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PARAPSYCHOLOGY, BIOLOGY, AND ANPSI
709
708
PARAPSYCHOLOGY AND OTHER FIELDS
organism at some level. Perhaps therefore we should look directly at changes in
psychophsiological aspects themselves as indicators of the presence of a psi mes-
sage. By so doing, we may be able to look crudely at the psi information during
relatively early stages of its processing within the organism. Although the data
will lack the richness of experience, they may be more consistent and may addi-
tionally eventually tell us a great deal about the processing elements themselves.
Targ and Puthoff (1974) flashed a strobe in the eyes of a sender and observed
the response of the receiver's occipital EEG. One agent-receiver pair was
selected for more extensive work, on the basis of preliminary success plus the
monochromatic EEG spectrum of the receiver. During strobe periods, the aver-
age power and peak power of the receiver's alpha rhythms significantly de-
creased, indicating partial alpha blockage to remote visual information. At the
same time, the subject was unable to guess with any accuracy above chance
which periods were strobe periods and which were control.
Tart (1963) found that subjects in a soundproof room showed a faster and
more complex EEG pattern plus more active GSR and plethysmograph responses
when a distant agent was receiving strong shocks than during control times. At
the same time, receivers showed no behavioral evidence of responsiveness to
these distant events, in terms of frequency of key presses made during shock vs.
control times. Kelly and Lenz (1976) employed a similar procedure with a re-
ceiver selected for monochromatic EEG, but without an agent. The receiver re-
laxed, eyes closed, and simply tried to visualize the target area and whether or
not the strobe was on. No attempt was made to guess when the strobe was on or
off. Using a variety of preliminary procedures, they obtained suggestive evi-
dence that the EEG responded differentially to stimulus vs. control conditions
and that the nature of the response may be dependent upon such parameters as
intertrial interval, body position. and so on. Duane and Behrendt (1965) found
some suggestion that increasing alpha abundance in one twin led to increased
alpha in a remote identical twin, but the overall results were not significant. The
Research Committee of the A.S.P.R. (1959) found no significant EEG changes
in receivers during times in which agents were being emotionally stimulated.
psi information, we have no a priori reason to assume one site more important
than another. To make evoked potential studies work for psi messages, explora-
tion of a variety of potential sites would seem to be mandatory before the ef-
fectiveness of evoked potentials as psi responses can be assessed.
Another EEG measure that could be used as an indicator of psi processing is
the contingent negative variation (CNV), a negative shift in cortical potential re-
corded by surface electrodes from the frontal portion of the brain. Also called
the expectancy wave, it is generally regarded as a sign that the organism is im-
minently expecting some specific form of stimulation to which it must respond.
Levin and Kennedy (1975) employed a reaction-time procedure to see whether
or not the presence of a CNV could serve as evidence for anticipation of a yet-to-
be determined event. Subjects were told to press a key when a green light ap-
peared but not when a red light appeared. Which light appeared was determined
by an RNG immediately before the light came on. In a preliminary study, sub-
jects' CNV's showed significantly more evidence of expectancy just before the
RNG selected green, the color to which the subject was to respond, than before
red. A confirmatory study produced chance results, however. This procedure is
very important, nevertheless, because the CNV represents a time-locked, precise
event in central nervous system information processing.
Several other studies have employed psychophysiological measures other than
the EEG. Tart's GSR and plethysmograph results have already been mentioned.
Dean (1965), using a dream telepathy paradigm, found that active sending on
the part of an agent significantly influenced the abundance of rapid eye move-
ments during dream periods, even on occasions in which the subject's dream de-
scriptions were unrelated to the target.
Beloff. Cowles, and Bate (1970) found no evidence that subjects' galvanic skin
responses (GSR) were affected by mildly emotionally interesting messages sent
by a remote agent. nor did Barron and Mordkoff (1968), Dean (1969), or Sanjar
(1969). Rice (1966) found strong GSR deflections in receivers when the agents
were exposed to startling stimuli, e.g., sudden immersion of feet in cold water,
or hearing a blank cartridge fired. Hettinger (1952) claims that a group of pre-
selected sensitives showed increased GSR activity when agents several miles away
were stimulated or made to exercise, but does not provide sufficient details.
Lloyd (1973) employed an averaged cortical evoked potential as a measure of
responsiveness to the sudden onset of a distant stimulus. An agent was instruc-
ted to send a visual image each time a light flashed. During a run, 60 such
Figar (1959) measured peripheral vasomotor activity with a plethysmograph
and found some indication that a receiver's vasomotor activity increased when a
remote agent performed mental arithmetic. Unfortunately, no real attempt was
made to analyze the data blind, nor was any precise statistical evaluation carried
out. Esser, Etter, and Chamberlain (1967) found some indication that receivers'
vasomotor activity increased when agents attended to sentences or names of
emotional importance to the receivers, as opposed to control sentences, but the
authors did not attempt any statistical analysis. Dean (e.g., Dean, 1962, 1969;
flashes were entered on the EEG record in such a way that the EEG output be-
fore, during, and after the flash onset could be averaged to see if a coherent sig-
nal emerged in response to the onset of the remote stimulus. By visual inspec-
tion, such a cortical response seemed to be present. Lack of a control condition
prevented statistical analysis, however. Millar (1976) repeated this procedure
using control periods and found no evidence for psi. An important variable in
such studies is the recording site from which the EEG is taken. The best record-
'ing sites are well known for various kinds of ordina
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When there is a very large number of targets, such as all the drawable words in
a dictionary, data are best evaluated by a special formula developed by R. A.
Fisher (Carington, 1944). The baseline for chance expectation is determined by
the number of responses for a word (or other item) when it was not the target.
Tle method thus requires many test administrations with diverse targets. to pro-
više a large response pool. (Having a large response pool is especially important
because Carington, after years of working with the technique, found that it is
advisable to use narrow categories for scoring a hit. For example, he reports a
abstantially higher hit ratio when "elm" was scored correct only for the target
'Alm" than when elm, along with oak, maple, poplar, etc., were all classed
ogether as hits for any kind of tree.) A problem here is that any particular
malogue of response frequencies, such as the one Carington prepared, may be
mppropriate for subjects drawn from a different population or tested at a
; ferent time.
open-ended Responses. When the target is complex, no response is likely to be
Ompletely right or wrong. The standard way of scoring such data is to use blind
edges who score each response against each of the targets. For example, a sub-
st may try on ten nights to dream about whatever target picture an agent
opened, that night, to select from a target pool. Then each of three blind
dges (whose scores will be averagedy is presented with a 10 X 10 array. Along
e top are listed the ten pictures, in random order; down the side are the dream
ports. The judge rates (for example, on a scale of 0 to 100) how well the
cam reports for the first night correspond to each of the ten pictures. He then
atinues with ratings for each of the subsequent nights. Analysis of variance of
e array shows whether the ten correct targek-response pairings are significantly
fferent from the 90 incorrect pairings.
An alternative with the same general approach is to have the blind judge rank
ch response for how well it matches the various targets. With ten possibilities,
would enter into the array 1, 2, 3. .. 10 for each response. Some experi-
inters choose to class all high ranks together, and all low ranks together, but
ih pooling of scores discards so much information that it seems inadvisable.
`milar ratings or rankings can be used to judge the accuracy of "readings"
e histories). Good research must be double blind. The person for whom the
ding is held is absent. The proxy sitter (a blind notetaker) asks for the
ding and records it. The best judge of the accuracy of a reading is ordinarily
absent sitter for whom the sitting was held. Each absent shter is then pre-
ted with the entire set of readings, coded so that he does not know which was
inded for him, and is asked to rate or to rank them. The experimenter puts
se ratings or rankings into an array for analysis of variance: readings are the
mns, and sitters' scores are the rows.
I scoring, an alternative to such global ranking or rating requires that a blind
erimenter put a pair of parentheses after each scorable item in the responses.
Parentheses would, for example, litter the pa tocol thus: "I think this is a man
( ) of about 50 or 55 ( ) who is going to have a lot of happiness in his future. He
has had some troubles in his past, but things will go better for him soon. He is
very close to someone named Anna ( ). He wears a green ( ) jacket ( ) with brass
( ) buttons ( )." The subject is asked to respond to each item singly, so far as
possible, so that a woman of 55 who wore a red sweater with a brass clasp
should respond affirmatively to the age and the brass, but not to the man, green,
jacket, or buttons. Responses typically consist of entering each pair of paren-
theses with a check If the item is clearly right, a cross if it is wrong, and a ques-
tion mark if it is ambiguous. (Subjects find this easier than entering only checks
and crosses.) Checks are then summed, and the frequency of checks for each
reading is entered into the protocol X subject array.
The items on any of these protocols may be subdivided, and a different array
set up for each division. Dream protocols, for example, may have items evalu-
ated separately for responses that were or were not associated with color.
Readings for absent sitters may have kems subdivided for personality descrip-
tions of the sitters, references to living individuals, references to dead indi-
viduals, etc.
Open-ended Responses Scored as Forced Choice A method for retaining both
freedom in the subject's response and also the simplicity of forced-choice scoring
is to use complex material for the target but take only prespecified categories as
the scorable responses. Schineidler and Lewis (1969) prepared a set of 81
pictures which showed all combinations of three levels for four variables: sex
(two males, two females or one male and one female ): age (young, adult but not
old, old); activity (passive, normal, active); and emotion (unhappy, neutral,
happy). Subjects were told that each picture showed two people: they were
asked to describe the picture: and responses were scored for accuracy on the
four variables. Honorton (1975) has recently prepared an assembly of1.024
pictures which permits binary scoring ( present or absent) for all combinations of
ten variables.
Physiological Measures. When targets are preselected as emotionally neutral or
emotionally charged, the subject's physiological changes can appropriately be
used as the response measure. Tart (1963) applied painful electric shock to the
agent on some trials of a GESP experiment and measured subjects' responses by
GSR, EEG, plethysmograph, and key taps ( conscious report). Each of the phys-
iological measures showed a significant difference between shock and nonshock
trials, but the key taps did not. Another example is research reported by Dean
(1966), who made use of only a single physiological measure. In his procedure,
the subject lay quietly in a darkened room. A plethysmograph record showed
changes in his finger's fluid volume (a measure of autonomie activity). The
agent in another room looked at names, randomly ordered, of three types:
persons important to the subject but not to the experimenter; persons important "
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METHODS FOR WHATIPULLED RESEARCH ON ESP AND PK :
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to the experifienter but fal to the subject; and persons known to neither.
Tinding was recorded on the plethysmograph record. Scoring of plethysmograph
changes was blind. Dean's data, and those of several similar experiments,
showed increase in autonomic activity when the agent contemplated a name
personally relevant to the subject. Typically, as found by Tart, the subject
reported no awareness of the target.
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Other possibilities are obvious but have not as yet been adequately explored.
No controlled research has been published on the wave form of the cortical
evoked potential, e.g., for auditory vs. visual ESP targets. Only preliminary in-
vestigation reports similarity in the timing of alpha waves as the ESP response in
paired subjects.
Selection of Appropriate ESP Targets
The experimenter, obviously, need not restrict himself to using ESP cards as
targets. There is an infinite number of possibilities, and for some subjects or
some hypotheses, other target possibilities are preferable to a set of five symbols.
The range of choice might be suggested by the following list, culled from 5 years
of reports in a single journal. The Journal of the American Society for Psychical
Research, in 1970-1974, published ESP research with these targets: cards that
were green on one side and white on the other; the inner containers that con-
cealed these cards; ESP cards; multiple-choice questions, each consisting of four
items relevant to a story that the subject had heard; elaborate pictures (usually
art prints or magazine illustrations); slides of patterns and faces (including the
subject's own face); names (including the subject's own name); the sex of a
person in a concealed photograph; a particular square within a 5 X 5 matrix; red
vs. black papers; Identi-Kit components to match the face of a target person; a
multisensory environment which the subject would soon experience; erotic pic-
tures affixed to some ESP cards, the timing of radioactive emissions from a
Schmidt machine; several sets of five nature cards; the 12 positions of a clock
face; audio-visual programs of slides and music; geometric symbols; the five
vowels; a pool of 100 simple line drawings of objects, with their names; char-
acteristics of the persons who would sit in specified auditorium chairs; word
associates; relevant statements about individuals in concealed photographs; series
of thematically related stereoscopic slides ..
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Salection of Appropriate Subjects
Species. Humans are not necessarily the subjects of choice. Though no syste-
matic work has been done in comparative parapsychology, extrachance data
have been reported for such diverse animals as cockroaches, lizards, rodents,
cats, dogs, horses, and humans. Probably the two best directives for the resear
worker are: (a) to study psi in the species where he is himself most expert as :
experimentalist; and (b) to set up the laboratory conditions and reinforceme :
schedules which most sensitively elicit meaningful data in other types
research.
Demographic Variables. Since psi has been demonstrated in young childre
adolescents, and adults, in males and females, and in many races, the same dire
tives apply as in the preceding paragraph. In general, the experimenter shou
work with the subjects with whom he feels most comfortable and whom he
most competent tò. test.
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Preselection of Subjects. If the experimenter wants to study the relation of ;
to some other variable, such as imagery, creativity, extroversion, or psychosi
he may choose to use preselected criterion groups. It may be even more nece
sary in psi than in other research, however, to do careful pretesting to ensua
that such special conditions as the choice of targets, the setting, or the connot
tions of the wording of the instructions do not in themselves have a differenti
effect upon the groups.
In the more common case of preselection, the experimenter may choose to us
gifted subjects. Here he can fall into a trap. The natural way to find gifted sub
jects is to look for those who have shown marked psi success outside of th
laboratory, but this is often counterproductive. A subject who considers himse!
gifted while working under his own conditions will often feel either a sullen or
fierce resentment of laboratory restrictions, and this attitude may defeat th
experimenter's purpose in selecting him.
A method recently used successfully (Tart, 1976), and which may serve as
model, used two preselection steps. The first consisted of group testing by af
experimenter who told his subjects that he was looking for good subjects fo
later work and who used rather dull targets. Subjects with promising scores wer
invited to come to the laboratory, where the same experimenter had them wor
on two types of interesting ESP machines. Those with the better scores w.
invited for a third session with the same experimenter, in which they work
with the machine that they preferred. Their scores on the third session wer
remarkably high.
The three conspicuous virtues of this approach are: (2) the subject's goa
during the selection trials is to do well enough for later laboratory work, and
thus the later work comes as no surprise to him; (b) the experimenter effect i
controlled, since it is the experimenter for whom the subject produced earlier
high scores who works with him later; and (c) test conditions become increas
ingly pleasant.
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dance just before AnProYechoices, But during the choosing period itself his
alphaabundance dropped. This study at present is the only EEG study involving
very strong psi performance by the subject. Since only one subject was used, the
results may not be generalizable.
Some results are more complex. Lewis and Schmeidler (1971) found a signifi-
cant positive relationship between proportion of correct choices and alpha
. abundance when their subjects were not aware that they were participating in an
ESP test, and a significant negative relationship on those runs in which the sub-
jects were aware that they were participating in an ESP test. Stanford (1971)
and Stanford and Stanford (1969) found no significant relationship between
alpha abundance and overall ESP score but did find that high ESP scores were
associated with an increase in the frequency of the alpha rhythm from just before
ESP symbol guessing to che guessing period itself. Other studies have not re-
ported alpha frequency sht data. Stanford interpreted such an increase in fre-
, quency as representing a possible "coping" response ir. which the subject is
mobilizing himself for what he construes to be a difficult task, yet at the same
time he maintains a general state of relaxed awareness. Stanford's procedures in
these studies were described to the subjects as being precognition procedures
rather than clairvoyance, even though in fact the random numbers that would
determine the targets had themselves already been selected. Most people intrin-
sically regard precognition as a more difficult task than clairvoyance.
Only three EEG studies involving free-response procedures have been pub-
lished. Stanford and Stevenson (1973), testing Stanford, found his alpha abun-
dance not related to his ability to describe a concealed line drawing. However,
they did find that alpha frequency during a preliminary mind-clearing period was
negatively related to ESP success and also found that an increase in alpha fre-
quency from the mind-clearing period to the following period of image forma-
tion about the target drawing was associated with psi success. The two findings
are not independent, of course. Rao and Feola (1979) found that a single sub-
ject familiar with biofeedback and meditation was more successful at describing
concealed magazine pictures when he was asked to produce high alpha than
when he was asked to produce low alpha. Stanford and Palmer (1975) found
that above-chance scorers on a free verbal response task involving concealed
photographs showed significantly more alpha abundance than below-chance
scorers, during both a preliminary period of listening to soothing music and
during the imagery period.
As a whole, the EEG results are confusing and contradictory. Part of the prob-
lem is that the procedures and methods of data analysis varied widely from
study to study. The most consistent finding was that alpha abundance tonded to
be positively associated with high ESP scores, especially for subjects preselected
for expertise at the production of one or both. The studies which found no re-
For Release 2003/09/09h@IA-RDB96-0078R00120006001924 etween ESi' and MEG also did not find overall positive evidence for
ESP.
The most difficult to explain are the studies that found a significant nega-
tive relationship between alpha abundance and ESP.
Verylittle work has been done with other psychophysiological measurements.
Tenny (1962) failed to find any relationship between galvanic skin response act-
ivity (GSRy or vasomotor activity as measured by plethysmograph, and ESP
choice success, although he did obtain significantly positive ESP results. Wood-
ruff and Dale (1952) found a positive but not quite significant relationship be-
tween GSR activity and ESP card-guessing success, in two consecutive studies.
Otani (1955) found significantly more hits on ESP cards during large skin resis-
tance changes as measured by basal skin response (BSR). This result was ob-
tained only under a subject condition of indifference toward the results and with
eyes open. Braud and Braud (1974) found that subjects who heard taped relaxa-
tion-inducing instructions scored above chance in a free response GESP test,
whereas those who heard a tension-inducing tape scored at chance. A related
finding was that, over all subjects, positive scoring was significantly associated
with less frontalis muscle activity (measured by electromyograph or EMG) dur-
ing the target impression period, and with a decrease in frontalis activity from
beginning to end of the session. The Drauds hypothesized that a physiologically-
definable "relaxation state" was very conducive to psi in the receiving organism.
In addition to reduced muscle activity, they suggested: lowered frequency and
increased amplitude of EEG; lower heart rate, blood pressure, and vasomotor
activity; increased basal skin resistance; lower oxygen consumption: and reduced
blood lactate level. This overall schema is also compatible with the results of
White's (1964a) finding that people purported to show strong free response ESP
ability consistently described themselves as entering a period of relaxation and
mind-clearing at the onset.
Too little work has been done to evaluate the accuracy of generality of the
Brauds' "relaxation syndrome." Certainly the negative correlations between
alpha abundance and psi performance in two studies, plus the findings of Stan-
ford that an increased alpha frequency is correlated with psi on certain psi tasks,
are at odds with the Brauds' ideas. Woodruff and Dale's and Otani's results with
GSR and BSR are also contrary to the implications of this syndrome. However,
the Brauds did not state that relaxation was the only condition for strong psi
performance. Perhaps there are complex interactive relationships among state-
trait subject variables, the nature of the psi task, and the optimum physiological
processing of psi information.
Psychophysiological Responses as Measures of Psi Performance
There is evidence that physiological variables are correlated in a variety of
ways with psi performance and are therefore in some way involved. Manifesta-
tions of psi are often complex, confused, and probably misprocessed within the
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vasomotor activity as measured by plethysmograph and agent arousal by loud
noises or by being put through a psychiatric interview.
These studies are of considerable potential importance and should be pursued
in more detail. Of especial interest is the fact that physiological responses were
often correlated with the onset of the target event, whereas the cognitively pro-
cessed verbal report or behavioral output of the subject was not. Perhaps such
indices do give us a more direct access to less processed (and therefore less dis-
torted) psi messages.
SUMMARY
There is not much that can be said in summarizing this material, other than that
a few scattered promising beginnings have been made in developing the metho-
dology for relating psi functioning to our present knowledge of biological com-
munication. There is some evidence that psi communication is not restricted to
humans. Before more specific speculation on the evolution of psi and its eco-
logical significance can be seriously considered, we need much more data on
more species. We also need to find functional relationships between anpsi
strength and other relevant variables such as level of arousal, need strength, and
so on to feel comfortable that we are not just dealing with experimenter psi
effects.
Our knowledge of psi information processing in humans is little better off.
There is fairly strong evidence, however. that psi expression does interact with
detectable physiological events, some of which may serve as more direct indica-
tions of psi than our cognitively elaborated responses.
In conclusion, we must greatly expand our data base before we can truly assess
the extent to which psi communication interacts with our presently known bio-
logical communication channels, either at a cellular or population level or some-
where in between.
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Backster, C. Evidence of a primary perception in plant life. International Journal of Para-
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Barnothy, M. F. (Ed.). Biological Effects of Magnetic Fields. New York: Plenum Press,
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Bechterev. V. M. "Direct influence" of a person upon the behavior of animals. Journe! of
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Cadoret, R. J. An exploratory experiment: Continuous EEG recording during clairvoyant
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Callahan, P. S. Insects tuned in to infrared rays. New Scientist, 1964, 23, 137-138.
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Craig, J. G .. and Treurniet, W. Precognition in rats as a function of shock and death. In
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75-78. Metuchen, N.J .: Scarecrow Press, 1974.
Dean, E. D. The plethysmograph as an indicator of ESP. Journal of the Society for Psychical
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Dean, E. D. Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association, 1965, 2, 22-23.
Dean, E. D. Long-distance plethysmograph telepathy with agent under water. Proceedings
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Dröscher, V. The Magic of the Senses. New York: Dutton, 1969.
Duane, T., and Behrendt, T. Extrasensory electroencephalographic induction between
identical twins. Science, 1965, 150, 367.
Duval, P., and Montredon, E. ESP experiments with mice. Journal of Parapsychology , 1968,
32, 153-166. (a)
Duval, P., and Montredon, E. Further psi experiments with mice. Journal of Parapsy-
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associates also noted that hamsters and gerbils were unresponsive to similar use
of OB experiments.
The extensive literature of psi trailing in cats and dogs, though likewise sug-
gestive of psi, is still amenable to riva! sensory, in lieu of extrasensory, interpre-
tations. So is the homing behavior of salmon, pigeons, cats, and dogs. More
persuasive are the older observations on dogs, reported by Bechterev (1949)
and the more recent findings by White (1964). Wood and Cadoret (1958) tested
clairvoyance in a man dog relationship by adapting the ESP card-calling technique
to a dog called Chris. They found evidence of ESP in the presence of the owner.
These few representative samples of animal psi should suffice in the present
context. They indicate that despite the many gaps in the available evidence, the
occurrence of psi from the lowliest unicellular organisms to higher vertebrates,
and especially rodents, cats, and dogs, can be taken for granted. It also appears
that the observable psi responses tend to increase in complexity as we move from
organisms with primitive neural structures to organisms with more highly differ-
entiated central nervous systems. It should be noted at this point, however, that
psi phenomena must not be lumped together in one single undifferentiated set of
organismic functions-afferent or efferent, GESP, PK, and precognitive-as the
case may be. Generically they may amount to the same thing, ranging over the
whole spectrum of organic nature from plants tornan. But we must realize that
PK responses of paramecia differ from those of a cockroach, a hamster, or a dog,
much in the same way as an apple and an appleseed differ from a full-grown
specimen of an apple tree. By and large, evidence of psidetermined behavior in
lower animals indicates that it may occur under the auspices of what Mclean de-
scribed as the archaic reptilian brain. in turn, the growing incidence of psi
phenomena associated with the evolutionary increase of cortical structures would
point to the part played by so-called uncommitted brain regions (Penfield, 1975)
in the origin of psi functions of a higher order. Yet it is needless to say that the
data of animal psi do not permit a fixed cerebral localization in any specialized
brain region. Further insight into the problem has to be sought by turning our
attention to additional neurophysiological and clinical observations in humans.
PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES
It has always been suspected that a vast number of psi incidents, spontaneous
and experimental, are taking place below the threshhold of conscious awareness.
They are subliminal, preconscious, or unconscious and can only be gleaned from
monitoring such variables as blood pressure, pulse rate, electromyogram, EEG,
and other indices.
:
A typical example is Dean's (1962) plethysmographic experiments in which an
emotionally charged stimulus word sent by an agent elicited measurable changes
in the blood supply in the finger of a percipient. In a comparable series, Tart's
(1963) telepathic percipients produced subliminal physiological changes in I
sponse to mild electrical stimuli delivered to an agent.
Johnson (1974) of the University of Utrecht has studied subliminality in
modification of Potzi's tachistoscopic dream experiments. He flashed "threate
ing" pictures and measured the degree to which the subject's defensivene
against the microtrauma affected his performance in ESP tasks. The results bo:
out the hypothesis that a "good" defensive posture was conducive to psi-missis
Observations of this order appear to confirm that certain elementary forms c
ESP tend to bypass conscious awareness. They are not tied to processing i
higher cortical centers and point to subcortical, midbrain, or limbic regions :
their substrate. Experimental psychologists described sensory perceptions
this order as subceptions. Eysenck (1961), Burt (1968), Beloff (1974), an
others have specifically pointed to their relationship to perceptual defense:
while Dixon (1971) and Beloff emphasized the close relationship of both ;
phenomena and subliminal perception to the reticular formation and the brais
stem. Eysenck (1967) has noted. furthermore, that a high state of arousal c
the cortex mediated by the ascending reticular formation is antagonistic to psi.
The EEG is particularly suited to telepathic experiments of this kind. Duan
and Behrendt (1965) succeeded in inducing electroencephalographic changes : 3
identical twins. bypassing conscious perception. Their observations have naj
been replicated by others. Earlier attempts by Ehrenwald, Kahn, and Ullm';
along the same lines were abandoned owing to inadequacies of the available i-
strumentation. In their article in Nature, Targ and Puthoff (1974) found the
systematic alteration of ongoing electric activity can be elicited by a remo:
photic stimulus.
Needless to say that the exact determination of the sources of the EEG activit :.
of the brain is still problematical. By and large, the occipital lobes have bec ??
identified as the sources of origin of alpha rhythm in certain altered states .1
consciousness. EEG data concerning lateralization of visually evoked potenti: !
have been described by neurophysiologists, but no conclusive parapsychologies
findings have as yet been reported.
A striking series of EEG experiments has been reported by Lloyd (1973). His
work has been sponsored by the New Horizons Research Foundation in Toronto
The Lloyd series is aimed at duplicating. by telepathic induction, the "averag
evoked EEG response" elicited by an actual auditory stimulus. It is claimed tha
the results indicate a direct brain response to a telepathic message, although Lloy !!
leaves open the question whether PK may have directly affected the monitoring
equipment. We are told that T. H. Lloyd is a pseudonym, but the Editor of Nev
Horizons testifies to the good faith and scientific qualifications of the author
Attempts at replicating the "Lloyd effect" elsewhere were unsuccessful.
The vast literature dealing with the relationship of ESP and alpha activity, ani
its reinforcement by diverse biofeedback methods, is described in other section
of this Handbook.
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The Brauds (1975) have focused attention on the right versus the left !emi-
sphere, and their relevance to facilitating psi functions. Their hypothesis that
inducing mental states favoring right hemispheric dominance would be psi pro-
ductive was not borne out. But the expected induction of left hemispheric
dominance did lead to significant psi-missing.
Andrew (1975) applied the same procedure in reference to "active" psi, that
is, psychokinesis. In this series, the right hemisphere group scored significantly
above chance, and the left group showed an extrachance tendency to psi-missing.
Results of assessing the activity of the two hemispheres during bilateral EEG
recordings are not yet available. Whitten (1974) studied the EEG record of a
gifted subject, Matthew Manning, while attempting to perform specified psycho-
kinetic tasks. In this case, a distinct wave pattern, described as the ramp function,
made its appearance.
The investigations of Broughton (1976), of the University of Edinburgh, focus-
, ing on brain hemisphere specialization, were based on the same rationale. Using
an ingenious experimental paradigm to separate the two hemispheres in an ESP
test, he found that improved performance could be elicited when the right hemi-
sphere responses were encouraged while at the same time loading an additional
conceptual task on the left hemisphere. He concludes that the right hemisphere
of the brain is better at a receptive type of ESP.
We shall see that more light on the presumed lateralization of psi phenomena
can be shed by clinical observations.
`NEUROPSYCHIATRIC OBSERVATIONS
In hurgan subjects we have to rely on the occurrence of organic pathology as a
substitute for surgical removal or excision techniques used in animal experiments.
The frequenNy cited instance of the dying serving as telepathic percipients or
agents can be taken as the closest approximation to states of clinical "decerebra-
tion" or organic "minus function" (Ehrenwald, 1948) in which higher cortical
functions are in abeyance. Similar considerations apply to the death defying
feats of some out-of-body subjects (Ehrenwald, 1974). Telepathy in sleep,
dreams, and the REM state (Ullman and Krippner, with Vaughan, 1973) points
in the same direction. So do the countless reports of telepathy in trance condi-
tions, in absent-mindedness, and in diverse altered states of consciousness.
The case of Ilga K., published by von Naureiter (1935), illustrates another facet
of the problem. Ilga was a mentally defective girl of 9 with a severe reading dis-
ability. The samples of her handwriting, her general demeanor, and her photo-
. graph suggest the diagnosis of mental deficiency.
Yet von Neureiter reported
that the child could "read" any text if and when her mother, seated in another
room, was reading the same text silently to herself. Ilga's case has been subject
to some controversy. Yet the crucial point is that in this instance it was her
mother's powerful motivation to compensate for her offspring's specific short-
coming that was responsible for Ilga's telepathic ability. Another point to bear
in mind is that her "minus function" consisted of a specific deficit on a higher
cognitive level. It was of the nature of an alexia -- that is, a cortical deficiency as
described by Dejerine, Potzl and others-and was not due to a peripheral sensory
impairment. A similar picture was described by Drake (1938) in a mentally de-
fective boy, little Bo, and, more recently, by Recordon, Stratton, and Peters
(1968), in England. The latter case is known as that of the Cambridge Boy. Both
Little Bo and The Cambridge Boy suffered from congenital spastic paralysis and
were telepathically responsive to their mothers only.
The Los Angeles school psychologist Eloise Shields (1976) has investigated the
psi abilities of 25 mongoloid, 25 brain-damaged, and 25 undifferentiated mentally
defective children, age 5-21. They yielded an astronomical score of P = . 00000057
against chance under telepathic conditions. Their performance scores under
clairvoyant conditions were only slightly above chance.
Another significant experimental contribution is Schmeidler's (1952) series
of ESP tests of 18 hospitalized patients suffering from cerebral concussion. The
clinical picture in such cases is too ill-defined to permit any neurological diagno-
sis beyond the conjecture that it amounts to a combination of a diffuse organic
brain syndrome with some degree of psychological overlay. Using a control group
of 11 hospitalized fracture patients without cerebral injury, Schmeidler found a
significantly higher scoring pattern (PF .002) in the concussion group.
In such cases it can be argued that the postulated organic brain damage served
as one of the predisposing or conditioning factors for the emergence of psi
phenomena. Yet it should also be noted that lumping together forced-choice
ESP responses of the card-calling type with ESP responses focusing on major
targets of higher complexity, and trying to correlate the two with a supposedly
all-encompassing functional deficit, "minus function," or assorted altered states
of consciousness, is apt to miss the point. We shall presently see that to bring a
semblance of order into the conflicting findings that have accrued on the inter-
face between psi phenomena and neuropathology, we will have to think up a
new twist to the conventional question of how a given function is supposed to
be related to a specific brain region.
The new twist proposed here is to rephrase-or tum around-the usual question
about the hypothetical cerebral localization of psi phenomena. Instead of won-
dering what neural structures or brain region is responsible for their operation
some of the time, we have to ask: What is it that prevents the organism from
being flooded by the influx of both sensory and extrasensory stimuli all of the
time? By the same token, we have to ask: What is it that puts the brake on the
organism's motor or psychomotor organization, that stops it from reacting (or
over-reacting) to external stimulation, that stops it from exhausting its store of
psychomotor energy in the process-and from spending itself in a paroxysm of
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