Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0200120002-7 DRAFT CLIENT PRIVATE March 1, 1976 Proposa'l for Research SRI No. isH 76-6& DETECTION OF REMOTE LOW-LEVEL EM SOURCES Part One--Technical Proposal Approved: Prepared by: Harold PuLhoff Russell Targ Electronics and Bioengineering Laboratory Earle D. Jones, Director Electronics and Bioengineering Laboratory Bonnar Cox, Executive Director Information Science and Engineering Division Approved For Release 2000/081.10 : CIA-RDP96-00787ROO02001200 DRAFT . i;p CLIENT PRIVATE 04-1 Proposal for Research SRI No. ISH 76-68 DETECTION OF REMOTE LOW-LEVEL EM SOURCES I INTRODUCTION For the past three years we have had a progral in the Electronics and Biloengineering Laboratory of SRI to investigate human registration and perception of remote signals Of special interest is the ability of certain individuals to detect remote ele cLromagnetic stimuli which appear to be well shielded against detection. This includes a certain class of a.ppa rent coupling between remote electromagnetic (strobelight) stimuli and the human nervous system as detected by the measurement of variations in the subject's electroenceph- alogram (EEG), when overt responses (e.g., verbal reports) provide no evidence,of such registration. In this unsolicited proposal SRI proposes to undertake.a one-month EEG research program to investigate the abilities and characteristics, with regard to remote EM source detection, of an individual whose services will be made available by the client. C[ A I A I 10 N DRAFT HS is Approved For Release 2000/08/10 CIA-RD 96-00787R.000200120002-7 17 7~ r d or Release 20001QVI 0CIA-RDP96-00787ROO020012000 J CLIENT PRIVATE 11 BACKGROU~D In a number of laboratories evidence has been obtained indicating the existence of 'an as-yc t-uaidontified channel wI)eroin inCormation is obsorved to couple from remote electromagnetic stimuli to the 11UM-In nervous svsLem as indicated by physiological response, even Lhough overt responses such as vorbalizaLions or lroy presses provide no evidence for such information transfer. Physiological measures have included 1 2 3 pleLhysmographic response and EEG activity. Kamiya, Lindsley, 1.1ribram, Silverman, Walter, and others have suggested that a whole. range of EEG respoi.-ises such as evoked potent ial s ' (EPs), sponLano ous EEG, and the contingent negative variation (CNV) might be sensitive indicators of the detection of remote stimuli not mediated by usual SOYIS Dry 4 processes. A piloL study was therefore undertaken at SRI to dcLeriiiine wlict-hor EEG activity could be used as a reliable indicator oE information trans- Mission between an isolated subject and a remozo stimulus. Following Clio earlier work by others, we assumed that perception could be indicaLed by such a measure even in the absence of verbal or other overt indicators. With regard to choice of stimulus, it should be noted that Silver- man and Buchsbaum attempted, wiLhout succe.ss, to detect EP changes in a subject in response to a s.'inglo stroboscopic flash stimulus observed by another subject.6 Kamiya suggested that because of the unknown.Lem- ,poral characterisLics of Clio information channel, it mighL.be more appropriate to.use repetitive bursts of light to increase tho probability of detecting information transfer.6 Therefore, in our study we chose, to use repetitive light bursts as stimuli. The results, described below, have been reported in the open literature under the title "Information Transfer Under Conditions of Sensory Shielding," by R. Targ and 11. Puthoff" Nature 252,, -18 October 1974, and reprinted in the 11SEE Communica- Lions 0, 'January, 1975. In Llio design of the study iL was assumed Chat Clio application of remote stimuli would result in responses similar to those. obCained under conditions of direct stimulation. Por example, whon noriiial subjects are stimulated wiLh a flashing light, Choi r EEG typically shows a decrease in Clio amplitude of Clio resting rliyLlim and a drivirig of the brain waves at Clio 'fro- quency of the hashos.'7 We hypothesized that if we sLimulated 2 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 : CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0200120002-7 6 A CLLENT PRIVAT '%00200120004 ~r ed For Release 2000/0 0 :,ClA-RDP96-0D78M one subject in this manner (a [)uta-Li ve sender), the EEG of- another subject in a. remot-o-'room with no flash present (a receiver), might show changes inalpha (9-11 Itz) activity, and possibly EEG driving similar to that of the sender, either by means Of' COUPliI_1g to the sender's EEG., or by coupting directly to the sLimul'us. We informed our subject that at certain times a 'light was to be flashed in a sender's eyes in a distan4_ room, and if Lhe subject-, perceived Ch at event, consciAsly or uncoa- sciously, it might be evident from changes in his EEG output. The receiver was scaLed in a visually opaque, acoustically and electrically shielded double-walled steel room shown in Figure -1 .The sencler was seated. in a room about 7 iii from the .receiver. I We initially worked with four female and two male voluriLcer subjecLs. These were designated "receivers." The senders were either other subjects or the experimenters. We decided beforehand to run one.or two sessions of 36 trials each with each subject in this selection procedure, -and to do a more extensive Study With any subject whose results w.cre positive A Grass PS-2 photosLimulator placed -about 1. m in front of the sender Was used to present flash trains of 1.0 s duration. The receiver's EGG acLivity.from Lhe occipital region (Oz), referenced to-linked mastoids, W'as amplified with a Grass 5P-1 preamplifier and associated driver amplifier with a bandpass of 1-120 Uz. The EEG data were recorded on magnetic tape with an Aml-)ex SP 300 recorder. On each trial, a tone burst of fixed frequency was presonLed to both seader and receiver and was followed in one second by either a 10 s train of flashes or a null flash interval [)rosenLed to the sender. Thirty-six such trials were given in an expcri- mental session, consisting of 12 null Urials--no flashes following the tone--.1-2 trials of flashes at 6 f.p.s. and 12 trials of flashes at 1-6 f.p.s., all. randomly intermixed, determined by enLries [rom a t:able of random numbers. 117ach of the trials genera.Lnd an UI-S l"IX; epoch. 4 s of Che epocli was seLectccl for I The last analysis to% minimize the d esynchronising action of Lhe warning C11C. This /1-S segment Was subjecLud to F-ourier aiialysis on a L-INC.8 computer. 3 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0200120002-7 z 7 r T. 7 1 'Aplfsro~ d For Release 2000/qU/ 0ClACkUN%-b1bVWM0020012000 Li FIGURE 1 SHIELDED ROOM USED FOR EEG EXPERIMENTS 02-7 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 CIA-RDP96-00787ROO02001200 SA-2613~1 4 CLIENT PRIVATE r~~ed For Release 20'00%W10 : CIA-RDP96-00787RO002001200Q?,-7 'A~p IcLrum analyses gave no. evidence of E EG driving in any re- ce-iver, although in control runs the receivers did exhibit driving when physically sLi'mul.aLod 'with the flashes. But of the six subjects studied initially, one subject showed a consistent alpha blocki'ng effect. We therefore undertook further study with this subject. DaLa from seven sets of 36 trials each were collected from this ,subject on. three separate days. This compri-ses all the data coll-ecLed Lo daLe with this subject under tl~e test condiLions described above. The alpha band was id.cnLified from average spectra, then SCOYCS of average _ power and peak power were ob- Lained from individual trials and subjected to statistical 'Llia,lysis'. E Of Our six S~lbjccLs~ [1.11. had by far Lhe most monochromatic EEG spectrum Figure 2 shows in ov-erlay of Lho three averaged spectra from one of this subject's 36-trial- rU].1S, displaying ,cs in her alpha activit for the three stimulus conditions. chang y Dlean values for the average power and peak power for each of the seven experimental sets are given in Table 1, The ,power measures were less in the 16,f.p.s. tase than in the 0 f.p.s. in all -seven peal, power measures and in sik out of seven average power measures. Note also the reduced effect in the case. tn which the subject was informed that no sender was present (Run 3), It seems that overall. al.plia production -is reduced for this run in con unction with the subject's ex- W j pressed apprehension about conducting the experiment withouL a sender.. This is,in contrast to the case (Run 7) in which the subject was not informed. Siegel's Lwo-Lailed L approximation to the noriparamon-ic randomi- zaLion Lost" was' applied to the data -from all sets, which ill.- ClUded two sessions in which the sender was removed. Average power on trials associated with the occurrence of 16 f.p.s. was less than when there were no flashes (L = 2.09Y d.f. = 118~ 11 < 0.04). The second measure, peak power, was also significantly loss in the 16 f.p.s. conditions than in Lho null. condition (t -- 2.16~ d.f. = 118~ P < 0.03). The average response in the 6 f.p.s. condition was in the same direction as that associaLed. with 16 f.p.s., but the effect: Wis noL staListical.Ly Significant. As parL of the experimental protocol the sub ject was asked to indicate conscious assessment for each trial as to 5 Approved For Release 2000/08/10 CIA-RDP96.-OO787ROO0200120002-7 A' 'Wi ved For Release 2000QP/l 0 CIA-RDP96-.00787ROO0200120OW7 L CLIENT PRIVATE 0,.6 SA-261 3- 15 FIGURE 2 OCCIPITAL EEG FRE QUENCY SPECTRA, 0 TO 20 Hz, OF ONE SUBJECT (Fo-i.) ACTING AS RECEIVER, SHOWING AMPLITUDE CHANGES IN THE 9-11 Hz BAND AS A FUNCTION OF STROBE FREQUENCY 6 Approved For Release 2000/08/10: CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0200120002-7 ~J 5 Hz lu tiz and 16 Hz flashos (12 trial avuages) THREE CASES CL -n 0 U) 00 0 55 (.0 T 00 -4 -4 Table I EEG DATA FOR H.H. SHM,,TU,-,G AVERAG" PGT,ER AN D P AK POWER !~N THE EQTT -9 11 Hz B-1-ND, AS A K"NCTION 0-7 FLASH FIR UENCY AND SENDER. T EACH TAB~E tNTRY IS AINN AVERAGE O~TER 12 TRTALS. Flash eak a l Power 6 Average 0 6 " 4 s h Power Freque-ncy 0 Freq ~e-~cy 6 Sender 16 S~en-er J.L. 94.8 84.1 76.8 357.7 329.2 289.6 R.T. 41.3 45.5 37.0 160.7 161.0 125.0 'No Sender 25.1 35.7 28.2 87.5 95.7 81.7 (Subject informied) J.L. 54.2 55.3 44.8 191.4 170.5 149.3 J.L. 56.8 50.9 32.8 240.6 178.0 104.6 R.T. 39.8 24.9 30.3 145.2 74.2 122.1 No Sender 86.0 53.0 52.1 3 18. 180.6 202.3 1 (I S u blect not informned) Averages 156.849.9 4-3.1- 214.5 169.8 153.5 -12% 2 4 7. (P<. -21% - 2 8 (P<.03) 0-/+) CL -n U) 0 0 -4 00 -7 U,~,~P~oved For Release 2000AW10 CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0200120002 CIJENT PRIVATE w1lich sLimul-us was generated. The guess was ma dc known to the experimenter via one-way LeLegraphic communication. An analysis of these guesses has shown.Lhem to be at chance, ill- dicaLing the absence of any supral"Llminal cueing, so arousal as evidenced by significant alpha blocking occurred only at the noncogniLive 'level of awareness. Several. control procedures were undertaken to, determine if these results were produced by system artifacts or by SUbtle cueing of the subject'. 1,ow level. recordings were made from saline of 12 ld_~ resistance in place of the subject, with and without the introduction of 10 117,~ 50 p.V signals from a batLery-operated generator. The standard experi- mental protocol. was adhered to and spectral analysis of the results were, carrield out.. There was no evidence in the spectra of activity asso~iatcd with the flash frequencies, and the, 10 Itz signal was not perturbed by the remote occurrence flicker. .In another conL-rol proc, edure a five fooL pair of leads was draped across the subject's chair (subject absent). The leads were connected to a Grass P-5 amplifier via its high impedance input probe. The band- width was set 0.1 11z to 30 Kliz with a minimum gain of 200,000. 7,110 output of L1.10 amplifier was connected to one input of a C.A.T. 400C 11averager." Two-second sweeps, triggered at onseL of the Lone., were Lal