CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080039-2

Approved For Release 2001/03/26 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080039-2
ASPR NEWSLETTER
R
(c)1976 AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, INC., 5 West 73rd St., New York, N., 10023. 212-799-5050
JULY 1976
PSI PHENOMENA IN SEARCH OF A
NEURAL FOOTHOLD
Jan Ehrenwald, M.D.
In neurological language "cerebral localization" means
assigning certain mental functions to a specific area in the
brain. I submit that our attempts to "localize" psi phe-
nomena have until recently been bogged down because
we were asking the wrong questions. Instead of trying to
pinpoint the origin of ESP or PK in a given brain region,
we must ask what it is that prevents our system from being
flooded by the steady influx of psi stimuli from the past,
the present and the future all the time.
I believe, furthermore, that we must not throw two dis-
parate classes of psi into one basket: namely, (1) spon-
taneous incidents of the type seen in crises, dreams,
trance states or the psychoanalytic situation-I would
describe these as need-determined -- and, (2) experi-
mental, forced-choice incidents of the card-guessing type.
They are of trivial, indifferent nature, possess no survival
advantage, and I would describe them as flaw-deter-
mined.
Focusing on flaw-determined phenomena, we can take
H. Bergson's filter theory as our point of departure. This
leads us to the reticular formation in the brain stem as the
structure which protects the organism from being flooded
by excessive stimulation from both inside and outside:
from sensory as well as extrasensory overload -- including
subliminal perceptions. I suggest that the same regulatory
function acts as a brake on the uncontrolled and indis-
criminate release of motor impulses that, if unchecked,
would wreak havoc in our social and physical environment.
In the end, it would exhaust the person's energy supply
like a Roman candle. Two clinical examples illustrate the
point. One is a paranoid schizophrenic's delusion of
drowning in a sea of social hostility; the other is a polter-
geist child's explosive acting-out of his pent-up destruc-
tive impulses.
How then do these considerations apply to typical
ESP-card tests-the forced-choice type of psi phenomena?
They suggest that the capriciousness of correct hits in
such experiments is due to the random occurrence of
minor flaws in the reticular formation's screening or in-
hibitory functions. These random flaws permit a few
equally capricious bursts of psi to intrude into the
subject's scoring pattern. This is why I describe these psi
effects as flaw-determined.
However, this hypothesis cannot account for the emer-
gence and central brain processing of those major,
need-determined psi experiences which occur in dreams,
crises, in the psychoanalytic situation or in telepathic
drawings. Such incidents involve mental events of a highly
complex natu Approved For Release 2001/03/26 : CIA-RDP96-00787R006200086039-2
Volume II Number 3
random firing of a few reti dar-formation neurons caught
napping on their jobs. 0 , point is illustrated by the
Wid Upton Sinclair telepathic
much-quoted Warcollier
drawing tests, and the Ormian-Krippner dream experi-
ments. Here the emergence of psi requires specific
selection and elaborate processing in higher brain centers.
Turning to such need dermined phenomena gives us
an added clue about the op: ation of psi in general. Let us
put telepathic drawings we by side with drawings made
by brain-injured patients : offering from lesions in the left
hemisphere. We are struck by a close resemblance
between the two. Both show a marked distortion and dis-
organization of the picture indeed skeptics, for this very
reason, tend to scoff at the poor quality of the average
telepathic drawing. How er, it is just this distortion
which sheds new light of the telepathic process itself.
The disorganization chas teteristic of psi phenomena
suggests that the telepath . percipient functions in much
the same way as does a br mn-injured patient with a lesion
in the left parieto-occipit:
ing, he suffers from opties.
unimpaired, he is unable
ceptions. The best such
..
region. Neurologically speak-
agnosia: although his vision is
make sense of his visual per-
patient can do is to process
them, however poorly, wist his (intact) right hemisphere.
If this is true, the concession is at hand that the tele-
pathic percipient's groping efforts to make sense of the
ESP target likewise car . the imprints of the right
hemisphere-the intelleen ally " inferior, " but intuitively
more perceptive side of he brain. In his drawings or
other ESP productions, th normal subject shows the same
tendency to distortion, isorganization and right-left
reversal as does the patient with disturbances of the left
parieto-occipital region.
This fact lends added support to the proposition that it is

the right hemisphere which presides over th
processing
mi emotiApproved For Release 2001/03/26 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080039-2
stimuli, while the reticular formation serves as a screen
protecting the person from being flooded and over-
whelmed by either need- or flaw-determined cx-
periences . or by both.
To sum up: psi phenomena have their neural foothold on
two levels of the central nervous system: one in the brain
stem, the other in the brain cortex. The emergence of a
given psi incident depends on minor irregularities in the
functioning of the reticular formation, coupled with the
compensatory functioning of the right hemisphere.
Note: A previous version of this article appeared in the
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Vol. 161, No. 6,
1975. A fuller statement will also be included in Dr.
Fhrenwald's forthcoming book, PARAPSYCHIATRY: A
STUDY OF PSI FUNCTIONS AND DYSFUNCTIONS.
ASPR HELPS
WITH AN INTERSESSION SYMPOSIUM
During January 1976 an Intersession symposium on
parapsychology was held at Ladycliff College, Highland
Falls, N. Y. for undergraduates there. It was initiated and
coordinated by Timothy Revers of the Psychology
Department. Several people connected with the ASPR
participated as lecturers and consultants. Since this was
the first time parapsychology had been extensively
covered in a course at Ladycliff, we asked Mr. Revers to
make some comments.
What were your major purposes in making this course
available?
Partly to respond to the students' great interest and
curiosity. Also I believe that such programs, if handled
well, can help get parapsychology into mainstream higher
education, where it has for too long been slighted.
How did you go about getting it included on the
Intersession program?
Many colleges use the January Intersession (a short term
between Fall and Spring terms) to introduce innovative
and experimental programs. Ladycliff's program is very
flexible; so there was no problem introducing a two-credit
course entitled "The Psychic Scene: An Introduction to
Parapsychology."
Did the faculty show interest? The administration?
To my delight the announcement of the course was met
with genuine excitement by many people in the College
community, including members of the psychology, philo-
sophy, history and art departments. While many ex-
pressed only slight familiarity with the research being
done, they were receptive to broadening our knowledge in
this dimension of man. Our president, Dr. Francis J.
Breidenback, especially encouraged me by his continuing
interest in the program's progress.
What point of view did you stress?
Both an experiential and a research approach were taken.
In discussing each topic we usually began by presenting
several case studies and then progressed to a review of the
research in that area. At midpoint in the two weeks, some
lassroom ESP experiments were conducted, with results
ggestive of marked psychic ability in one student at
st. At the end of the program, Dr. Parimal Das
Approved For Release 2001/03/26 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080039-2
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
."EXPLORING ESE AND PK" --- a new Collation of 27
key introductory arte, les from this NEWSLETTER, on a
wide range of parar schological subjects.
., by mail, $3.50
.New edition, Cours
and Other Study Opportunities
in Parapsychology revised as of June 1976. (Ready
carly in August.)
nd $2 with self-addressed #10
envelope, stamped : 24) to Education Department.
·VOLUME I (Issues <- 27) of NEWSLETTER. $10.
PLEASE ENCLOSE REMITTANCE WITH ORDER.
informally encouraged students to share their personal
psychic experiences. With the course background behind
them, this proved
be a successful session In
collaboration with the : SPR, I put together an exhibit of
photos with captions;
showed various aspects of recent
research, and drew con derable attention when displayed
in one of the college I always.
How did the studere . react?
Though, when the com > was announced, many students
apparently weren't ques sure what to expect of it. they
showed such interest bat we had to close registration
carly. A questionnaire which students filled out on the
final day showed surp ise at the extensiveness of the
research; a wish, by mme, that there had been some
"demonstrations" of t . chic phenomena in class; and a
feeling that they had les ned to distinguish better between
parapsychology and th. "occult." Some said they now
realized that this is an important dimension of human
nature to be taken senously.
Do you plan to repes this another year?
Definitely. Eventually
hope to offer it as an elective
during the regular school year. I believe this can be done if
the quality of such exp. imental programs is maintained
at a high level. This w df be the best way to dispel the
skepticism of parapsychology's opponents.
The success of the pagram encouraged me to offer a
summer four week evening seminar at Ladycliff in June
entitled "Current Issue in Psychology," for laymen. It
dealt primarily with pa. apsychology, altered states and
death and dying.