6-00787ROO0200190002-0
SG11
Santa Barbara., California
January 27., 1975
The following brief summary present3 some conclusions and
observations derived from an independent, and sotiewhat critical,
study of extrasensory perception over the past several monthse These,
op'inions are based uDon study of the literature, material presented
at the Geneva Conference of the-- Parapsycholo,-,y- Foundation in August
1974 andl 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 observntions and recommendations
in this area are presented, then a brief comment on the SRI work,
a-ad finally some--remarks about practical applications.
GEIMAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECONEIMATIONS
1. A large' 'body of roliable-experimental evidence points to the
inescapabl(--conclusion that extrasensory perception does exist
as a real phenomenon,, albeit characterized by rarity and lack
of reliability. It appears as a low-capacity, high-noise
information channel e;@iibiting data rates orders of magnitude
less than normai perceptive prooes"s. Almost by definition
extra-sonsory perception must involve- in an ess-ential way the
operation of the h=an mind.
There- exists no satisfactory theoretical understanding of
these phenomena. Present theories., of which there-are-many.,
are both speculative and unsiibstantiated. They range in content
from.the physical through the psychological to the metaphysical.
One theory- that of the French physicist,, Costa de-Da-a-uregard-
offers the possibility of interpreting psi phenomena within
a- -modest extension of established physical theory, but in general
these efforts appear prema-hire. At this stage of knowledge
the most meaningful basic research consists of a search for
correlates- physical, physiological, and psychological- to
-vAiich the phenomena nay be quantitatively related. Guidance
must consist of general ideas which are not dependent upon
possibly overspecific theoretical assumptions.
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3. All the ex@crlmental evidence to date is consistent with the
assumption that paranormal perception behaves as an inforration
channel in the conventional sense of information theory. The
information theoretic approach to investigation in this area
has probably not been adequately e,-.ploitod but offers definite
possibilities of aidingunderstanding as well as practical
advantages. The success of enhancement techniques such as
redundancy, najority vote, etc. is indicative *of the efficacy
of even si=lc applications of information theory in parapsychological
research.
a. Information theory in itself 'makes no assu:mptions of specific
raechanism, but contains a body of concepts ( bit rate, redundancy,
.. etc.) by ,Thich expcrimcnt@l -results may be
equivocation
quantitatively pTesented and analysed.. 11oreover these quantities
have direct meaning in terms of applications.
b. Although problems of coding are of central concern in information
theory, it is innately an input-output theory. Experiments can
be devised to neasuxe information rates in co-mparatively unstructured
situations, independently of coding asau.,m)tions.
c. The very low informa-tion rates ( 0.01 to 0.1 bit,
5/see ) 'measured
in oxtrasonsory perception may ex-olain the failure.-.to detect
physical energy or correlated physical variables associated iTith
the phenomena. A: signal lower in s'trength than thermal noise and
only detectable through its high redundancy wDuld emhibit a similar
low rate-of information transmission. Physical energy less than
thermal noise imuld be.,,yery difficult to detect.
I+. The complete-ES-F-channel nay or -may not involve a detectable
"'o
't it
physical link but it iropLce_rta@i@n_iy d@oes i@nvolve a _psychological
one,ic@ lt to quantify there do a-Dpear^ t@-e_x fs@so@-mc
s
L!Z@. lthou@gh dMficOT
genuine psychological correlates of paranoimal perception. Rather
than detail these, mention is made of only one aspect which seems
especially signi'L'icant, namely the striking similarity between
many psychological features of paranormal perception and normal,,
though "blininai perception. Clearly this suggests that similar
processes may be operative Jii both cases and that studies of
subliminal perception below the -conscious threshold -nay be of
relevance to the psychological part of paranorma-I perception.
5.. The physiological correlates of extrasensory perception which have
been -measured are autonomic responses and therefore-somewhat related
to emotional resnonses. Variations of EEG alpha rhythm, galvanic
skin resistance and blood capillary volume have all been identified
in relation to extrasensory activity. There is some experinental
evidence for believing that these physiological responses may be
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XK
ly
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'more sensitive indicators of paranornal co=mnication than
consciously controlled reaDonses. Presuumably'n 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 psychologic@al.,
measurement,
THE RSSEARCH AT STANFORD RES LURCH INSTITUTE
The work 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 p5ycho1X1-inet3_C influonces upon sophisticated
physical instrumentation. Me careful and systematic use-of sensory
shielding in these e=erinents 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 paranorma-1 performance and possible physical,,
physiological, and psychological conditions. Me enhancement -method"
,ased vas selection of special individuals either through prior
reputation or through preliminary screening. Thus the approach was
one of enhancement through selecti-vity rather than enhancement
(or inhibition) by deliberate manipulation of variables. This
7'
research
produced some information,,.mcasurement of alteration of alpha rhythm,
amplit-ade and measurement bf neurological profiles, relevant to the
question of correlates but was not aimed primarily in this direction
The contribution to fundamental understanding vras 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 informtion
transmission implied by successful replication of dra-@rings or recital
of detailed descriptions may be d1lusory. In no case was the perciDicnt
asked to replicate or describe unfamiliar or unknown object-s. A low
bit rate -may trigger detailed stored associations which in themselves
have high information content.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIOINS
No -matter how gifted the paragnost existing lgnor6ntio 6f Ahe basis
of paranar-mal phenomena together with the capricious and unreliable
nature of the channel dictate that information derived from this source
can never stand alone and must be used with caution. Extrasensory
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information should nt bent supplement normal information or guide its
collection, but should never serve in place of it. Even such limited
use of this information channel would seca@@ require Tnuch more detailed
investigation of its character and limitations. A certain bare zaini-mum
of understanding, or at least experience, is required to establish
` @s
confidence. ExiDerimental 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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