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AN OVERVIEW OF EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION
SG1 I
I
January 27., 1975
The following brief sumary presents some conclusions and
observations derived from an independent., and somewhat critical.,
study of extrasensory perception over the past several monthsi. Thest-r
opinions are based npon study of the literature, material presented
at the Geneva Conference of the,@Parapsychology-]Pbundation in August
197/+ and., in particular, the work of Puthoff and Targ at SRI as
reflected in their.publications as well as their oral presentation
in 'Washington, First some-general observations and recommendations
in this area are presented, then a brief comment on the SRI work,
and'final3,v somer-remarks aboutpractical applications.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. A large body of reliable-experimental evidence points to the
inescapabIeF-conclusion that ext;asensory perception does exist
as a real phenomenon., albeit characterized by rarity and lack
of reliability. It appears as a' lo-w-capacity, high-noise
information channel exhibiting data rates orders of magnitude
less than normal perceptive processes. Almost by definition
extra-sensory perception must involve@-in an essential way the
operation of the hnwn mind.
2. There-,exists no satisfactory theoretical understanding of
these phenomena. Present theories,, of which there7are,many,,
are both speculative and unsubstantiated. They range in content
from.the physical through the psychological to the metaphysical.
One theory- that of the French physicist,, Costa de Beauregard-
offers the possibility of interpreting psi phenomena within
a-modest extension-of established physical theory, but in general
these efforts appear premature. At this stage of knowledge
the most meaningful basic research consists of a search for.
correlates- physical., physiological, and psychological- to
which the phenomena may be quantitatively related. Guidance,
'must consist of general ideas which are not dependent upon
possibly overspecific theoretical assumptions*
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30 All the experimental evidence to date is consistent with the
assumption that paranormal perception behaves as an Information
channel in the conventional sense of information theory. The
information theoretic approach to investigation in this area
has probably not been adequately exploited but offers definite
possibilities of aiding understanding as well as practical
advantages. The success of enhancement techniques such as
redundancy., majority vote., etc. is indicative of the efficacy
of even simple applications of information theory in parapsychological
research.
a. Information theory in itself makes no assumptions of specific
mechanism, but contains a body of concepts ( bit rate, redundancy,
equivocation, etc.) by which experimental results may be
quantitatively presented and analysed., Moreover these quantities
have direct meaning in terms of applications.
b, Although problems of coding are of central concern in information
theor7, it is innately an input-output theory. Experiments can
be devised to measure information rates in comparatively unstructured
situations, independently of coding assumptions
c. The very low information rates ( 0.01 to 0.1 bi;./see ) measured
in extrasensory perception may explain the fail:ure-to detect
physical energy or correlated physical variables associated with
the phenomena. K signal lower in strength than thermal noise and
only detectable through its high redundancy would exhibit a similar
low raterof information transmission. Physical energy less than
thermal noise would be.,yery difficult to detect,
The complete ESP channel may or may not involve a detectable
physical link,, but it most certainly does involve a psychological
one. Although difficult to quantify there do appear to exist some
genuine .psychological correlates of paranormal perception. Rather
than detail these, mention is made of only one aspect which seems
especially significant., namely the striking similarity between
many psychological features of paranormal perception and normal,,
though subliminal perception. Clearly this suggests that similar
processes may be operative in both cases and that studies of
subliminal pareeption:below the,oonsbious threshold mAy"be of
relevance to the psychological part of paranormal perception.
5.- The physiological correlates of extrasensory perception which have
been -measured are autonomic responses and therefore,somewhat related
to emotional responses. Variations of BEG alpha rhythm., galvanic
skin resistance and blood capillary volume have all been identified
in relation to extrasensory activity. There is some experimental
evidence for believing that these physiological responses may be
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more sensitive indicators of paranormal comnmication than
consciously controlled responses* Presumably a large part
of the noise in the paranormal channel originates by the
interfering effect of conscious processes, and measurement
of autonomic responses could short circuit a noisy part of
the channel. Also the physiological responses themselves
are directly accessible to physical, instead of only psychological,,
measurement,
THE RESEARCH AT STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
The vork at SRI, using gifted individuals,, has acheived some
convincing and striking demonstrations of the existence of paranormal
perception, and has demonstrated perhaps less convincingly the
possible existence of psychokinetic influences upon sophisticated
physical instrumentation. The carefu"Land systematic use:of sensory
shielding in these experiments has excluded a large class-of gross
Physical correlates of paranormal perception. The work has been
less successful in.showing unambiguous relations of inhibition or
enhancement between paranormal performance and possible physical,
physiological.. and psychological conditions. The enhancement method
used was seledtion of special individuals either through prior
reputation or through preliminary screening, Thus the approach was
one of enhancement through selecti-tity rather than enhancement
(or inhibition) by deliberate manipulation of variables. This research
produced some information... measurement of alteration of alpha rhythm
amplitude and measurement O-'f neurological profiles, relevant to the
question of correlates but was not aimed primarily in this direction.
The contribution to fundamental understanding was a minor part of
this work, but it produced manifestations of extrasensory perception
sufficiently sharp and clear cut to justify ser@ous consideration of
possible applications.
A separate point is that the high apparent bit rate of information
transmission implied by successful replication of drawings or recital
of detailed descriptions may be illusory., In no ease was the percipient
asked to replicate or describe unfamiliar or unknown objects. A low
bit rate may trigger detailed stored associations which in themselves-
have high informationcontent,
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
No matter how gifted the paragnost 6xisting 1gnor&ri&e'6f-the basis
of paranormal phenomena together with the capricious and unreliable
nature of the channel dictate that information derived from this source
can never stand alone and must J)e wed with caution. Extrasensory
I
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information should at best supplement normal information or guide its
collection, but should never serve in place of it. Even such limited
use of this information channel would seemito require-much more detailed
investigation of its character and limitations. A certain bareminimum
of understanding, or at least experience., is required to establish
confidence, Experimental tests guided by a thorough information theoretic
analysis., as alluded to earlier, offer the closest coupling with
applications and the best prospect of usefully quantifying the capabilities
of this information channel.
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