Approved For Releage 2663/04 YEtH- REP 96-00787R000209130005-3 for the New York Meeting of the American Physical Society 2 - 5 February 1976 Physics and Astronomy . Bulletin Subject Heading in Classification Scheme . Which Paper Should Be Placed: Number 05 , General Physics Possible Detection of Experimenter-Instrument. Interaction with a Selected Subject. E. C. MAY and C. HONORTON, Maimonides Medical Center-—- An experiment was performed with an individual who claims to influ- ence remote physical: systems by non-physical means. Prior experimental tests in 3 other laboratories pro- vided encouraging results. In the present experiment the subject was tested with a noise driven binary ran- dom event generator in which each event is compared to a “target” alternating between '0' and '1L' at a rate of 50 events/second. The number of events and the num- ber of matches (events corresponding to targets) were recorded. Data were taken for 29 runs of 10° events ~ during which the subject attempted to influence the binary output of events. The results corresponded to a probability against chance of p<0.011. Independently significant results (p<0.027) were obtained during the last 10 runs in which the subject was separated from the instrument by 12 feet and by two double steel walls. A control experiment was run one hour after the subject's departure from the laboratory. Control data were taken for 30 runs of 104 events and showed good approximation to chance expectation (p<0.91). The experimental results suggest that some anomalous in- fluence on the generator occurred. Submitted by LL. Drm Signature of APS Member Ee Ee MAY Same name typewritten Maimonides Medical Center Address . ___Division of Parapsychology 4802 -- 10th Avenue Approved For Release 2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96- - pp ) , 104 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3, eet meer
Approved For Releagw 2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3 VOLITIONAL CONTROL ‘IN A PSYCHOKINETIC TASK WITH AUDITORY AND VISUAL FEEDBACK Charles Honorton and Edwin C. May? Maimonides Medical Center During the last five years, 15 experiments have been reported dealing with psychokinetic influence on electronic random generators. : Twelve of these studies (80%) showed statistically significant (p4.05) evidence of PK influence. Even if we were to assume that £or each re- ported study there are five unreported, nonsignificant studies, this result is still highly gignificant (p <1 x 10 “Sy, The purpose of the present experiment was to replicate and extend the random generator (dynamic) PK work reported principally by Helmut Schmidt and his. associates. Specifically, we were interested in the question of volitional control of dynamic psychokinetic influence. The random generator used in this experiment has been described by May (1975). In order to totally exclude the possibility of generat- - or bias, all runs were performed in an automatic mode such that the target (‘heads' or 'tails') was alternated on each trial. The generat- ion rate was 10 bits/sec., with a run length of 100 bits (i.e. 10 SeC.). We decided in advance to have 10 Ss complete 5 high-aim runs, try- ing to enforce scores above 50%, and 5 low-aim runs, trying to enforce scores below 50%. Order of conditions (high-/low-aim) was alternated by ee errr NR A LL present address: Physics Department, City College of San Francisco. | Approved For Release 2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3
ee a Ae a ae eernaeerrernenseeemees Approved For Releas8#®#003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3 Honorton and May 2 Two modes of feedback were used. SS received auditory feedback (tone) whenever they averaged +1.26 © over the last 10 trials. Ss received visual feedback in the form of a digital chart recording which registered hits as deflections above baseline and misses as de flections below baseline (Fig. 1); All 10 Ss were experienced in some form of internal State explor- ation. Nine had participated in previous psi research in our laboratory; six had prior experience with dynamic PK tasks; six had prior experience with EEG/EMG biofeedback training; four were meditators. During the session, S stood or sat in front of the polygraph with headphones for auditory feedback. For the high-aim condition, S was in= structed to maintain the pen deflection above baseline as much as possible. S was informed that when the pen was above baseline and the auditory feed~ back was on, s/he was scoring at a rate of 70% or higher. Similarly for the low~aim condition, S was instructed to maintain the pen deflection below baseline as much as possible, and was informed that when the pen was below baseline and the auditory feedback was on, s/he was scoring at a rate of 30% or lower. The running time for each S was less than 3 min. The mean run score for Ss in the high-aim condition was 51.92 (t = 2.89, 9 df, p = .009, l-tailed). Of the 50 high-aim runs, 8 were signifi-~ cantly (p §-05) above chance (exact binomial p for 8/50 at p$.05 = .0032). Only one of the 50 high-aim runs was significantly below chance. The mean run score for Ss in the low-aim condition was 49.22 (t = “1.11, 9 df, p = .15). Of the 50 low-aim runs, 4 were significantly — Approved For Release 2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3
a Approved For Relegge 2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R00Q290130005-3 Honorton and May 3 below chance (exact binomial p = .24). Only one of the 50 low-aim runs was significantly above chance. | “whe difference between high~ and low-aim conditions was significant (t = 2.05, 9 ag, p = .035). Five of the 10 SS individually obtained significantly more hits in the high-aim condition than in the low-aim condition. The exact binomial p for 5/10 at p£.05 is: .00006. None of the Ss obtained significantly more hits in the low-aim condition than in the high-aim condition, Despite the short duration of each experimental session,. the Ss ex- hibited a significant decline effect. taking the first two runs of each ' S, the mean run score for the high-aim condition was 54.3 (t = 3.03, 9 GE, p = .007), and the mean run score for the low-aim condition was 48.2 (t = 2.12, 9 af, p= 031). thus, the high- vs. low~aim difference is independently significant for the first two runs of each 3 (tj = 2.90, 9 dé, p = .009). The last two runs of each S were associated with a mean run score of 50.5 for both conditions. This decline in volitional perform- . ance was significant. for the high=aim condition (t= 2.94, 9 df, p = -016, Q-tailed). The results of this study replicate Schmidt's findings and demonstrate that Ss can exert volitional control of dynamic psychokinetic effects. . Approved For Release 2003/09/04 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200130005-3
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