'a*
ippi uypd For Release 2000/08/08
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Final Report- -Objective D,
Task
1, and
Objective G,
Task
Covering
the Period
October
1985
to 30 September
1987
December
1987
COMPUTER-ASSISTED SEARCH
(U)
Cofiy
uf
../..V..
Cupiei.-
This document consists of
16 pages.
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910-373-2046
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(U) To
see
whether
or
not
this
purported
“search”
ability
could be
brought under
laboratory
control,
a
computer-assisted
search
(CAS)
routine was developed.
This
routine
consists of the following elements:
( 1 )
(2 )
(3)
(4)
(Vnm
1‘te
, m
;f* 0f P°SSible target locations
(e.g., a 20 X 20 graphics matrix grid)
from which one
cell
is randomly selected by the computer as the target.
An individual whose task
is to “scan” the graphics display area with a computer
mouse, and indicate, by pressing the button on the mouse, his/her choice as to
the target location.
A feedback mechanism that displays the response and actual target location.
An
a
priori
defined
analysis
procedure
to
compare
the
targets
with
the
responses.
B-
(U) Background
(U)
Using this general procedure, an experiment was conducted during FY 1984 in which
two conditions were tested simultaneously:
1 *
• The
target
remains
fixed
in
condition).
space
for
the
duration
of
the
trial
(space
The target
is rapidly moving to various locations, so that the subject must push
the button at exactly the right time
(time condition).
^Seven subjects,
who were blind
to
the space/time condition,
were each asked
to contribute
50 trials
(25
space,
time).
Five
of
them
produced
independently significant results:
three
in time only and
two
in
space only.
No participant was
successful at both space and
time
conditions
.
(U) A
larger pool
of
subjects was
used
to
try
to
replicate
this
finding
in FY
1986.
Participants were chosen on the basis of interest and availability, and included both experienced
and novice subjects.
As in the FY 1984 experiment, each subject contributed 25
trials under
each of the two conditions, space and time, and were blind to the condition in force
for each
trial.
Most subjects were unaware that there were two conditions.
•
^ Thirty-six subjects participated
in the FY 1986 experiment.
Results were analyzed by separating the
trials collected under the
two
conditions,
as before.
Six subjects attained significant results
(p <
0.05)
in
the
time condition,
and
two
in
the space condition.
The smallest
(U)
References are listed
at the end of this report.
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<
>
attained p-value was
0.0001.
The probability of obtaining such an extreme
result,
with 72 separate
tests
(36
in each condition),
is 0.007.
{The
appropriate formula for this
is
[1 -
(1
- 0.0001 )^],
where
in general
the
smallest p-value
in
an experiment with n separate
tests
is used
instead of
0.0001,
and n
is used
in place of
72.
}
'
both years
of
testing,
no participant
scored significant
hits
in both the time and space conditions.
(There were
two subjects
in FY
1986 who scored significantly
in the direction of missing the
target under
both conditions.)
This observation
led
to
the question of whether or not
talented subjects bifurcated
into
two groups:
those who could search over
a spatial area,
and those who could push
the button at just
the right
time.
A follow-up experiment was proposed
in FY 1986
to
test
this.
(
k Eleven subjects who had done well
in
the original
FY 1986
experiment” were asked
to participate
in
a
"single condition"
experiment
in
which
they would search under only
the condition
for which
they had scored
well.
Thus,
those who scored better
in time were
told of
this
fact,
and
were
told that
the
target was constantly moving.
Similarly,
those who had
done well with
a fixed target were tested only under
this condition,
and
were explicitly told
that
the target was
stationary.
Eight
subjects
completed this experiment.
Results from this
single condition experiment
proved
to be nonsignificant
for all
subjects.
C.
(U)
Experiments for FY 1987
(U)
Since the FY 1984 and the
original FY
1986 experiments had shown evidence of
"search"
ability, and since the only change in the follow-up FY 1986 experiment had been to
remove
the random
assignment
of
the
space
and
time
condition,
it
was
decided
that
an
experiment should be conducted in FY 1987
in which the random space and time conditions
were
again
used.
This
will
be
further
discussed
in
this
report,
under
the
title
of
“Computer- Assisted Search Experiment."
(U) As another test of “search”
ability, an experiment was conducted during FY 1987
with a group of five self-proclaimed dowsers. The purpose of this experiment was to see
if any of
these
individuals
could come
closer than
expected
by
chance
to
locating
a
shipwreck, by
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UNCLASSIFIED
(U)
identifying a spot on a map.
This experiment
will be further discussed in this report as “The
Atocha Experiment.”
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II METHOD OF APPROACH (U)
A.
(U) The Computer-Assisted Search Experiment
(U) The FY 1987 Computer-Assisted Search Experiment was designed as a further test of
the hypothesis that some individuals have an ability to search a bounded area on a computer
screen and
identify
the
location
of
a
hidden
“target.”
Eight
subjects
participated
in
the
experiment,
six
of whom had
participated
in
the
unsuccessful FY
1986
“single
condition”
experiment, and two who were novices to this task.
Each subject contributed 25
trials in the
space condition and 25
trials in the time condition.
(U) To test a participant on the space condition, the target location was fixed throughout
the trial.
To test the time condition, the target location was changed several times each second.
The computer selected one of the conditions for each trial by a balanced random protocol, so
that each set of ten trials contained five of each type.
The participant and experimenter were
blind as to which condition was being presented on any given
trial.
(U) A Sun Microsystems work station computer was used to conduct
all aspects of this
experiment.
This computer system is noted for its high-resolution graphics display and graphics
input device.
The particular random number generator algorithm used in this experiment has
been studied in detail and
is found to be adequate for multidimensional applications .3
(U) The approach used was a modification of a procedure originally developed by Dr.
Dean I. Radin at Bell Laboratories for evaluating geometric-distance scores in a perceptual task. 4
The target area of interest is constructed as a square. A grid system
is then laid down over the
square in the form of an n x n matrix, to yield n2 separate grid cells (e.g., 400 for a 20 x 20 grid).
The compute* randomly selects one of the grid cells as the target for a particular trial in the space
condition, and rapidly changes the potential target in the time condition. The subject’s task is to
locate the target, by moving a mouse-driven cursor around the target area and pushing a button
when the moment seems
right.
In the time condition, the potential target in force when the
computer registers the subject’s button press becomes the actual target.
Since the potential target
is moving
fast enough so that
it
is likely to be in any given
cell every few seconds, the subject
would not have to move the cursor at all in order to capture the target.
In both conditions, the
response
is defined as the grid cell where the cursor
is located when the button
is pressed.
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(U)
In our experiment,
a bounded area representing the perimeter of a 20 x 20
cell
matrix was shown
to the
participant,
with the
additional option of having the 400
individual
squares of the grid displayed.
Figure
1 shows the display with the grid option.
The participant
was told that the target could be anywhere within the square, and that he/she should move the
cursor around, and push the button on the mouse when the moment “seemed
right.”
The
computer was programmed to give immediate feedback to the participant following each trial by
automatically displaying the target cell as a filled square and the participant s choice as a shaded
square, with a
line connecting the two
(see Figure
1).
After several seconds of the feedback
display, the computer recycled to the next
trial.
Coordinates of the target and response were
stored for future analysis.
FIGURE
(U) SEARCH MATRIX COMPUTER DISPLAY WITH FEEDBACK
B.
(U) The Atocha Experiment
<}
~
jTo
take the search task out
of
the
laboratory,
five
self-proclaimed dowsers were asked
to participate
in an experiment
to
see
if any of them could find an object by searching a map.
(One of
them,
Viewer
198,
has been part
of
the
SRI
Psychoenergeti cs Project
since
1984.
At
times he/she has performed excellently
iri
—
real-world laboratory
search
tasks.
However,
his/her overall performance
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