wo a oa fea Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200620001-9 4 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 1984). The work of Schneider et al. is especially interesting in view of the accuracy, rapidity, and specificity of the influences that occurred without the provision of conventional sensory feedback. The process appears goal- directed and immediately reminds one of the similar goal-directed nature of psychokinesis. The third best, and logistically the easiest, material with which to work would be osmotically stressed red blood cells. The goal of the experiment would be to protect one’s own red blood cells and retard their rate of hemolysis. If red blood cells are maintained in fluids having a salinity similar to that of the blood plasma, the cells survive for long periods. However, if placed in a fluid having a salinity lower than that of the plasma (e.g., in distilled water or in very dilute saline), the corpuscles swell due to the movement of water through their semipermeable mem- branes. Eventually the cells rupture and release their hemoglobin content into the surrounding medium. The rate of hemolysis can be measured using a spectrophotometer with an output to a computer and pen recorder. Light of a given wavelength is passed through a tube of blood cells sus- pended in dilute saline. Intact cells are relatively opaque to the light. As the cells rupture, the solution becomes increasingly transparent. The spec- trophotometer/computer/pen recorder system provides an objective readout of the change in light passage over time, and hence the time course of hemolysis. Rate of hemolysis can be measured during influence trials in which the research participant attempts to mentally retard the he- molytic process, that is, attempts to psychokinetically protect the red blood cells from osmotic injury. These results can be compared with he- molysis rates obtained during interspersed control trials in which no psy- chokinetic attempts are made. We conducted a preliminary experiment of this sort in our laboratory several years ago. In that experiment, involving a single selected subject and a small number of trials, a significant influence of hemolysis rate was observed (Braud, Davis, & Wood, 1979). In the present experiment, we sought to repeat that experiment with many more trials, a large number of unselected subjects, and an improved methodology, in order to test the reproducibility and generality of the finding. Briefly, subjects attempted mentally to retard the rate of hemolysis of osmotically stressed human red blood cells that were isolated from all conventional influences. The sub- jects and the target system were kept in separate rooms. Rate of hemolysis was monitored accurately by a spectrophotometer interfaced by means of an analog-to-digital converter to a microcomputer. The experimenter operating the equipment was blind regarding the scheduling of the influ- ence (protect) versus noninfluence (control) attempts. Half of the subjects worked with their own blood cells, and half worked with cells from an- other person; both experimenter and subject were blind regarding the blood source. The experimental design included features that we hoped would help us determine whether any obtained psi effect might be most parsimoniously interpreted as a true psychokinetic (remote action) effect or, alternatively, as an instance of ‘“intuitive data sorting’ (see May, Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200620001-9
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200620001-9 Distant Mental Influence of Hemolysis Rate 5 Radin, Hubbard, Humphrey, & Utts, 1985). Prior to the formal experi- ment to be described in detail in this paper, two additional studies were conducted—a pilot study and an ‘‘intermediate phase’’ study. Space limi- tations permit only relatively brief summaries of those two studies. SUMMARY OF THE PILOT PHASE Thirty-two unselected subjects participated in a pilot study designed to explore the new methodology and to determine whether blood source (own blood cells vs. another person’s blood cells) was an important factor. An experimental session involved hemolysis measurements for 10 blood tubes. The subject attempted to retard the rate of hemolysis of 5 of these tubes, mentally and at a distance. The remaining 5 tubes served as control tubes that the subject did not attempt to influence. The 5 influence and 5 control tubes were scheduled according to a random sequence that was prepared by a third party and that was unknown to the experimenter who ¢ made the hemolysis measurements. Light transmission through each tube (which is proportional to hemolysis) was measured for each second of a 9-minute sampling period; the difference between the mean of the initial 5 seconds and the final 5 seconds of light measurements yielded a change score that served as the hemolysis measure. Following the completion of the experimental session, 10 additional blood-containing tubes were measured for hemolysis rate. It was intended that these 10 measurements would provide additional ‘‘nonlocal”’ baseline data and would also be useful in comparing remote action (RA) versus intuitive data sorting (IDS) predictions of the experimental outcome. Ac- cording to the RA hypothesis, the mean of the 5 ‘‘local’’ control tubes should be equivalent to the mean of the 10 nonlocal baseline tubes, and the mean of the 5 influence tubes should be lower (i.e., in the direction of less hemolysis or greater protection of the cells) than both of the former means, According to the IDS hypothesis, the mean of the local controls should be above, and that of the influence tubes should be below, that of the nonlocal baseline tubes; the grand mean of the 10 tubes for the experi- mental session should not differ from the mean of the 10 nonlocal baseline tubes. An analysis of variance of the hemolysis scores indicated extremely great and highly significant variability among the subjects, but no other significant main effects or interactions. Therefore, significant evidence for a remote influence of the blood cells was not obtained in the pilot study. There was, however, a nonsignificant tendency for a slight ‘*protection’’ effect in the ‘‘another’s blood’’ condition, whereas the opposite effect (i.e., less protection during the influence trials) occurred in the *“‘own blood”’ condition. The nonlocal baseline measurements were found to be inadequate for their intended purpose because in every case but one the mean percent light transmittance change score for the 10 nonlocal baseline Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002200620001-9