Approved For Relezrew’ 2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R0002001 30005-3 “ ee A DYNAMIC PK EXPERIMENT WITH INGO SWANN Edwin C. May" and Charles Honorton Maimonides Medical Center We report a preliminary study of psychokinetic influence on a noise~driven binary random generator with Ingo Swann. Mr... Swann -has produced significant psi effects ina variety of controlled tests in three different laboratories. He may» without exaggeration, be called an applied specialist in this area. Our primary objective, therefore, was not merely to provide another demonstration of PK, or of Mr. Swann's abilities, but rather, to introduce him to this form of psychokinetic task in order to assess the feasibility of develop- , ing a systematic research effort that would utilize Mr. Swann's ine sight and ability to maximum advantage. | One of us (ECM) had described the instrument, which we call PSIFI, in detail to Mr. Swann and it appeared appropriate that we should take a "physics" approach to the PK task. Before the experi- ment began, we explained the internal workings of the instrument and the basic physics principles involved to Mr. Swann. We partially dismantled the sensitive sections of the instrument for his inspection, pointing out internal data paths and the source of the random noise. ren terete ernie ettenenaee—ansnnt 1 present address: Physics Dept., City College of San Francisco. oe Approved For Release 2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3
_ Approved For Releagg 2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000209130005-3 May and Honorton/2 These were marked with tape. Further, we explained two possible physics-type phenomena that would dramatically alter the behavior of the instrument. While Mr. Swann frequently peered into the open top of the instrument and took frequent notes, we took data for runs of 10° trials at a generation rate of 50/sec. Mr. Swann operated the instrument by manually depressing the reset button at the beginning of each run. Feedback was provided via a scaler reading of the run score. We informed Mr. Swann that chance expectation was 500/ run and that a significant influence on the instrument would be reflected by consistent deviations from this mean. overall, 29 runs of 10° trials were completed. The mean run score of 493 is statistically Significant (t = 2.71, 28 df, p = 011, 2—tailed). The mean run score for the first 10 runs was 495.4 (n.s.)? for the second set of 9 runs the mean was 493.1 (n.s.). The last set of 10 runs was taken while Mr. Swann's EEG was being moritored. During these runs, he was in a sound-attenuated room, adjacent to the instrument room. ‘These runs were independently significant, with a mean of 491.8 (t = 2.63, 9 df, p = .027). One hour after Mr. Swann's departure from the laboratory, CH. ran a control series of 3.x 10° trials (i.e., 30 runs of 10° trials). The control runs showed excellent approximation to theoretical chance expectation, with a mean of 499.7 (t = 0.11, 29 df, p = .91). Approved For Release 2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3
_ Approved For Releage*2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200) 30005-3 May and Honorton/3 We conclude that Mr. Swann was successful in exerting a psycho-= kinetic influence on the instrument. We also regard the following trends as provocative and highly suggestive of directions for further collaborative research with Mr. Swann: * Performance improved (and was independently Significant) with increased distance from the instrument. During the last 10 runs, Mr. Swann was separated from the instrument by distance and by two double steel walls. * Performance showed steady improvement from the beginning to end of session, * Variability of performance decreased from the first to the last 10 runs of tha session (Fig 107. 1-86, p = .16).. These latter two trends, while not in themselves Significant, . suggest the advisability of further research relating to Mr. Swann's belief that his performance in psi tasks is susceptible to learning. Approved For Release 2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3