,,'@,t,'\:@,-.@pproved'IF0,r al~,.ase2QDl/03/26:CIA-RD~bt~'b~Yd~ftow doidd4i,-Yu, WAY JECE - EDITOIIIIAN' G)11('@,'001 I IL111),11116CS & Sociol Sciences Ply'lliment-ol Psvt hology & socioloj@y (2 1 r) I m7) -.!,1 "5 April 26, 1976 Mr- Robert W. Lucky, EdiLor PrOcccdill@'.') of the 1HEE :345 1"'111AL 47th Street Now York, New York 10017 Dear Mr. Lucky: I have just read, with considerable il)(:CrCfiL, all llrLiCle in tile MArCh ifMILIC Of Lhe PrOCCedings of, the T'E'111F by it. E. Puthoff and R. T.,irg entILI(Id "A PercTtual cliannol for Illf'.'orlivition Transfer Over Kilolll(Aer DisCanCCfl: HiriLoriClll j,crtipccLive aild -HOCCIA RoSearch." These .1uLhorS IVIVe urlderLakcll A Serie'114 of potellftnily signiricalit "'tudie.9 into a topic of obvious inLerest to all increasingly lnrge mmfl)er of individuals, doille, so utilizing what appearn to be approp rill (-.c Lochiliquen takoll frMI'LlIC arscnal of ubjeeLiVe nintho-dologic-'4, wally cir. the P"t'lloT.F4 IVIVO j)V0Vi01lSly diSLingui8hod Lhemnc Ivor, using Ili ro.,joarch in 010 1111LUral riciencen. it in Certainly nil understaLemolic to any Livit. such a controvornial topic as En' re- (Itill-08' 0Xtl.-,l0'VdjAl,'1rily pi' -ocisc and CaVCfU1 11)(ILhodfl, espeCially Woll ilklftOd to eXclurit, Hio blinis for all LhoSe nagging cricicirmis oftell irreverently hurl0d lit tile Pill-111- j)SyC1lo10V,iSL--fraUd, inadequate Control.,;, improct'sc and illcompleLo. reporting of 1n, itill1rol)OV SLIItistiCS, proper ;UltiSLUS 'imj)roj)er1y utied, and, especially, Clie pCellonct! (if nunierous confounding variables %41iich Vary WiCh tile i1)dCj)(!11dCnt Varilibi '.CH in 014-Ir 0XI)CIrimontal dosigns irk such a wny t1wit Lhef3o other uncontrolled variablen remilin 1.() I)OCCIlLially account for tile givon results. Indeed, the aut1lors. 1:11011114elven lippill-vill.1y S(It 011L to i'lellieVe Cilin goal, What tiley reCer Lo an Clioir "principal responnibillLy- ,uous conditions the biasic i""fluo or. wilether or lloL thin clll@ntl Lo resolve Lmder unambip of paranormal perception phenomenon exists" (pps. 334-335), Unlortunntely, tiie wodt,1 for Lheir study follows tile cradiLiolial qLrat"i)."olm", of Lhe pampnychologifiLil ill till! Uillited States and Europe, rat:hcr than the method they no doubt oLhorwitic Line, in their non-bobavioial research in tile matUral sciences (iind I inighL add LlviL is Inrgoly followed in experimental psycholo,;y). As we shall indicate, Lhe connequence of LhL6 is LhaL they must necessarily fall far short in fulfilling their sraLed "princilml responsibility." It is the essence of the oxperiniontal inethod-in contrast to naturalint@c, observation, Vila survey tochnique, CorrelaLional procedures, field studies, and Lhe "Theoretical model" of the parapsychologists (Girdon, 1962, p. 360)-.-Lo in faCL. CrCaLa Approved For Release 2001/03/26 96-00787ROO0200080043-7 Godmill. 'It lit 11)l ill' I 1holy S1 11,114 o 0111vilo Ill I o I \vImill 1 11114,111, 4 1 Mr. ROIAWMvP4--Fqr RM@go;e 2&1/03/26: CIA-RDP96-00787ROQ9200080043a 26, 1 git) I'Voccedings of the ME Page 2 Lhe Conditions IlCCCSSJIrY f-01: "Unambi@,,uousl' re,';oILICiOll Of fUl-IdallICIntal qUORkAMIS 10AICC 0111Z thi.,,; meolo(l peri,,)iLs iw@.inilpulation and control of liotentially conroundim; variableli I))' Chn emillontly sensible Ilicthod of the critical factors under ctudy, nild SYSCE@IllatiCally ObBOrVillil their CifCCLS Llpml oLhol: selected and measurable Variableli 1,AILle holding those pocencially conlounding, Variablell under til"11C collurol Vill flu(.-I' Lvelmiques as randomization, constancy, Counterba lanc i ng, Illatching, etc, Tile mani- iluinted variiibles are called in(itopenclon-It, Variables (IVS), and the Variablen senALiVo to tile effects of the IV is called, the dependent Variables (DVs). Thin iinf3 been exprossod quite eloquently by E.bbinghaus (1964, p. 7; original: 1885) in his incorporation of this ox)crilllontal mothod into hit; researches into human memoryl it successful effort whichwolitfal: in illustrating ill 1885 the 22@4(-!r of this method in ocienLifically understanding human bchavior-including perception, "We all know of what thts, mothod consiats: an attempt is made to keep constant the iivasn of conditions which have proven themselves causally connected with a certain rct;ult; one of these conditions is isolato(l from tile rest an(I variccl in a way that can be numerically described; then the accompanying change oil the side of the effect is ascertained by measurement or Computation. " The simplest experiments, therefore, are those employing but 11 1.3ingle IV and n single DV, and, in the fundamental situation in which an effort i1i being mildO to demonsLrate the shoor existence of a phenomenon (as in tile preiient ntudy, without: inquiring and contingenciet)), the two biloic Valul@f I Or lovels or variates of the IV may be Simply designated tile "experimonLal" (i.e. , thC factor @ , -operationally defined-in some amount) and "Control" condition , _p_p_ 2. (i.e., tile factor appears as a zero aiiiounL) . A helpful example might I)(-,- a druj,- 1;tLI(ly ill N,11lich w(., only walltecl to @Ilow if Llin MakeS runi'ling 11 1111170 diffiCUlt-or not! Ill thill flitunuioll, wo wouJ.d experi- .111011tally compare the drug condition'ti oCfecLs Vo a condition otll(,rwf,f',e I(Ionttctil t)) which, howev is absent! Thiq would constitute One of Li;,(@- ni@;fl@ ful)(11111wtIL111 or, the drup _L@jjl control conditions used in experimental scicove in genornl, and P>,perim(!IlLal LD11. r r I pSYCI)010J'y in particular, Although of Coul-se other empirical control conditiono nre. po" Oil what one is Controllil Cor e speak, by the way, of "colltrol ;stble, depending W condition"S and not "Controllodil C0711@iLion, since we mi.1mme all collditic;1111 ill tho experiment are controlled in some wily. 'I'llis is opparelitly a Bource OIL' I-011ch confuldon ill Ole parapsycholoj"icnl literature, Where coll."Lillit reforence is mode to "controlled laboratory conditions," "scientifically controlled collditioll"I'll and so 011, Lhorchy creating the illusion that basically well conceivod control , con(Iftiong m-o bving ufieLl. Ill the pr@!seilt example, if One is concerned thaf: the 11!1()@Ilure of iniectioll CaUlWn orrors to be made on the maze, then we nood a PJ@ac-VLI-rl control ill which S. ia Crmit.ed identically ar. in the drug condition, but salino rather than tile drugo iS in.JeCt(!d- Ili this case, we "control for" tile injection procedurc'ii offectn on the DV by 110](111111, thi.,; potentially confounding variable constant and can LhorLy- evalunte it and prevent it from creating the erroneous impression that the drug, per ac, produced the orrora S T11"Ido oil the maze, when in fact the drug injecLioi-i procedure itself may have Pr9duced that effect on the DV. As we know, in the present study, the basic procedura described was ctirried ouL With all the subjects (six in ilujnber for section Ill studies through subsection "0", Approved For Release 2001/03/26 : CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0200080043-7 Mr, RAppromecLFnryFeJea&e24Q1/03/26 : CIA-RDP96-00787ROW0008000rh 26, 1.976 Proceedings of the IEEE Page two more in section and fivu moro in section "F"; we limit our criLique, to the more detailed accounts given in sectionsA-1) raLher than tlie very .91(etchy ninterini. in sections E ancl 17-, altliough all tliC80 StUCIICS used ensentially the came Procedure and varies mainly oil the basis Of SUbjCCt Ch0r,'iCCCri_rtiCS,). That in, nll the ct.'s wore administered, as it woro, tho snino. bnsic trontment condfAi i, and were 01 thus all Part of the same "clairvoyant" esnenLially in the Ss making an effort @o somehow Linvision n remote Larget. Accunily, all we know of the Tnstructions to Clio S, so critical in (ietermining tile' operaLlonal derillitLon Of this condition, is Clint L'Fle 11romoLc-viewing subject wrla naked to describe his impressions of Clio targot site into a tape recorder and to muke imy drawings lie thought approp'riiate (p.335)," since Clio authora (10 not J,,,ive tin Hic actj-111 insLrucLions. in any case, for each S, there (lid indee(l exist n "remote targcL" designated by a "targeL toam" or I'domarcation Coalill, nitunted at nome geographical location nearby Clio SRI laboratory, although the theoretical rationale for this Lenm'f, existence and its role in the procedure is ll('V(lr really logically ))resenLed by tile author-save only for an historical Precedent enUablished working informally W1.01 Mr. Ingo Swann (j). 334) and perhaps the anecdotal "pilot experiment" (1).330) whern one of Clio authors functioned in this cnpacicy as it I'downrclition tennill mi(l, we infer, grew quite excitedaild impressed With a SUbJ0Ct'13 (10SCriptiO118 Of SOM0 Hit013 lie visited, where Clio subject supposedly lind no particular prior information about tile siLa in question. This situation, we shall cletail InLer, results in conniderable ambiguity in Clio designation Of the "targot" (is it. the lltnrgct,-perecived-by-tllc-Lelirr,", or is it the physical stimulus of Clio target, and no on?), The whole procedure, cirriod out undcr whaL Clio nulhora describe nn "rigidly controlled scientific conditions (j).334)", -and including tile subsequent Judging procedure we shall discuss in some deLail IaLor, could hn@ve been callcd an "experi- menLall' condicion comparable to tile "drUg prosenL11 condition in tile example above It. there had been a control condition with which Co compare it (comparable to tile, 11placabo, or "no\drug'" Conditions ill our- example) , that in, 11 Condition ill which nil of 1.11o preceding proce(lures were exrictly followed but ill the absenco of What Wall j)r(!V1.0Uf;1Ly !2LLL1r_111_11.L1_11lll:z and LIJ)OCtiv.0.1y defined an Clio ITI__@moto-viewingll condition (note the importance of k2l) spo.ificaLion of the conditions undar which the "remol-.o-v1vwLn);' is to occur, because without Chat: there can be no objective controlled Vflrilltfoll of tile condition since one would never know quite whcni the experimental Coll(] I fll@vd i n t lie f i rs t 1) lace ! ) .As Clio mat@tqr nuinds, since only one comliLion wikn run ill study, wo really have neither expe-rinionLal not.- control conditions (becadne tile Lerrim nre defined relative to each OLhcV); and since Chat in the calle, we really have no IV; and since we have no IV, wo actually (10 not oven have ono, experiment (let alone tile 50 or so claimed by the authors in this oingle Pub I ica Lion- -1). 330). Tile I)V,,o[ course, also deserves carefulocrutiny, since hypotheoized IV efCceLli are evaluated in terms of cliangen in DV monsureo. In this study, Clio actual "numbor" obtained an the basic raw datum wIS the iMliVJ.dLVl1 ranking or I'macclill number of a sub.loct'.13 tape recorded doscripLion (supposedly of it "ttirl"(!L"), with nome anpoct (perhaps) of a nearby geographical location. The number could nnaume tiny valuo from 11111 to 11911 , where "Ill referred to the judge's estimate of a "bcf)L" match, Chrou),h "9" which was assigned to a match if it was a "worst" match for a given target, . NJ.no tar- gotn and nine (lc,,gcriptioiiswo-it--obt,'tine-d for each S. This was apparently an ordinal scalt, of measurement. 14c musL assume, irk the absence (rilso) of a specific report or the instructions to the judge, that the Judge know exactly wlinL his tank was in deter- mining Clio degree of correspondence between the Ss' descriptions and the judge'a own unspecified perceptions when physically present, at the ao-cn1led target, Approved For Release 2001/03/26 : CIA-RDP96-00787ROO0200080043-7 MV, l~ObAppmvedcFprReiease2,QP1/03/26:CIA-RDP9.6-.00787ROW00080043-q2ti, 0/0 Proceedings of the IEEE rago 4 We should, therefore, consider the I-)recitse Meaning of a "hit" under thene ci rcums ta nces. Evidently, a "hit" for the Es occurred when t-he geographical locus 11 1 they Called the "target" is judged to Corr'espolld to the S's description obtained while 010 "deMarca Lion tcam" was visitinv, a jmrcicular nftc. This was also, therefor-3, a situation where the S's corresponding dosciptimi was ant;igned a rank of "I". Since 9 targets were "experimented" with a given S, we lvive 9 separate jUdgmcnLn of rank carried out by a single given Judge. The. stim of ranl