of
the remote
viewing experiment,
the experimental results were subjected to independent
judging on a blind basis
by an SRI
consultant
not otherwise associated with
this
series.
The response packets, which contained the nine typed unedited
transcripts
of the tape-recorded narratives and associated drawings,
were
unlabeled and presented to
the
judge in a randomly-numbered order.
Working
alone,
the
judge's task was
to visit each target
location in turn and to
blind rank order,
on
a scale
to
(best
to worst
match),
each of
the
nine
transcripts against each target, generating
a
9 X 9 matrix
(see Table
1).
As
a first-order evaluation of
the matrix we consider simply the
number of direct matches
(ones
on the diagonal),
in this
case seven out
of
nine.
The appropriate statistic is derived assuming nonindependent assign-
ment of transcripts
to
target
sites
(as
in guessing
the order
of
a random
sequence
of the digits
one
through nine,
each used once).
The result
(seven out
of nine correctly matched)
is
significant at
p
= 10"^,
A more precise measure of the statistical significance of the
matrix of target /transcript ratings
is given by
a direct-count-of-
permutations method
of great generality. 21
It
is
an exact calculation
method requiring
no approximations
such
as normality assumptions.
Further-
more,
the
judging process
that went
into generating the matrix
is
not required
to be independent transcript-to-transcript
nor target-to-target
.
Finally,
numerical estimates
of target /transcript correspondences
can be made on the
basis
of either rank-order or rating scales
< (e ,g •
,
rank ordering
-
n,
best
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FIGURE
SWIMMING POOL COMPLEX AS REMOTE VIEWING TARGET
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