Approved For Release 2001/03/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R00200001 0006-4
RESEARCH APPROACHES
Ogjec ti ve
A comprehensive program
is
proposed. that
is based on Information
derived from SRI experimentation and
the documented work of others.
The goals of the program are twofold:
To establish
the repeatability of the psychoenergetic process
and the statistics
that govern
its usefulness for various
applications
To determine the underlying physical
characteristics of the
channel,
such
as
bit
rate,
channel
capacity,
and resolution
potential
.
A.
Characteristics, Analysis,
and Theory
1.
Characteristics
a •
Remote Viewing Reliability Enhancement
(Coding)
One of the most successful
psychoenergetic processes
is the
remote viewing of target locations demarcated by some means, such
as
the presence
at
the site of an
individual
known
to the "viewer”.
Unfortunately,
this process—which works
so well— results in narrative
description
that
is difficult
to assess
in
a quantitative manner.
In order to utilize the
remote
sensing phenomena as a tool to
investigate
the physical
and psychological
parameters of
psychoenergetic processes,
it
is
important
to establish optimum
analysis
(judging)
procedures.
Because experiments are designed with
the
goal
of varying specific parameters,
such as subject shielding
or
the necessity of feedback,
the analysis or judging procedure
must
be
as
rapid
as possible, while retaining objectivity, if
Approved For Release 2001/03/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R00200001 0006-4
Approved For Release 2001/03/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R00200001 0006-4
immediate
feedback
to
both
subject
and experimenters
is
to be provided.
A judging procedure will
be established and experiments will
be
carried out
to evaluate
the proposed judging procedure.
If successful,
such
a procedure will
provide information
on subject reliabilities
with respect
to various categories
of response,
and will
thus
be useful
in assessing channel
reliability.
b.
Role of Feedback
in Remote Viewing
In past programs two
series of experiments
have
been conducted with
experienced remote viewing subjects
to determine
the effects of
withholding
feedback.
Both of these
series
failed
to give
a single
successful
outcome
in
the no-feedback
condition.
This result offers
strong evidence
that feedback
is an essential
element for successful
remote
viewing, whether the
reasons
be
psychological
or physical.
The
next appropriate series
of experiments with
these normally successful
subjects
is
to intermix,
on
a random schedule,
feedback and no-feedback
trails,
to eliminate any effect of psychological
expectation that a
subject might have with
regard
to
a given
trail
being carried out
without feedback.
If again
no success
is
found
in trials without feedback
while
the subjects
continue
to demonstrate successful
remote viewing
in
those experiments with
feedback,
this would indicate that there
was
some substantive,
perhaps physical,
basis
for
the effect of feedback
on
the experiments.
c
Mi_of Consciousness
(Computer-Control led Experiments)
If
it should
turn out
that
the
subjects under the conditions of
the previous
experiment
exhibit success
in
remote viewing independently
of the feedback condition,
then
a
further experimental
series would be
Approved For Release 2001/03/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R00200001 0006-4
Approved For Release 2001/03/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R00200001 0006-4
carried out
to define more precisely
the
role played by feedback.
In this
case
a
subject would
be asked
to describe pictorial
material presented
by
a distant slide
projector.
(Experiments were carried out in
a
pilot study and were found
to
be
successful
.
)
The outcome of experiments of this
type
is
important with regard
to assessing
the reliability of information obtained under conditions
in which feedback
is minimal.
As
a
side benefit,
the protocol
as
outlined can yield information
as
to
resolution
(depending on size of
slide projection)
and enhancement factors associated with the presence
or absence of individuals
knowledgeable of the
target.
Finally,
the
data
obtained provide for evaluation
of
the
feasibility of using slide
targets
as
a medium for
a practical
communication
system.
If the use
of slide targets
is
successful,
a
standard demonstration experiment
would
be developed
so
that
the communications
system could be observed
by outside evaluation
teams.
d
•
Tracking of Targets
in Motion
It has
been pointed out by several
sources
that some operators of
i
r e-control
radar displays
can continue
to make correct Judgements
even when their scope
is
"white
' with chaff and jamming.
The conjecture
is
that they either obtain
subliminal
information
that the untrained
observer cannot see,
or that there
is
a paranormal
component
to their
perception.
An attractive way
to
investigate
this phenomena with regard to the
paranormal
hypothesis would
be
to generate
a CRT display showing clouds
with
a
superimposed
grid.
An
invisible
target airplane can be programmed
Approved For Release 2001/03/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R00200001 0006-4
Approved For Release 2001/03/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R00200001 0006-4
to circumnavigate
the display
in
a
randomly-determined Planner.
The
task
of
the operator would
be
to activate
a light-pen gun over the
square where
he
senses
the plane
to
be,
at which time the
plane’s,
location
is made visible for
a short feedback interval.
This
computer-controlled game would
test,
record,
and provide
immediate
feedback
to
the
user.
If tracking
of this nature is a learnable skill,
the protocol
of feedback and immediate reinforcement should allow learning
to
take place.
e *
Measurement of Accuracy
as
a Function of Repetition Rate
The rate at which
trails
in
a
paranormal
experiment are conducted
appears
to strongly affect the success
of the experiment.
The success
of subjects
increases
in
direct proportion
to the -time between
experiments.
From data
including
card guessing, remote viewing, and
picture drawing experiments,
the common finding suggests that if the
targets are presented too rapidly
in
time,
a
temporal contamination
of neighboring stimuli
occurs.
In
the annals of psychical
research
this
has been called displacement.
A typical
example is afforded
by repetitious slide experiments
in which
a subject gives
an excellent
description of
a
remote slide that has
not yet been illuminated, or a
description of one which
has
been
illuminated but not yet shown to
x-he
subject,
thereby missing
the real-time target.
A corollary is
that displacement phenomena must
be inhibited for successful
real-time
psychoenergetic functioning
to occur.
Tart
has
a
theoretical
explanation
for this effect, which he draws
from conventional
physiology.
He
calls
this phenomenon
"Trans-Temporal
Inhibition,"
and offers
the following explanation:
Approved For Release 2001/03/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R00200001 0006-4
Approved For Release 2001/03/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R00200001 0006-4
Trans-Temporal
Inhibition
What
I
am postulating,
then,
is
an
active
inhibition of the
precogm tively and post-cogni ti vely gained information about immediate
future and immediate past,
in order
to enhance
the detectability of
ESP
information about real-time events.
Since
this
inhibition extends
over time,
I
have named
this phenomenon
trans-temporal
inhibition .
Except for the unusual
features
of extending over time rather
than space,
trans-temporal
inhibition
is analogous
to
a widely used
information processing strategy
in
the nervous system called lateral
inhibition.
This
is
a general
phenomenon of
a highly stimulated
receptor sending out inhibitory impulses
to receptor endings
laterally/
spatially adjacent
to
it*
thus
suppressing
their initially weaker
output,
unless
they are also strongly stimulated by an appropriate
stimulus.
It amounts
to
an edge detection process.
To illustrate:
If you
press
on your skin with
a sharply pointed object,
not only is
the touch
receptor immediately under the point strongly stimulated,
but,
because of the mechanical
deformation of the skin,
receptors laterally
adjacent
to the point are also stimulated,
although
less intensely.
The neural
impulses
resulting at the first stage of detection,
then,
would
be most intense immediately under the stimulated point, but fairly
intense
on
each
side of
it,
gradually tapering off, producing
a neural
signal
pattern suggesting
a
blunt,
rounded stimulating object,
rather
than
a
point.
The most stimulated receptor under the point,
however,
sends out inhibitory impulses suppressing
the weaker
(less frequent)
impulses from the laterally adjacent receptors,
and so recovering a
Approved For Release 2001/03/07
: CIA-RDP96-00788R00200001 0006-4