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SRI
®
STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Menlo Park, California 94025 · U.S.A.
3 June 1975
Proposal for Research
SRI No. ISU 75-124
SENSING OF REMOTE EM SOURCES
(PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES)
Part One -- Technical Proposal
Prepared for :
.
ELEX 03X
Naval Electronics Systems Command
Washington, D.C. 20360
Attn:
Mr. Paul Freund
Prepared by :
Harold Puthoff
Russell Targ
Electronics and Bioengineering
Laboratory
Approved :
Mamul. Jam
Earle D. Jones, Director
Electronics and Bioengineering Laboratory
Bouman Com
Bonnar Cox, Executive Director
Information Science and Engineering Division
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Proposal for Research SRI No. ISU 75-124
SENSING OF REMOTE EM SOURCES (PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES)
I
INTRODUCTION
For the past three years we have had a program in the Electronics
and Bioengineering Laboratory of SRI to investigate those characteristics
of human perception which appear to fall outside the range of well-
understood perceptual/processing capabilities. The phenomena of interest
pertain to the ability of certain individuals to detect remote electro-
magnetic stimuli which appear to be well shielded against detection.
Of particular interest is a certain class of apparent coupling be-
tween remote electromagnetic stimuli and the human nervous system as
detected by the measurement of physiological responses, when overt re-
sponses (e.g., verbal reports) provide no evidence for such registration.
'SRI proposes to undertake a one-year research program to investigate
the characteristics of, and if possible to determine the mechanisms re-
sponsible for such coupling.
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II . BACKGROUND
In a number of laboratories evidence has been obtained indicating
the existence of an as-yet-unidentified channel wherein information is
observed to couple from remote electromagnetic stimuli to the human
nervous system as indicated by physiological response, even though
overt responses such as verbalizations or key presses provide no evidence
for such information transfer. Physiological measures have included
plethysmographic response and EEG activity."," Kamiya, Lindsley,
Pribram, Silverman, Walter, and others have suggested that a whole range
of EEG responses such as evoked potentials (EPs), spontaneous EEG, and
the contingent negative variation (CNV) might be sensitive indicators
of the detection of remote stimuli not mediated by usual sensory .
processes.4
A pilot study was therefore undertaken at SRI to determine whether
EEG activity could be used as a reliable indicator of information trans-
mission between an isolated subject and a remote stimulus. Following
the earlier work by others, we assumed that perception could be indicated
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, without success, to detect EP changes in a
subject in response to a single stroboscopic flash stimulus observed
by another subject." Kamiya suggested that because of the unknown tem-
poral characteristics of the information channel, it might be more
appropriate to use repetitive bursts of light to increase the probability
of detecting information transfer.
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 H.
Puthoff, Nature 252, 18 October 1974, and reprinted in the IEEE Communica-
tions 13, January, 1975.
In the design of the study it was assumed that the application
of remote stimuli would result in responses similar to those
obtained under conditions of direct stimulation. For example,
when normal subjects are stimulated with a flashing light,
their EEG typically shows a decrease in the amplitude of the
. resting rhythm and a driving of the brain waves at the fre-
quency of the flashes. We hypothesized that if we stimulated
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one subject in this manner (a putative sender), the EEG of
another subject in a remote room with no flash present
(a receiver), might show changes in alpha (9-11 Hz) activity,
and possibly EEG driving similar to that of the sender,
either by means of coupling to the sender's EEG, or by
coupling directly to the stimulus.
We informed our subject that at certain times a light was
to be flashed in a sender's eyes in a distant room, and
if the subject perceived that event, consciously or uncon-
sciously, it might be evident from changes in his EEG output.
The receiver was seated in a visually opaque, acoustically
and electrically shielded double-walled steel room shown in
Figure 1. The sender was seated in a room about 7 m from the
receiver.
We initially worked with four female and two male volunteer
subjects. 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 were positive.
A Grass PS-2 photostimulator placed about 1 m in front of the
sender was used to present flash trains of 10 s duration. The
receiver's EEG activity from the occipital region (Oz), referenced
to linked mastoids, was amplified with a Grass 5P-1 preamplifier
and associated driver amplifier with a bandpass of 1-120 Hz.
The EEG data were recorded on magnetic tape with an Ampex SP
300 recorder.
-
On each trial, a tone burst of fixed frequency was presented
to both sender and receiver and was followed in one second by
either a 10 s train of flashes or a null flash interval presented
to the sender. Thirty-six such trials were given in an experi-
mental session, consisting of 12 null trials -- no flashes following
the tone -- 12 trials of flashes at 6 f.p.s. and 12 trials of flashes
at 16 f. p.s., all randomly intermixed, determined by entries
from a table of random numbers. Each of the trials generated
an 11-s EEG epoch. The last 4 s of the epoch was selected for
analysis to minimize the desynchronising action of the warning
cue. This 4-s segment was subjected to Fourier analysis on a
LINC 8 computer.
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SA-2613-14
FIGURE 1
SHIELDED ROOM USED FOR EEG EXPERIMENTS
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Spectrum analyses gave no evidence of EEG driving in any re-
ceiver, although in control runs the receivers did exhibit
driving when physically stimulated with the flashes. But
of the six subjects studied initially, one subject (H.H. ) showed
a consistent alpha blocking effect. We therefore undertook
further study with this subject.
Data from seven sets of 36 trials each were collected from this
subject on three separate days. This comprises all the data
collected to date with this subject under the test conditions
described above. The alpha band was identified from average
spectra, then scores of average power and peak power were ob-
tained from individual trials and subjected to statistical
analysis.
Of our six subjects, H.H. had by far the most monochromatic EEG
spectrum. Figure 2 shows an overlay of the three averaged
spectra from one of this subject's 36-trial runs, displaying
changes in her alpha activity for the three stimulus conditions.
Mean 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. case than in the
0 f.p.s. in all seven peak power measures and in six out
of seven average power measures. Note also the reduced effect
in the case in which the subject was informed that no sender
was present (Run 3). It seems that overall alpha production
was reduced for this run in conjunction with the subject's ex-
pressed apprehension about conducting the experiment without a
sender .. This is in contrast to the case (Run 7) in which the
subject was not informed.
Siegel's two-tailed t approximation to the nonparametric randomi-
zation test was applied to the data from all sets, which in-
cluded two sessions in which the sender was removed. Average
power on trials associated with the occurrence of 16 f.p.s. was
significantly less than when there were no flashes (t = 2.09,
d.f. = 118, P < 0.04). The second measure, peak power, was
also significantly less in the 16 f.p.s. conditions than in
the 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 associated with 16 f.p.s., but the effect
was not statistically significant.
As part of the experimental protocol the subject was asked
to indicate conscious assessment for each trial as to
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6
POTENTIAL (arbitrary units)
16
-
.
5 Hz
10 Hz
15 Hz
· THREE CASES - 0, 6 and 16 Hz flashes (12 trial averages)
SA-2613-15
FIGURE 2 OCCIPITAL EEG FREQUENCY SPECTRA, 0 TO 20 Hz, OF ONE SUBJECT (H.H.)
ACTING AS RECEIVER, SHOWING AMPLITUDE CHANGES IN THE 9-11 Hz
BAND AS A FUNCTION OF STROBE FREQUENCY
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Table 1
EEG DATA FOR H. H. SHOWING AVERAGE POWER AND PEAK POWER IN THE
.. 49 - 11 Hz BAND, AS A FUNCTION OF FLASH FREQUENCY AND SENDER.
EACH TABLE ENTRY IS AN AVERAGE OVER 12 TRIALS.
Flash
Frequency
Sender
Average Power
0
16
0
Peak Power
6
16
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 informed)
.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
318.1
180.6
202.3
(Subject not
informed)
Averages
56.8 49.9 43.1
214.5
169.8
153:5
-12% . - 24% (P <. 04)
-21%
-28% (P <. 03)
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which stimulus was generated. The guess was made known to
the experimenter via one-way telegraphic communication. An
analysis of these guesses has shown them to be at chance, in-
dicating the absence of any supraliminal cueing, so arousal as
evidenced by significant alpha blocking occurred only at the
noncognitive 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. Low level recordings were made from saline of 12 kl resistance
in place of the subject, with and without the introduction of 10 Hz,
50 uV signals from a battery-operated generator. The standard experi-
mental protocol was adhered to and spectral analysis of the results
were carried out. There was no evidence in the spectra of activity
associated with the flash frequencies, and the 10 Hz signal was not
perturbed by the remote occurrence flicker.
In another control procuedure a five foot 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 Hz to 30 KHz with a minimum gain of 200,000. The
output of the amplifier was connected to one input of a C.A.T. 400C
"averager. " Two-second sweeps, triggered at onset of the tone, were
taken once every 13 seconds for approximately two hours, for about 550
samples. No difference in noise level between the foreperiod and the
onset of flicker was observed.
Finally, no sounds associated with flicker could be detected in the
receiver's chamber.
From these experiments we conclude that
. A mechanism of extreme human perceptual sensitivity exists .
whereby the occurrence of remote electromagnetic stimuli
can be detected by means of a perceptual modality not mediated
by physical parameters as yet identified.
. The EEG procedure described appears to be a sensitive technique
for detecting the occurrence of such information transfer,
even in the absence of overt cognitive response.
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III
PROPOSED PROGRAM
A.
Objective
The objective of the proposed program is to investigate the character-
istics of, and if possible to determine the mechanisms responsible for,
the coupling of remote electromagnetic stimuli to human detection
modalities, utilizing physiological response (specifically, EEG) as an
indication of such registration.
. B.
Technical Considerations
The investigation of unusual sensory capabilities has historically
been fraught with unreliability. Therefore, such findings as ours re-
ported in Section II certainly need replication and extension under
as wide a variety of circumstances as possible and with as great a re-
finement as possible.
In addition to the detailed study of Section II, further exploratory
work in our laboratory included analysis of the EEG data by a wide dy-
namic range fast Fourier Transform (FFT) spectrum analyzer with special
permanent record power spectral density display, and replication of the
original experiment in a second EEG facility utilizing yet a different
analysis technique (on-line fast Fourier analyzer involving 5-sec averages).
In the latter experimentation in which left and right occiputs were in-
dividually monitored, cerebral localization of the effect in the right
hemisphere was observed, providing further control against artificial
production of the effect and having implications for hemispheric
specialization with regard to pattern recognition which is compatible
with the results of other experimentation."
Further, SRI personnel are consulting with a number of other lab-
oratories in various stages of replication of the original SRI experi-
ment, with early results reported as successful."
C.
Statement of Work
With the above considerations in mind we propose replication and
extension of our original experiment described in Section II in which
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we found evidence for EEG correlates (alpha reduction arousal response)
of the detection of remote strobelight stimuli. The goal of such repli-
cation is the further delineation of the characteristics of the coupling
mechanism under increasingly severe experimental conditions to com-
pletely circumscribe potential mundane mechanisms.
To accomplish the proposed research objectives, SRI will furnish
the personnel and facilities required for the following efforts.
(1)
Evidence for detection of remote strobelight stimuli as
indicated by EEG correlates shall be investigated as dis-
cussed in Section II, with the addition of
a.
Use of a self-contained battery-driven shielded
strobelight to eliminate potential pickup and re-
radiation by a.c. power lines;
b. Use of self-contained battery-powered EEG apparatus;
c. Use of increased distance between source and receiver
(up to kilometers) ; and
c. Use of alternative shielded room facilities.
(2) Independent experimentation and analysis on the part of con-
sultant Dr. Robert Ornstein, Langley-Porter Neuropsychiatric
Institute, University of California Medical Center, San
Francisco, has been arranged to provide for intra-program
checks and balances on protocols, data gathering, and
analysis.
(3)
Use of alternative non-EM source stimuli (e.g., audio
tones) to follow up previous work which suggests that
physiological response to remote stimuli may constitute
a class of non-specific arousal behavior in response to
general stimuli.1º
(4). The exploratory nature of the program requires that 15
percent of the effort will be set aside to explore, with
: the client's cognizance, additional avenues of research
that may surface as high-priority items during the course
of the program.
SRI proposes to provide approximately 7 man-months of professional
effort, including 2 man-months of a consultant neuropsychologist for the
independent substudy, and including an appropriate subject pool and
other support toward accomplishment of the foregoing.
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D.
Reporting Schedule.
Three quarterly progress reports will be delivered one each on the
tenth day of each third contract month. A final technical report. will,
be delivered 13 months after the commencement date of the contract.
Throughout the program the investigators plan to remain in close
communication with the client.
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IV QUALIFICATIONS OF SRI
SRI is an independent, nonprofit organization performing a broad
spectrum of research under contract to business, industry, and govern-
ment. The Institute, which was formerly affiliated with Stanford Uni-
versity, was founded in 1946. Its operations include the physical and
life sciences, industrial and development economics, management systems,
engineering systems, electronics and radio sciences, information science,
urban and social systems, and various combinations of disciplines within
these fields.
SRI has no endowment; payments by clients under research contracts
and grants amount to approximately $80 million annually and are used to
cover all operating costs. Such revenue also helps the Institute main-
tain the excellence of its research capabilities.
SRI's facilities include more than one million square feet of office
and laboratory space and incorporate the most advanced scientific equip-
ment, including unique instrumentation developed by the staff. The bulk
of these facilities and most of the research staff are located at the
Institute's headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Regional office
locations include Washington, D.C. ; New York City; Chicago; Houston;
and Los Angeles.
Of SRI's total staff of almost 3000, approximately one-half are in
professional and technical categories. Some 450 members of the profes-
sional staff have Ph. D. or equivalent degrees; 600 others have their
Master's degree.
The project leader and other research personnel who would be active
in the proposed work are members of the Electronics and Bioengineering
Laboratory. This group currently occupies 40,000 square feet of labora-
tory space, divided into many separate laboratory rooms, technicians'
work areas, a machine shop, and a computer room housing a LINC-8 and
related terminals and equipment. In addition, a well-equipped computation
center is available.
The Electronics and Bioengineering Laboratory employs a number of
technicians and engineering assistants and has available electronics
material and test equipment useful in the research proposed here.
Especially suited to this work are a number of shielded rooms with various
instrumentation available.
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Finally, a backup team of psychologists and statisticians can be
brought into the project on an internal consulting basis.
The proposed research will be conducted by SRI staff members within
the Electronics and Bioengineering Laboratory under the direction of
Mr. Earle Jones. The principal investigators will be Dr. Harold Puthoff
and Mr. Russell Targ whose biographies are attached. Dr. Evan Harris
Walker of Aberdeen Proving Ground and Dr. Ralph Kiernan of the Stanford
University Medical School may be called on to act as consultants through-
out this program.
In addition to the scientific personnel directly engaged in the re-
search aspects of this investigation, SRI has established an internal
technical advisory board. This board consists of several directors of
SRI's operating divisions, together with our legal counsel, all under
the chairmanship of the senior vice president for research. The function
of this advisory board is not only to make recommendations and approve
or disapprove every new direction taken by the Institute in this research
area, but also to monitor related ongoing projects as well.
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REFERENCES
1. Dean, E. D., Int. J. of Neuropsychiatry 2, 439 (1966).
2.
Tart, C. T., Int. J. of Parapsychology 5, 375 (1963).
3.
... Duane. T. D., and Behrendt, T., Science 150, 367 (1965).
4.
Cavanna, R. (Editor), Psi Favorable States of Consciousness,
Parapsychology Foundation, New York (1970).
5.
Ref. 4, pp. 143-169.
6.
Ref. 4, pp. 158-159.
7.
Hill, D., and Parr, G., Electroencephalography: A Symposium on
its Various Aspects, Macmillan, New York (1963).
8.
Ornstein, R. (Editor), The Nature of Human Consciousness, W. H.
Freeman and Co., San Francisco (1973). See especially articles
by M. S. Gazzaniga (pp. 87-100) and J. E. Bogen (pp. 101-125) .
9.
Artley, J. L., Physiological Correlates of Psi Processes, HEW-PHS
Proposal (1975).
10. D. H. Lloyd, New Horizons Transactions of the Toronto Society for
Psychical Research 1, No. 2 (1973).
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