PROPOSAL FOR RESEARCH SRI NO. ISU 75-124 SENSING OF REMOTE EM SOURCES (PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES) PART TWO--TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010035-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 9, 2014
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: June 3, 1975
• Content Type: REPORT

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STANFORD
Menlo
Park,
RESEARCH
California
OGOUINUM
94025
U.S.A.
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
Approved:
Air I t
Earle D. Jones, Di/rector"'
Electronics and B oengineering Laboratory
3 June 1975
Prepared by:
Harold Puthoff
Russell Targ
Electronics and Bioengineering
Laboratory
eye
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 cert4in 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 mechanism re-
sponsible for such coupling.
1
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IT 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.23 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 ofremote 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.6 Kamiya suggested that because of the unknown tem-
poral characteristics of the informatipn channel, it might be more
appropriate to use repetitive bursts of light to increase the probability
of detecting information transfer.e, 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.7
We hypothesized that if we stimulated
2
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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.
3
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LI L)
FIGURE 1
SHIELDED ROOM USED FOR EEG EXPERIMENTS
SA-2613-14
(
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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 (1-1.11.) 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 oh-
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 tests 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
5
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POTENTIAL (arbitrary units)
? ? ?
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
6
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Table 1
EEG DATA FOR H.H. SHOWING AVERAGE POWER AND PEAK POWER IN. THE
19 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 6 16
Peak Power
0 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
-127.
-247
(P?.04)
-217
-287 (P