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AUTONOMIC DETECTION OF REMOTE OBSERVATION:
Two Conceptional Replications 1
1
Marilyn J. Schlitz
Cognitive Sciences Laboratory,
Science Applications International Corporation
and
Stephen Laberge
Lucidity Institute
:
ABSTRACT: Two experiments were conducted in the Cognitive Sciences
Laboratory of Science Applications International Corporation to measure the
extent to which people are able to unconsciously detect another person staring
at them from a distance. A closed-circuit television set-up was employed in
which a video camera was focused on the experimental volunteer (Observee)
while a person in another room (Observer) concentrated on the image of the
distant person as projected on a color monitor; this procedure was used to
preclude any conventional sensory contact between the two people. During
the experimental session, the Observee's galvanic skin responses were
monitored. An automated and computerized system was programmed to
record and average the physiological responses of the Observee during 32 30-
second monitoring periods. A random sequence was used to schedule 16
periods of remote observation and 16 control periods when no observation
efforts were attempted. A within-subjects evaluation was made for each
experimental session with a comparison between the mean amount of
autonomic nervous system activity during the experimental and control
conditions. Twenty four sessions were conducted in each of two experiments.
As predicted, both experiments yielded significantly more autonomic activity
during the remote observation periods as compared to control periods
(Experiment 1: t=1.878, p <. 036, 1-t, es =. 36; Experiment 2: t=2.360, p <. 014, 1-t,
es =. 44). As preplanned, the two experiments were combined to increase
statistical power, yielding a significant t-value of 2.652 (p <. 005, 1-t, es =. 36).
1 The authors wish to acknowledge the technical support, design contributions, and
general encouragement of William Braud and the staff of the Cognitive Sciences
Laboratory. For editorial assistance, we appreciate the useful suggestions offered by
Rick Berger and Christian de Quincey. Additional support was provided by the Institute of
Noetic Sciences.
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INTRODUCTION
The past few decades have witnessed an increasing interest in the
possibility of direct mental influences on living systems. A diverse range of
experiments have been conducted by researchers within the United States,
Canada, and Europe (for reviews, see Benor, 1990; Dossey, 1993; May and
Vilenskaya, 1994; Solfvin, 1984). In a typical experiment, some physiological
activity or other selected behavior is monitored in the context of a formal
laboratory experiment. Efforts are made by experimental participants to
influence a distant biological target system with a comparison between
experimental conditions and non-influence or control conditions. Target
systems for these experiments have included micro-organisms, plants,
animals, and human physiology or motor activity (Schlitz, 1983, 1994).
Based on this database, there is compelling evidence to support the
hypothesis that people are able to use intentionality to bring about changes in
distant target systems under conditions that preclude conventional sensory or
motor exchange. At the least, the findings are intriguing and worthy of
further research; at the best, the data have profound scientific, social, and
philosophical implications.
One promising area of research involves the influence of human
autonomic nervous system activity by a distant person. Braud and Schlitz
(1992) reported statistically significant differences across a series of 13
experiments in which periods of intentionality to affect the physiology of a
distant person were interspersed with counter-balanced control periods. This
research led to the development of a protocol designed to measure the degree
to which people are able to unconsciously detect someone observing them
from a distance.
Many people have had the experience of being stared at from a distance,
only to turn around and discover a pair of eyes gazing upon them. Indeed,
survey data support the widespread distribution of these experiences. As early
as 1913, J.E. Coover reported that 68-86% of respondents in California had this
type of experience on at least one occasion. A survey of the Australian
population reported that 74% of the respondents had such an experience
(Williams 1983), 85% within a student population at Washington University
in St. Louis, (Thalbourne and Evans, 1992) 94% of those surveyed in San
Antonio, Texas (Braud, Shafer, and Andrews 1990), and 80% of those
informally surveyed in Europe and America (Sheldrake 1994).
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Several attempts have been made to explore these claims within a
laboratory setting. A review of this literature was reported by Braud, et al.
(1990), who identified four studies. The first was conducted by Coover (1913)
in his initial work as the Thomas Welton Stanford Psychical Research Fellow
in the Psychology Department of Stanford University. Each of 10 subjects
made 100 guesses as to whether or not they were being stared at by an
experimenter seated behind them in the same room. A random schedule of
remote observation (RO) and non-observation periods was determined by the
rolling of a die. Each observation period was of a 15-20 second duration over a
several hour series of sittings spanning a period of weeks. Having obtained
chance results, Coover interpreted his findings as support for the belief that
staring detection was empirically groundless.
A second study was carried out in 1959 by J.J. Poortman (1959) of Leyden
University in the Netherlands. In this study, the two people were separated in
two rooms but still within sensory range. The experiment spanned a 13-
month period. The remote/non-remote observation intervals were of 2-5
minute duration based on a random sequence determined by card shuffling.
This resulted in a 59.55% accuracy rate (p =. 04 1-t).
A better controlled experiment than the previous two was reported by
Donald Peterson (1978), a graduate student at the University of Edinburgh.
Following two informal pilot studies, the investigator made use of a
procedure in which the subjects were positioned in separate, adjacent closed
cubicles. One-way mirrors and special lighting provided visual perception in
one direction and button pushes were used to measure the subject's
perception of RO/non-RO periods. In 36 experimental sessions, each of six
minute duration, there was a significant effect (p =. 012, 2-t).
This experimental design was further improved by Linda Williams
(1983), a student in the Psychology Department of the University of Adelaide
(South Australia). Subjects were positioned in rooms at a 60 foot distance and
were monitored via a closed-circuit video camera/monitor arrangement.
Through the use of carefully controlled randomization procedures, the author
reported significant RO detection guesses (p =. 04, 1-t).
Based on the four experimental studies, Braud, et al (1990) concluded
that there is suggestive evidence to support the hypothesis that people can
consciously discriminate periods of RO from non-RO under conditions that
controlled for subtle sensory cues. The effect size in these studies was not
particularly strong, however. This, according to Braud and his colleagues, was
due to the fact that "the testing method used in these studies was not the most
appropriate one" (p. 17). In particular, the authors argued that the use of
conscious guessing might be less relevant to everyday life experiences, in
which RO detection takes the form of bodily sensations and spontaneous
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behavioral changes. For example, people frequently report the prickling of
neck hairs or the tingling of the skin.
With these considerations in mind, Braud, et al (1990) designed an
experimental procedure based on the hypothesis that remote observation may
be detected at the level of sympathetic autonomic nervous system activity. In
a series of three experiments (Braud, Shafer, and Andrews 1990, 1992), a person
stared at a distant subject through the use of a closed-circuit television system
while the autonomic nervous system activity of the subject was being
monitored via chart recorder and computer. The experimental design, like
previous studies involving remote mental influences on human physiology
(e.g., Braud and Schlitz 1989, 1992; Schlitz and Braud, 1986) allowed a within-
subjects evaluation of RO versus non-RO (control) periods. The researchers
reported that the electrodermal properties of receivers correlated significantly
with the intense attention of the isolated and remote experimenter (i.e.,
p=0.009, effect size per session=0.59). Results were bi-directional, depending on
the attitude of the Observer.
In addition to the main effects, Braud et al (1992) reported a positive
correlational trend between social avoidance and the degree of change in the
subject's electrodermal activity. This was measured by administering the
Social Avoidance and Distress (SAD) scale (see below). Increasing degrees of
social avoidance/distress/anxiety were also found to positively correlate with
introversion.
The present experiments were designed as conceptual replications of the
work by Braud, Shafer, and Andrews. Further, we extended previous studies
of remote influence on autonomic nervous system activity by Braud and
Schlitz (1989, 1992). Two formal predictions were made. First, we anticipated
a significant difference in the mean rate of autonomic activity in experimental
compared with control conditions across subjects. Second, we predicted the
direction of the effect by instructing the remote Observers to activate the
distant person. As such, we predicted an increase in autonomic activity
during remote observation as compared with control conditions.
In addition to the primary hypotheses, we anticipated a significant
correlation between social avoidance and the remote observation effect. On an
exploratory basis, we also examined the social relationship between Remote
Observers and Observees; this included the interaction of gender and cross-
gender pairs.
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METHODS
Apparatus
The equipment utilized in this research included silver/silver chloride
palmar electrodes, a skin-conductance amplifier, an analog-to digital converter
interfaced with an IBM microcomputer, a SUN computer with modem, and a
closed circuit television, that included a color video camera, two VCR's, two
video monitors, and a tripod to hold the video camera. The camera's radio
frequency output was boosted by a 10 dB amplifier then conveyed via shielded
cable to the color monitor in the Remote Observer's room.
Assessments
During Experiment 1, each experimental participant completed four
forms/assessments. The first was a consent form. The second was used in
preliminary screening and consisted of general biographical information as
well as a health condition assessment. Third was a psychological inventory
measuring introversion/extroversion through the use of the NEO Personality
Inventory (Costa & McRae 1985). This instrument measures six facets of
extroversion, including (1) Warmth, (2) Gregariousness; (3) Assertiveness; (4)
Activity; (5) Excitement Seeking; (6) Positive Emotions. The fourth
assessment was the Social Avoidance and Distress scale (SAD), which
measures social-evaluative anxiety (the experience of distress, discomfort, fear,
and anxiety in social situations) and deliberate avoidance of social situations.
This self-report scale emphasizes subjective experience, and it excludes
physiological signs as well as times related to impaired performance. In
Experiment 2, the NEO Personality Inventory was not used, due to the fact that
participants generally disliked the assessment based on redundancy of
questions and length of time needed to complete the form.
Subjects
Each of the two experiments involved 24 trials. In Experiment 1, this
consisted of one person per trial as the experimental "target" or "Observee"
and 4 remote "Observers," each working with different target persons during 6
sessions. In Experiment 2, 16 subjects participated, with 5 subjects contributing
two or three sessions each. This was done on the basis of the expressed
interest and availability of some volunteers. Under the null hypothesis, this
repeated use of participants does not violate statistical assumptions about the
remote observation effect (Utts, n.d). Further, no claims are made about the
generalizability of the effect in the general population, since all participants
were self-selected on the basis of their interest in the study or their
relationship to the experimenters.
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Volunteers were recruited by MJS through notices that were handed out
or posted in the greater San Francisco Bay area, as a result of lectures at
neighboring universities and professional societies, as well as through
personal contacts. Observers were drawn from the subject pools of the
Cognitive Sciences Laboratory and from the same community as used for
recruiting Observees. The age of all participants ranged from 16 to 60. They
were in good health based on the health assessment.
Experimental Procedure
The basic experimental design was the same for both experiments;
exceptions to this are outlined following the general description. Subjects
were greeted by the experimenter in the Cognitive Sciences Laboratory at
Science Applications International Corporation. They were treated in a warm
and friendly way. Following a brief "get acquainted" period, the experiment
was explained to them. They were encouraged to ask any questions and to
understand the nature of the study. They were introduced to the "Observer"
with whom they would be working and were told that the "Observer" would
try to get their attention or "wake them up" during randomly selected periods.
Efforts were made during this period to ascertain the types of images or
thoughts that might be useful to the Observer in order to startle or excite the
Observees. Hence, the participants were aware of the hypothesized direction
of the effect, although they were blind as to the order, number and duration of
the sampling periods. This differed from the Braud, et. al studies during
which no direction of effect was hypothesized and Observers were instructed
to simply look at the distant person's image -- rather than trying to influence
the person directly. Rather, the goal of influencing the distant person in a pre
specified direction was based on previous research on remote mental
influences reported by Braud and Schlitz (1989).
Three rooms were used for the experiment. During an experimental
session, each volunteer was taken to an experimental room, where they were
seated in a chair and the skin electrodes attached to the palm of their non-
dominant hand. As was the case in the Braud, et al studies, they were asked to
complete the experimental forms with their dominant hand, keeping their
non-dominant hand as still as possible. Any potential muscle artifacts were
randomly balanced across the experiment, based on the specific research design
(see below). A video tape called Illuminations, which provides amorphous
colors accompanied by a musical sound track, was played for the volunteer on
the VCR and headphones in the experimental room. The presentation timing
of this video was held constant throughout the experiment. This VCR was not
in any way connected to the experimental equipment used to measure the
remote observation effect. The Observee was told that the video camera
would be on throughout the session, but that the remote Observer would be
watching them through the monitor in the distant room only at certain
randomly determined times. The Observee was asked not to try to guess
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consciously when those periods (of which the Observee was kept "blind")
might be occurring, and was told that we were exploring whether unconscious
physiological reactions might be associated with RO.
The experimenter (MJS) left the subject alone in the experimental room
and moved to the computer, which was set up in the adjacent control room.
The experimenter checked the electrode conductance. Following this, she
returned to the Experimental Room, started the Illuminations videotape, and
closed the door. The audio track on the video controlled for the possible
influence of extraneous sounds that might influence the Observee. She passed
through the computer room, crossed the hallway, and entered the Observer's
room, advising the Observer that the session was about to begin and wished
the Observer luck, and reminded them to activate the distant person when
their image appeared on the experimental monitor. She then closed the
Observer's Room door and returned to the Computer Room.
At this point, the experimenter started the microcomputer that
controlled the session events, including timing of the physiological sampling
periods and recording of data during 32 30-second periods. As such, the
experimenter was completely blind as to the sampling periods during any
interactions with the participants. Each of the 16 recording periods during the
experimental (RO) conditions of the experiment was signaled to the remote
Observer when the distant person's image appeared on the monitor in the
Observer's Room. During these periods, the Observer stared intently at the
television image throughout the 30-second recording period. During control
periods, the Observer read a book or otherwise tried to shift their attention
from the distant person.
The Remote Observer received no feedback during the session about the
Observee's physiological activity. The equipment sampled the Observee's
spontaneous phasic skin conductance responses (SCR) once a second for the
30 seconds of a recording period. A random pause of 0 to 5 seconds was
inserted in order to eliminate potential artifacts due to possible guessing of the
experimental sequences and to rule out possible cycles that might occur in the
Observee's physiology. The experimental sampling then continued with the
next block. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of two experimental
sequences that were counter-balanced for time effects across the experiment.
The randomization sequence was generated by the second author (SB) through
the use of a random number generator. These consisted of blocks of four
conditions: control, observation, observation, control or observation, control,
control, observation. These sequences were randomized in blocks of 6, with
equal numbers of the two conditions across the experiment. This was done to
assure a balance of two conditions and to control for any temporal drift in the
autonomic activity of the participant. Digitized data were stored on disk for
later analysis and copied over to the SUN system for backup security and
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transport via modem to the second author. The mean value of skin
conductance activity for each 30-second period was used in the analyses.
RESULTS
For each experimental session, a total score was calculated for all 32
recording periods (16 observation and 16 control). A chi-square goodness of fit
test indicated that the scores of these sessions did not differ significantly from
normality; therefore, parametric statistics were used in their evaluation. A
single mean t-test was calculated with 23 degrees of freedom for each of the
two experiments. In Experiment One, the obtained t-value was 1.878, p <. 036
(1-t), es =. 36. In Experiment Two, the obtained t value was 2.360, p <. 014 (1-t),
es =. 44. As a pre-planned analysis, the combined results of the two
experiments were combined, yielding a significant t-value of 2.652, p <. 005 (1-t),
es =. 36, with 47 degrees of freedom. These results supported our two primary
hypotheses, providing significant differences in the autonomic activity of
Observees during RO and non-RO conditions in the direction of autonomic
nervous system activation.
Secondary analyses were computed for the psychological data collected
on the basis of the NEO and SAD assessments for experiment 1 and on the
SAD assessment for experiment 2. Linear correlation coefficients (Pearson r's)
were calculated but no significant relationships were found. To assess the
ROE-SAD relationship, Pearson r's were computed for the percent
electrodermal activity occurring during the RO versus the SAD scores. Again,
no significant relationship was found.
In the first experiment, it was noted that there was a relationship
between the gender of "Observer" and of the "Observee" in the remote
observation experiment. As such, it was decided to analyze this sex pair
relationship across the two experiments. This was done through the use of a
2x2 ANOVA. Results yielded a significant interaction across sex pairs (p <. 01,
2-t).
CONCLUSIONS
This research provides an independent conceptual replication of the
remote observation experiments conducted by Braud, et. al, under conditions
that rule out conventional sensory exchange between experimental
particpants. The work builds upon an increasing data base suggesting that
people are able to interact with one another at non-sensory levels, including
the mental influence of one person upon another person's physiology (e.g.,
Braud and Schlitz 1989; May and Vilenskaya, 1994).
As is often the case in research, the findings raise more questions than
answers. More research is needed to better understand the mechanisms at
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play in this work. For example, a larger study designed to systematically
manipulate the direction of the effect would be useful. Another promising
area of research would address the possible role of influence as compared with
information acquisition in an ostensible information exchange process.
Following the work of May, Radin, Hubbard, Humphrey, and Utts (1986), this
leads us to ask whether the results can be accounted for by a distant influence
on the part of the Observer or to a passive responsiveness on the part of the
Observee. Lastly, more research is needed to assess the degree to which
Remote Observation effects can be limited, blocked or shielded. Such questions
are essential to the development of a truly progressive research program
(Lakatos, 1978).
This work, in the context of previous research by independent
researchers, has significant implications for our understanding of human
communication processes and for a reevaluation of a worldview in which
humans are seen as isolated beings. Furthermore, the results suggest the need
for a broader approach to human consciousness than that held by the
conventional, reductionistic, scientific paradigm. Indeed, as pointed out by
Harman (1991), these results move us toward a new view of causality in which
consciousness is interactive, rather than emergent, in human experience.
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