EXPERIMENTAL PROTOCOL FOR HEMOLYSIS: CONFIRMATION EXPERIMENT

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Final Report?Objective E, Task 2
EXPERIMENTAL PROTOCOL FOR HEMOLYSIS:
CONFIRMATION EXPERIMENT
By: G. SCOTT HUBBARD
JESSICA M. UTTS
SRI International
WILLIAM W. BRAUD
Mind Science Foundation
Prepared for:
PETER J. McNELIS, DSW
CONTRACTING OFFICER'S TECHNICAL REPRESENTATIVE
December 1987
333 Ravenswood Avenue
Menlo Park, California 94025 U.S.A.
[phone]
Cable: SRI INTL MPK
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cpi
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Final Report--Objective E, Task 2 December 1987
Covering the Period 1 October 1986 to 30 September 1987
EXPERIMENTAL PROTOCOL FOR HEMOLYSIS:
CONFIRMATION EXPERIMENT
By: G. SCOTT HUBBARD
JESSICA M. UTTS
SRI International
WILLIAM W. BRAUD
Mind Science Foundation
Prepared for:
PETER J. McNELIS, DSW
CONTRACTING OFFICER'S TECHNICAL REPRESENTATIVE
SRI Project 1291
Approved by:
MURRAY J. BARON, Director
Geoscience and Engineering Center
333 Ravenswood Avenue ? Menlo Park, California 94025 ? U.S.A.
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ABSTRACT
An experiment was conducted by the Mind Science Foundation to study the possible
relationship between intent to remotely influence a biological system and actual changes in the
system. Three phases of the investigation were conducted, including a pilot study, an
intermediate study, and a confirmation study. The first two were used to test and refine the
protocol for the third and final study. As a result of these preliminary studies and further input
from various experts, the confirmation study appears to have been extremely well conducted.
Thirty-two subjects participated in the confirmation study. Their task was to attempt to
retard the rate of hemolysis (destruction) of red blood cells which had been placed into a tube of
distilled water and saline in a distant room. Each subject participated for one hour, broken into
four 15-minute periods. Of these four periods, two were identified as control periods and two as
protect periods. The experimenter who was measuring the rate of hemolysis was blind to this
condition. During the protect periods, subjects used visualization and other intention strategies
to try to protect the blood cells. During the control periods, subjects were to try to think of other
matters. In one control and one protect period, eight tubes of blood were processed, and in the
other periods two tubes were processed. Subjects were blind to this condition. It was used to
attempt to ascertain whether observed effects could be attributed to causal relationships, or to
intuitive data sorting. To see whether or not blood source was important, 14 of the subjects were
trying to protect their own blood, and 18 were trying to protect that of another. Both subject and
experimenter were blind as to the source of blood.
Results showed that nine of the 32 subjects were able to achieve a significant difference in
the rate of hemolysis for the protect periods versus the control periods. The probability of such
an extreme result by chance alone is 1.9 x 10-5. There was no significant difference between
those trying to protect their own blood and those trying to protect that of another.
The study was designed to try to determine whether causal forces or intuitive data sorting
were responsible for any observed psi results. The extreme heterogeneity in the data made it
impossible to make that determination. It is recommended that future studies of this type be
designed in such a way that data from each subject can be analyzed separately. It appears that
level of psychic functioning, whatever the underlying mechanism, is highly individualized, making
it difficult to test a specific theory using data combined across subjects.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
LIST OF TABLES
LSIT OF FIGURES
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iv
iv
I. INTRODUCTION
1
A. Background
1
B. Overview
2
H. METHOD OF APPROACH
3
A. Methodology
3
B. Analysis
4
C. Simulation of RA with Salinity Data
6
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
8
A. ANOVA Results
8
B. RA versus IDS Results
9
REFERENCES
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APPENDIX
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LIST OF TABLES
1. Expected Values and Variances for Standardized Protect Period Means 6
2. Means and Standard Deviations for Standardized Protect Data 10
FIGURE
1. RA Simulation Based on Salinity Data 7
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I INTRODUCTION
A. Background
For several years, the Mind Science Foundation (MSF) in San Antonio, Texas, has been
investigating the relationship between intent to influence biological systems remotely, and actual
changes in the systems. Until recently, it was assumed that any changes observed (beyond
chance) were actually caused by the subject through a form of remote action (RA). In 1985, a
new theory was proposed,1* called Intuitive Data Sorting (IDS), which could account for much
of the data previously attributed to RA. One postulate of the IDS theory is that observed changes
are a result of psi-mediated sorting of the data into experimental and control conditions, and are
not the result of a causal remote action.
In FY 1986, SRI International (SRI) awarded a subcontract to MSF to study the distant
influence of one individual on the electrodermal activity of another. One of the purposes of the
study was to differentiate between results due to RA and those due to IDS. Unfortunately, the
experimental protocol allowed for IDS effects to enter the data under the condition that was
supposed to isolate RA. Thus, although significant psi effects were observed, it was impossible to
determine their source.2
In FY 1987, MSF was given a new one-year contract to investigate the relationship
between intent to remotely influence the rate of hemolysis of human red blood cells and actual
rate of hemolysis. A successful preliminary experiment of this type had been reported in 1979,3
but that study involved only a small number of trials with one subject who had previously
demonstrated apparent psi ability. In contrast, the present investigation included 32 subjects. As
part of the new experiment, a condition was built in to provide some information about whether
RA or IDS could account for any observed psi results.
A report by William Braud of MSF is attached as the Appendix. It gives a detailed
account of the investigation for FY 1987, except for an analysis of whether RA or IDS is more
likely to have been the source of any observed psi. The balance of this report contains that
analysis, as well as a summary of the entire investigation.
* References may be found at the end of this report.
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B. Overview
There were three phases to this investigation. The first phase was a pilot study, conducted
to determine how well the proposed methodology would work, and to ascertain whether or not it
was important to have a subject trying to influence his or her own blood instead of that of
another person. The purpose of the second (intermediate) phase was to construct the
parameters necessary to test RA versus IDS. It consisted of a salinity study designed to mimic the
anticipated psi?induced changes and a Monte Carlo study, which used the salinity study results to
determine the appropriate parameters. The data from the salinity study were also used at SRI to
simulate what experimental results might occur in a study where RA was operating. The final
phase was the confirmation study. Changes indicated by the results of the first two phases were
incorporated into the methodology, as were suggestions from members of the Scientific Oversight
Committee (SOC). A site visit by SRI personnel resulted in further minor changes. The resulting
protocol for the confirmation study appears to have been extremely sound.
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II METHOD OF APPROACH
A. Methodology
A complete description of the methodology for all three phases of the investigation is given
in the report by Braud (see Appendix). Because the main purpose of the first two phases was to
establish the final protocol for the confirmation study, those details are omitted from this report.
The methodology for the confirmation study can be summarized as follows.
Thirty-two subjects participated in one experimental session each. A session consisted of
four consecutive 15-minute periods. Two of these were designated as control (C) periods, and
the other two as protect (P) periods. During the P periods, each subject was encouraged to
"heal" the blood (i.e., retard the hemolysis rate). During the C periods the subject was
instructed to think of other matters. Half of the subjects followed a pattern of PCCP, while the
remaining half followed the pattern CPPC. One of the P periods and one of the C periods for
each subject was designated as a two-trial period, and the other was designated as an eight-trial
period (a trial is defined below). This distinction was necessary to try to differentiate between
RA and IDS effects. The subject was blind to the number of trials in the period, and the
experimenter was blind to the pattern of P and C periods. All of these assignments were
prepared by another staff member at MSF before the experiment began by consulting a random
number table.
Blood samples were collected from each subject 14 to 42 hours prior to the experimental
session, and stored at 4 ?Celsius. The registered nurse who drew the blood was supposed to label
half of the samples with the name of the actual donor, and the other half with the name of one of
the other donors. Because of a scheduling change and resulting confusion, 14 samples were
labeled with the donors' own names, while 18 were labeled with the names of others. Thus,
during the protect periods, 14 subjects were trying to protect their own blood and 18 subjects
were trying to protect the blood of another. Both the experimenter and the subject were blind to
the source of the blood until after all 32 sessions were completed.
To begin the experimental session, the subject and the experimenter were isolated in
rooms in different parts of the building. During each of the four 15-minute periods, the
experimenter sequentially conducted either two or eight trials, based on the preassigned scheme.
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For each trial, a fixed amount (100 p.1) of whole blood was added to a prepared tube of 0.425%
saline in 6.0 ml of distilled water. Saline solution causes red blood cells to deteriorate through
the liberation of the hemoglobin contained in them. This process is called hemolysis. The
purpose of this study was to see if psi could be used to slow down the rate of hemolysis.
To measure the rate of hemolysis for each trial, the experimenter placed the tube in a
spectrophotometer which recorded the percent light transmittance for each of 60 seconds. The
data used for analysis was the difference between the average for the first five seconds and the
average for the last five seconds. If the subject was successfully protecting the blood, the
difference should be smaller during the protect periods than during the control periods, because
red blood cells retaining more hemoglobin should transmit less light. Using this procedure, either
two or eight tubes were consecutively processed in each period. Strict measures, described in the
appended MSF report, were used to ensure that the timing was consistent over all sessions.
Meanwhile, the subject was signaled at the beginning of each of the 15-minute periods,
but did not know whether data for two or eight trials (tubes) were being collected in that period.
The subject consulted the preassigned order to determine whether each period was a protect or a
control condition. Several possible techniques for trying to protect the blood in the other room
had been given to each subject at the beginning of the experiment. A 35-mm slide of intact red
blood cells was available for viewing, as an aid to visualization. Subjects were blind as to the
number of trials being conducted and subjects were simply instructed to spend the entire 15
minutes of the protect periods trying to slow down the rate of hemolysis. During the two control
periods, they were to try to think of other matters or, if that proved to be impossible, to imagine
the hemolysis proceeding at its normal rate.
After the completion of the session, the experimenter escorted the subject to his office,
and the subject described the techniques he or she used during the protect periods. In return,
the experimenter calculated the session results and gave the subject both verbal and numerical
feedback for the 20 tubes used in the four periods.
B. Analysis
The confirmation study was designed to explore the following questions:
(1) Does the rate of hemolysis differ during the protect and the control periods?
(2) Does the magnitude of the effect depend on whether one is trying to protect his
or her own blood versus that of another?
Can any observed psi effects be attributed to RA or IDS?
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The first two of these questions can be explored by performing an analysis of variance
(ANOVA) using .the change scores for each of the 20 tubes as the dependent variable. There
are three factors: Blood Source (own versus another, fixed, between); Condition (protect versus
control, fixed, within); and Subjects (random, nested under blood source). The procedure for
answering the first question depends on whether or not the results show a significant interaction
between Condition and Subjects. If not, the question can be answered by looking at the main
effect for Condition. A significant interaction indicates that the contrast between the protect and
control periods differs for each subject. Thus, it is meaningless to consider an overall Condition
effect. Instead, individual t?tests to compare protect and control period means should be
performed for each subject. If it appears that within subject variability is homogeneous, then an
overall estimate of that variability can be used in these tests, with the resulting increase in degrees
of freedom. Otherwise, the usual two?sample t?test should be used for each subject.
The procedure for answering the second question is similar to that for the first. If there is
a significant Source by Condition interaction, then the results for one's own versus another's
blood should be compared within each condition. Otherwise, the question can be answered by
examining the main effect for Source.
The third question cannot be answered with the ANOVA results. The extent to which IDS
or RA can be used to explain observed psi results can be examined by comparing the results to
those predicted by each of the two theories. In this experiment, results can be compared by
using each subject's control period data to standardize the protect period data, then comparing
means and variances of the two?trial and the eight?trial periods to those predicted by each of the
theories. The RA theory predicts that there will be a significant shift in means away from what
would be expected by chance, while the IDS theory predicts that there will be an increase in
variance, but that the rate of that increase will be a function of the number of trials.
Theoretical calculations have been done to find the expected means and variances of the
standardized means for the two?trial and eight?trial protect period data, under the hypotheses of
chance, RA, and IDS. Since the standardization must be done using control data based on only
ten trials per subject, these calculations involved central and noncentral t distributions instead of
the more familiar normal distribution. Table 1 gives the expected means and variances for each
of the three theories. The parameter I in the variance formula for the IDS theory is called the
IDS strength parameter. The assumption is that, as a result of psi?biased data collection, the
variance of the usual standardized distribution will be (1 + 1)2 instead of 1. The parameter Ali
represents the difference between the protect and control period population means; o- is the
standard deviation for the control period. Notice that all three theories predict that the variance
for the mean of two trials should be four times the variance for the mean of eight trials.
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Table 1
EXPECTED VALUES AND VARIANCES
FOR STANDARDIZED PROTECT PERIOD MEANS
CHANCE
RA
IDS
Mean
0
1.094( A pt/cf )
0
2 Trials
Variance
0.707
0.707 + 0.044 ( A p./cr )2
0.64
[ (1+1)
2
+.1
]
Mean
0
1.094( A ?/cr )
0
8 Trials
Variance
0.177
0.177 + 0.011 ( A ?/cr )2
0.16
[(1+1)
2
+.1
1
C. Simulation of RA with Salinity Data
The data from the salinity study conducted as the intermediate phase of this investigation
provided an ideal opportunity to examine the soundness of the proposed methodology for testing
for an RA effect. Because of the manner in which the data were collected, they should mimic
the causal influence that would occur with remote action. Thus, if the methodology proposed
for testing RA were to be used with these data, the results should mimic those hypothesized when
RA is operational. A study was carried out at SRI to see if this would be the case.
It seems reasonable to expect that if RA is used to slow down the rate of hemolysis, the
same effect could be achieved naturally by simply changing the salinity level of the solution
before adding the red blood cells. This is what was done in the salinity study. (The main
purpose of the study was to see if changes dictated by the pilot study had reduced the large
variability in measurement under control conditions.) Thus, comparing data from two different
levels of salinity should be similar to comparing data from control and protect periods if RA was
used during the protect periods.
Two levels of salinity, 0.425% and 0.442%, were used for this simulation. The lower
salinity level (0.425%) was used as the "protect period" data. Twenty sample points were
available at each salinity value. All values were standardized by subtracting the mean of the
entire "control period" data, and dividing by the corresponding standard deviation. The
resulting mean for the "protect period" data was 3.365, so this value was used as the
hypothesized parameter for the RA model. In other words, it was assumed that each value in the
"protect period" came from a population with a mean that was 3.365 standard deviations higher
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than the mean of the undisturbed population, but that the standard deviation in the protect
period was the same as for the undisturbed population. This is the usual RA hypothesis.
Five random samples of size two and five of size eight were generated from each
condition. The means of these samples are plotted in Figure 1, along with error bars
representing one standard error of the mean in each direction. The horizontal axis represents
sequence length, which was either two or eight. Both axes are represented on log scales. The
horizontal and diagonal lines drawn in the body of the plot represent the theoretical predictions
for the RA hypothesis, and for chance, respectively. The values resulting from the random
sampling are well within the range predicted by the theories. This provides a confirmation of the
methodology for testing each of these theories, by showing that situations that should mimic RA
and chance do indeed result in the predicted relationship between sequence length and mean.
FIGURE 1 RA SIMULATION BASED ON SALINITY DATA
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III RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. ANOVA Results
Although 60 data points were recorded for each trial, the only information used in the
analysis was the difference between the averages of the first five and the last five points. This
measure represented the amount of change in the red blood cells during the one-minute trial.
For each of the 32 subjects, 20 of these change scores were computed, with 10 collected during
the two control periods and 10 collected during the two protect periods. In addition, the
information on blood source (own versus another) was available for each subject.
A three-factor ANOVA on these data was carried out at SRI International, using the
Unixl Stat computer package. Source of blood (own versus another) and Condition (protect
versus control) were fixed effects, while Subject was a random effect, nested under Source. The
dependent variable was the change score, giving ten observations in each cell.
The ANOVA results are given in Table 1 of the Appendix. The most significant effect is
due to overall differences among subjects (p < 10-16? ).
This heterogeneity among the red blood
cells of individuals is well known, and was the motivation for collecting control period data for
each subject. The only other significant effect was the Condition by Subject interaction (p = 6.3
x 10-6). This implies that the difference between the protect and control period means varied
depending on the subject. As a consequence, comparisons must be done for each subject
individually instead of over all subjects. These are done using two-sample t-tests with the ten
control period tubes and the ten protect period tubes for each subject.
There was also a wide spread among the variances across subjects. For the control period
data, the minimum and maximum variances for individuals were 0.304 and 9.333, respectively.
Because of this heterogeneity, individual t-tests were done using separate estimates of variance
instead of using the combined estimate of 2.0248 from the ANOVA table.
Results for the 32 separate t-tests are given in Table 3 of the Appendix. Two-tailed tests
were used to account for the possibility of actually increasing the hemolysis rate instead of slowing
it down. Nine subjects showed a significant difference (p < .05, df = 18, iti >2.101). Of these,
seven showed evidence in the direction of slowing down the rate of hemolysis, and two appeared
to have increased the rate. Both of the individuals in the latter group were trying to influence the
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blood of another, while five of those in the former group were working with their own blood and
two were working with another's. This is an interesting but post hoc observation, and the sample
sizes are too small to attempt any conclusions. The ANOVA results did not indicate that the
difference between those working on their own blood and those working on another's blood was
statistically significant.
Overall, these results indicate a highly significant level of psi performance. The probability
of observing 9 or more independently significant results out of 32 is only 1.9 x 10-5. If
one-tailed tests (in the direction of slowing the rate of hemolysis) had been performed, eight
individuals would have shown significant results (t > 1.73), and the overall significance of the
experiment would have been 1.4 x 10-4.
The correction of several problems and the introduction of further measures suggested by
the SOC and by SRI personnel appeared to eliminate extraneous sources of variability which had
been observed in the pilot study. Apparently the noise reduction was sufficient to allow the psi
signal to be detected. Contrary to what some critics of psi research have implied, tightening the
protocol enhanced the psi results instead of reducing them to chance.
B. RA Versus IDS Results
Because of the extreme variability in the characteristics of human red blood cells and the
wide range of times (14 to 42 hours) between blood collection and testing, it is impossible to
determine what rate of hemolysis should be expected by chance alone. For this reason, separate
control periods were interspersed with the protect period for each subject. To examine the RA
and IDS hypotheses, the protect period data first needed to be standardized, so that they could
be compared across subjects. To do this, the mean and standard deviation of the ten control
period tubes were computed for each subject. Standardized protect period scores were
computed by subtracting these means and dividing by the standard deviations for each of the ten
protect period values for each subject. Assuming that a given individual's control and protect
period data came from the same distribution, these standardized scores (modified slightly by a
constant) would follow a Student's t distribution with nine degrees of freedom. This assumption
was used to compute the theoretical mean and variance shown in Table 1 under the chance
hypothesis.
It was assumed that if RA occurred, it would take the form most commonly accepted, i.e.,
the mean for the protect period would differ from the mean for the control period but the
variance would not. The magnitude of this mean shift is denoted in Table 1 by Et.
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It was also assumed that if IDS occurred, it would take the form of inflating the variance of
the final z-score distribution from 1.0 to (1.0 + 1)2, but the amount of inflation would be
independent of the number of trials used to compute the z-score. In this case, that was
equivalent to assuming that the average of the unstandardized protect period scores would have
the same mean as the control period scores, but they would have a variance of (1 + 1)2 02/n,
where 02 is the variance of the control scores.
The usual procedure for comparing RA and IDS is to plot the log of the mean shift for
various sequence lengths against the log of the sequence length. IDS theory predicts that the
slope of the resulting line would be -0.5.
In order for this procedure to be able to distinguish between the two hypotheses, however,
the data must conform to certain results which are predicted by both theories. One is that the
ratio of the variances of the means for two sequence lengths should be inversely proportional to
the ratio of the sequence lengths. As can be seen in Table 1, for this experiment the ratio of
variances for the mean of two trials versus the mean of eight trials should be close to four. This
result should hold for any of the three hypotheses proposed.
Table 2 shows the sample means and standard deviations across all 32 subjects, for the
averages of the tubes collected in the two- and eight-tube protect periods, respectively. The
change scores were standardized as described above before these averages were computed.
Table 2
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR STANDARDIZED PROTECT DATA
N of Tubes Mean Standard Deviation
2 -0.387 1.071
8 -0.134 0.810
As can be seen by these values, the ratio of variances for the two sequence lengths is only
1.75, which is much smaller than the value of 4.0 predicted by all three hypotheses. This implies
that the data contain anomalies not covered by any of the theories. One obvious possibility is
that the level of psi functioning is different for each individual. The calculations for each of the
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theories must necessarily assume that if that mechanism is at work, it is functioning at the same
level for each individual. Results in other areas of psi research have indicated that level of psi
functioning is extremely heterogeneous across individuals, so this assumption may be too
restrictive. If either IDS or RA is functioning in different amounts for each subject, it would be
impossible to predict what to expect in the combined results under investigation. Future studies
of this type should be conducted using a single subject, or at least analyzing the data from each
subject separately. In the present study, the data available are insufficient to ascertain whether
an individual was following the RA or the IDS model.
It is interesting to estimate the psi parameters by comparing the formulas in Table 1 with
the values in Table 2. This provides further evidence that the data do not support either theory.
The IDS strength parameter, I, would be estimated to be 0.298 or 0.996, based on the standard
deviations for the two- and eight-tube conditions, respectively. The standardized mean shift,
Ag/cr, is estimated to be -0.354 or -0.122 based on the means in Table 2, and -3.16 or -6.60
based on the standard deviations. Such large inconsistencies would not occur if either theory
were valid for this experiment uniformly across subjects.
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REFERENCES
1. May, E. C., Radin, D. I., Hubbard, G. S., Humphrey, B. S., and Utts, J. M., "Psi
Experiments with Random Number Generators: An Informational Model," Proceedings
of the 28th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association, pp. 343-354, Tufts
University, Medford, Massachusetts, August, 1985.
2. Hubbard, G. S., and Braud, W. W., "An Experiment to Test Apparent Remote Action
(RA) Effects on Electrodermal Activity," Final Report, SRI Project 1291, SRI
International, Menlo Park, California, December, 1986.
3. Braud, W. W., Davis, G., and Wood, R., "Experiments with Matthew Manning," Journal
of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 50, pp. 199-223, 1979.
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APPENDIX
A-1
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ABSTRACT: A formal investigation was conducted in order to determine whether a
relatively large number of unselected subjects would be able to exert a distant
mental influence upon the rate of hemolysis of human red blood cells. For each
of 32 subjects, red blood cells in 20 tubes were submitted to osmotic stress
(hypotonic saline). The subjects attempted to protect the cells in 10 of the
tubes, using visualization and intention strategies; the remaining 10 tubes
served as non-influence controls. For each tube, rate of hemolysis was
measured photometrically over a 1-minute trial period. Subjects and
experimenter were "blind" regarding critical aspects of the procedure, and
subjects and tubes were located in separate rooms in order to eliminate
conventional influences. Results indicated that a significantly greater number
of subjects than would be expected on the basis of chance alone showed
independently significant differences between their "protect" and "control"
tubes (p = 1.91 x 10-5 ). Overall, blood source (i.e., whether the influenced
cells were the subject's own cells or those of another person) did not
significantly influence the outcome. Additional analyses of the results were
performed by SRI International researchers to determine whether the data were
better described by remote action (causal) or by intuitive data sorting
(informational) predictions; results of those analyses are presented in an
appended paper.
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REMOTE INFLUENCE OF HEMOLYSIS RATE: A CONFIRMATION STUDY
William Braud 1
Mind Science Foundation
I INTRODUCTION
In a preliminary experiment conducted in our laboratory several years ago,
a selected subject was able to mentally influence (retard) the rate of
hemolysis of human red blood cells (Braud, Davis & Wood, 1979). In that
experiment, the blood cells were stressed osmotically by a hypotonic saline
solution, and rate of hemolysis was measured photometrically. The significant
In vitro effect was interpreted as a successful psychokinetic influence upon a
living target system. Throughout this past year, additional experiments were
conducted in order to test the generality of this remote influence effect, and
to determine whether the effect might be most parsimoniously explained as a
true psychokinetic (remote action) effect or, alternatively, as an instance of
Intuitive data sorting (see May, Radin, Hubbard, Humphrey & Utts, 1985).
The, preliminary experiment had involved a single selected subject and a
relatively small number of trials. The present experiments involved many more
trials, a large number of unselected subjects, and an improved methodology.
Briefly, subjects attempted to mentally retard the rate of hemolysis of
osmotically stressed human red blood cells which were isolated from all
conventional influences. The subjects and the target system were kept in
separate rooms. Rate of hemolysis was accurately monitored by a
spectrophotometer interfaced by means of an analog-to-digital converter to a
microcomputer. The experimenter operating the equipment was blind regarding
the timing of the influence (protect) versus noninfluence (control) attempts.
Both experimenter and subject were blind regarding the blood source (subject's
own blood versus another person's blood).
Summary of the Pilot Phase
Thirty-two unselected subjects participated in a Pilot study designed to
explore the new methodology and to determine whether blood source (own blood
cells versus another person's blood cells) was an important factor. An
experimental session involved hemolysis measurements for ten blood tubes. The
subject attempted to retard the rate of hemolysis of five of these tubes,
mentally and at a distan9e. The remaining five tubes served as control tubes
which the subject did not attempt to influence. The five influence and five
control tubes were scheduled according to a random sequence which was prepared
by a third party and which was unknown to the experimenter who made the
hemolysis measurements. Light transmission through each tube (which is
proportional to hemolysis) was measured for each second of a two-minute
sampling period; the difference between the mean of the initial five seconds
and the final five seconds of light measurements yielded a change score which
served as the hemolysis measure. Following the completion of the experimental
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session, ten additional blood-containing tubes were measured for hemolysis
rate. It was intended that these ten measurements would provide additional
"non-local" baseline data, and would also be useful in comparing remote action
(RA) versus intuitive data sorting (IDS) predictions of the experimental
outcome. According to the RA hypothesis, the mean of the five "local" control
tubes should be equivalent to the mean of the ten nonlocal baseline tubes, and
the mean of the five influence tubes should be lower (i.e., in the direction of
less hemolysis or greater protection of the cells) than both of the former
means. According to the IDS hypothesis, the mean of the local controls should
be above, and that of the influence tubes should be below, that of the nonlocal
baseline tubes; the grand mean of the ten tubes for the experimental session
should not differ from the mean of the ten nonlocal baseline tubes.
An analysis of variance of the hemolysis scores indicated extremely great
and highly significant variability among the subjects, but no other significant
main effects or interactions. Therefore, significant evidence for a remote
influence of the blood cells was not obtained in the Pilot study. There was,
however, a nonsignificant tendency for a slight "protection" effect in the
"another's blood" condition, while the opposite effect (i.e., less protection
during the influence trials) occurred in the "own blood" condition. The
nonlocal baseline measurements were found to be inadequate for their intended
purpose since, in every case but one, the mean percent light transmittance
change score for the ten nonlocal baseline tubes was lower than both
experimental sessions means (i.e., consistently lower than both the control and
the influence tube means). It was determined that this consistent reduction in
hemolysis for the nonlocal baseline tubes (and, to a lesser extent, for the
tubes later in the experimental sessions as well) was due to a progressive
change in the blood cells contributed by several environmental factors which
increased the "noise" level of the experiments and which included higher
apparatus (i.e., spectrophotometer tube holder) temperatures during later
tests, and increasing exposure of the blood cells to temperature changes, air,
and mechanical trauma (i.e., mechanical agitation) during the course of
repeated tests of a single blood sample (i.e., multiple tests of the contents
of a single Vacutainer blood collection tube). As a result of the Pilot
sessions themselves, as well as additional tests conducted concurrently with
and subsequent to the Pilot experiment, the sources of these interfering
factors were identified and steps could be taken to eliminate or greatly reduce
them in the Confirmation study.
Temperature changes in the spectrophotometer tube holder were controlled
through (a) the addition of an external cooling fan to the apparatus, (b)
reducing the durations of the hemolysis measurement periods, and (c) turning
off the apparatus except when measurements were actually being made. The
substitution of a more effective anticoagulant (acid-citrate-dextrose) for that
used in the Pilot study (heparin) greatly diminished the effects of progressive
exposure to room temperature, air, and mechanical trauma during repeated
pipette samplings, so that hemolysis rate now remained relatively stable over
the course of twenty measurements from a given main Vacutainer source tube.
When between 20 and 30 samples had been taken from a main Vacutainer tube, this
stability began to deteriorate.
Summary of the Intermediate Phase of Salinity Tests
Following the completion of the Pilot study, salinity tests were conducted
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in order to determine salinity values that might mimic anticipated psi-induced
hemolysis rate changes. These tests provided the basis for Monte Carlo
analyses at SRI International, which were designed to determine appropriate
parameters for an adequate differential test of the IDS versus RA predictions
of psi functioning which was to be conducted in the Confirmation study.
A total of 332 hemolysis trials were completed, using whole blood samples
collected from ten different persons. For these tests, the "noise-reducing"
improvements mentioned above were incorporated. Hypotonic salinity values of
0.425%, 0.429%, 0.434%, 0.442%, and 0.450% (corresponding, respectively, to
50%, 50.5%, 51%, 52%, and 53.33% of 0.85% Normal physiological saline) were
tested. Sampling epochs of one-minute duration were used, rather than the two-
minute periods of the Pilot study. All other procedures were identical to
those of the Pilot study. These were all, of course, "control" tests in which
no subjects attempted to influence the hemolysis process.
As anticipated, the "noise-reducing" improvements resulted in the virtual
elimination of the extreme variability seen in the Pilot study, and yielded
much greater stability (less degradation) of the blood samples. The optimum
salinity value for mimicking an anticipated psi-induced reduction of hemolysis
rate of approximately 1.0 standard deviation was found to be in the vicinity of
0.429% - 0.434% saline (equivalent to 50.5% - 51.0% of Normal 0.85%
physiological saline). Monte Carlo simulation analyses conducted on these
salinity data by Scott Hubbard and Ed May at SRI International indicated that,
on the basis of the magnitudes of hemolysis changes observed in these
Intermediate Phase salinity tests, the use of 2 versus 8 samples (tubes)
distributed throughout equivalent "psi effort" periods would provide adequate
measurements for a differential test of the IDS versus RA interpretations of
any obtained psi effects in the Confirmation experiment. Details of these
Monte Carlo simulations are provided in Appendix A.
Overview of the Confirmation Study
On the basis of the findings of the preliminary study, the Pilot study,
and the Intermediate Phase experiments, a formal protocol for the Confirmation
study was developed which included the following features.
1. Thirty-two subjects (from the same population, and selected in the same
manner, as in the Pilot) would each participate in one experimental session.
Hemolysis measurements would be made by the experimenter, W. B.
2. Sixteen subjects would attempt to influence (protect) their own blood
cells, and sixteen would attempt to influence the cells of another person.
Both subject and experimenter would be blind regarding the source of the blood
until all 32 sessions had been completed. This "awn versus other" factor is
retained in the Confirmation study because of the trend toward different
outcomes in those two conditions observed in the Pilot study.
3. Blood samples would be collected in Vacutainer tubes containing acid-
citrate-dextrose (ACD) anticoagulant and would be refrigerated immediately
after the blood was drawn. Blood samples would be stored at 4 degrees Celsius
and would be removed from the refrigerator only briefly, before each hemolysis
trial.
4. Hemolysis trials would be conducted between 14 and 42 hours following
a blood draw. The ACD anticoagulant permits cold storage of blood cells for as
long as three to four weeks with minimal deterioration of red blood cells,
5. The temperature increase of the spectrophotometer would be minimized
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by means of an external cooling fan, the use of shorter sampling epochs, and
allowing the apparatus to remain on only during hemolysis measurement periods.
6. A session would consist of four fifteen-minute periods--two control
(C) periods and two protect (P) periods. For half of the subjects, these
periods would be scheduled in a CPPC order; for half of the subjects, a PCCP
order would be used. This block-counterbalancing design is employed in order
to assure that any reasonably linear potential progressive error (such as
changes in hemolysis rate due to slight progressive warming of the apparatus)
would contribute equally to the two (C and P) conditions and therefore not
introduce a systematic bias. Whether a given subject's sequence is CPPC or
PCCP would be randomly determined by an associate (M. S.) through use of a RAND
table of random numbers. The experimenter doing the hemolysis measurements
would, of course, be blind regarding these sequences. A subject would learn
his or her proper sequence by consulting a sealed envelope delivered to the
subject after the experimenter's interactions with the subject had been
completed and the experimenter had returned to his equipment room.
7. The beginning of each fifteen-minute period would be signalled by an
appropriate number of tones delivered to the subject's headphones. The subject
would have been instructed to attempt to mentally decrease the rate of
hemolysis of the distant red blood cells during the two fifteen-minute protect
periods. During the two fifteen-minute control periods, the subject would
attempt not to think about the experiment and would allow the cells to hemolyze
at their normal, rapid rate. During the two protect periods, the subject would
view a projected color slide of healthy, intact red blood cells as an aid to
visualization and intention. During the two control periods, the subject would
close the eyes and think about matters unconnected with the experiment.
8. During each fifteen-minute period, either two or eight hemolysis tubes
(samples) would be measured. Monte Carlo analyses conducted at SRI
International have indicated that curves derived from two versus eight tubes