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Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research
4°C and would be removed from the refrigerator only briefly, before each
hemolysis trial.
4.
Hemolysis trials would be conducted between 14 and 42 hours fol-
lowing a biood draw. The ACD anticoagulant permits cold
storage of
blood cells for as long as 3 to 4 weeks with minimal deterioration of red
blood cells.
5. The temperature increase of the spectrophotometer would be mini-
mized by means of an external cooling fan, the use of shorter sampling
epochs, and allowing the apparatus to remain on only during hemolysis
measurement periods.
6. A session would consist of four 15-minute periods—two control (C)
periods and two protect (P) periods. For half of the subjects, these periods
would be scheduled in a CPPC order; for half of the subjects, a PCCP
order would be used. This block-counterbalancing design was employed
in order to assure that any reasonably linear potential progressive error
(such as changes in hemolysis rate due to slight progressive warming of
the apparatus) would contribute equally to the two (C and P) conditions
and therefore not introduce a systematic bias. Whether a given subject’s
sequence was CPPC or PCCP would be randomly determined by an asso-
ciate (M.S.) through use of the RAND table of random numbers. The
experimenter doing
the hemolysis measurements would,
of course, be
blind regarding these sequences. A subject would leant his or her proper
sequence by consulting a sealed envelope delivered to the subject after the
experimenter’s interactions with the subject had been completed and the
experimenter had returned to the equipment room.
7. The beginning of each 15-minute period would be signaled by an
appropriate number of tones delivered to the subject’s headphones. The
subject would have been instructed to attempt to mentally decrease the
rate of hemolysis of the distant red blood cells during the two 15-minute
protect periods. During the two
15-minute control periods,
the subject
would attempt not to think about the experiment and would allow the cells
to hemolyze at their normal, rapid rate. During the two protect periods,
the subject would view a projected color slide of healthy, intact red blood
cells as an aid to visualization and intention. During the two control pe-
riods,
the subject would close his or her eyes and think about matters
unconnected with the experiment.
8.
During each 15-minute period, either two or eight hemolysis tubes
(samples) would be measured. Monte Carlo analyses conducted at SRI
International indicated that curves derived from 2 versus 8 tubes (samples)
would be sufficient for an adequate test of the IDS versus RA interpreta-
tions of any obtained psi effect. The subject would be blind regarding the
number of tubes being measured during any 15-minute period and would
be instructed to apply mental effort as steadily and as consistently as pos-
sible throughout the entire 15-minute protect periods. The experimenter
would learn whether to measure 2 or 8 hemolysis tubes during each 15-
minute period by consulting a sealed envelope delivered to him just before
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
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Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R002200620001-9
Distant Mental Influence of Hemolysis Rate
the beginning of the measurement session. This random, balanced tube
sequence would have been determined earlier by M.S., again using the
RAND table of random numbers.
9.
Because the
subjects must remain blind regarding the number of
tubes being measured during each 15-minute period,
it would not be pos-
sible to provide them with real-time auditory feedback of the progress of
hemolysis, as we had hoped to do. Such feedback would provide subjects
with information about the number of tubes and would therefore violate
the blindness requirement and add a psychological confound to the experi-
ment. However, the subject would receive numerical feedback about he-
molysis outcomes at the conclusion of the session.
10. The subject’s session would be preceded by 8 minutes of tape-re-
corded instructions for relaxation and guided imagery, designed to help
reduce distractions and focus attention upon the desired goal event— viz.,
decreased hemolysis during effort (protect) periods.
1 1
.
Hemolysis measurements would be accomplished with a procedure
identical to that used in the pilot study, with the following exceptions: (a)
the recording epochs would be
1 minute rather than 2 minutes in duration,
and (b) the subject would not hear tones signaling the beginning and end
of each tube measurement (as in the pilot study), but rather would hear
tones signaling the beginning of each of the four 15-minute periods.
12. Hemolysis scores would be analyzed in a manner identical to that
described in the pilot study. A similar ANOVA would be used to assess
the presence of a psi
effect.
In addition,
all hemolysis percent change
scores would be normalized for purposes of additional IDS versus RA
analyses.
Method
Subjects
Thirty-two subjects participated in the study. Participants were selected
from a pool of normal, healthy individuals and were screened to eliminate
those with known allergic or immunological disorders or other illnesses
and those currently taking medication (other than oral contraceptives and/
or occasional cold medicines). Twenty-one of the subjects had already
participated in the pilot investigation and were asked to participate again
because of their familiarity with the procedure. Eleven subjects were first-
time participants who substituted for pilot study subjects who were unable
to take part in the formal study. The final sample consisted of 17 females
and 15 males, ranging in age from 23 to 53 years. Each subject was paid
$20 as a token of appreciation for the inconvenience and slight discomfort
of donating a blood sample and for participating
in the subsequent V/z-
hour laboratory session.
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Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research
Procedure
On a Monday evening, the experimenter met with a group of four par-
ticipants in order to explain the experiment in detail and to have the sub-
jects complete an Informed Consent Form, donate a 10 ml venous blood
sample, and schedule an appointment for an experimental session for later
that same week
(i.e., on either the next day [Tuesday] or the day after
[Wednesday]). An attempt was made to schedule two experimental ses-
sions on Tuesday (at 10:00 a.m. and
at 2:00 p.m.) and two sessions on
Wednesday (at 10:00 a.m. and at 2:00 p.m.). On the Monday evening, the
participant was given a two-page written description of the procedure and
was asked to read the description at home and become familiar with
it.
The four blood samples were drawn by a registered nurse. 2 The blood
collection tubes (Becton Dickinson Vacutainer tubes containing acid-
citrate-dextrose anticoagulant) were labeled with the names of the blood
donors and were placed in a small refrigerator immediately after the blood
draws. The refrigerator was maintained at 4° C throughout the experiment.
When all four blood samples had been drawn, the nurse switched the name
labels on two of the tubes, using a randomizing schedule that had been
prepared ahead of time by an associate of the experimenter (M.S.). This
schedule was always kept by the nurse (and a copy kept by M.S.) and was
unknown to the experimenter until the study had been completed. The
purpose of switching the labels of two tubes was to permit two subjects to
attempt to influence their own blood and two to attempt to influence an-
other person’s blood that week, and to keep the subjects and the experi-
menter blind regarding the blood source until all 32 sessions of the study
had been completed.
Following his or her arrival for the experimental session on Tuesday or
Wednesday, the experimenter showed the subject the equipment at the
target
site, emphasized the spectrophotometer tube holder in which the
target tubes later would be placed sequentially, and then escorted the sub-
ject to the distant subject room, located in another part of the building (see
floor plan in the Figure). The subject sat in a comfortable armchair and
was told that shortly
after the experimenter
left the subject’s room, an
assistant would slip an envelope under the subject’s door. The subject was
2 The order in which the subjects’ blood was drawn, and hence their subject numbers for
the blood source factor (i.e., whether they subsequently attempted to influence their own or
another person’s blood) was determined by the alphabetical sequence of the surnames of the
four subjects who assembled on any given Monday evening blood-drawing session.
3 On one Monday evening, a last-minute cancellation by a subject resulted in three, rather
than the usual four, blood draws that evening. The next week, the subject who had cancelled
for the previous week appeared; there also appeared an additional subject who was not ex-
pected, resulting in six subjects that evening. For the two subjects who did not conform to the
schedule that evening, blood tubes were inadvertently switched, when they should not have
been. This
resulted
in a
total of
18 subjects
in the “another’s blood” condition and
subjects in the “own blood” condition.
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