CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL FREE-RESPONSE TARGETS: EXPERIMENTAL FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS (DEBORAH L. DELANOY)

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CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL FREE-RESPONSE TARGETS:
EXPERIMENTAL FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS
Deborah L. Delanoy
Psychology Department
University of Edinburgh
7 George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9JZ
Scotland, U.K.
Abstract
This paper reviews experimental findings and observations concerning
characteristics of successful free-response targets. Information relevant
to the following categories of target characteristics was examined:
colour/black and white; oamplex/simple; novel/familiar; abstract/
concrete; dynamic/static; form/idea and meaning; emotion; and theme/
content. Very few conclusions could be drawn fram the data base,
although a tentative finding related dynamic, multi-sensory targets to ESP
success. Other suggestive findings were reported for novel and abstract
characteristics. The discussion considers possible reasons for the general
lack of findings and presents a possible avenue for future research.
ACENCWLECGEMENTS: Ms. Caroline Watt and Professor James Crandall
contributed substantially to the research for this paper, for which I am
most grateful. my thanks also to Dr. Julie Milton and Ms. Watt for
helpful comments on the paper's content and again to Ms. Watt for the
typing of the references.
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This and the following paper, presented by Caroline watt,
epregents the findings of a literature review exanting what makes a
'successful (in terms of being accurately perceived -.t:s?-? the percpient)
and/or unsuccessful free-response GEsp target. The review Vets undertaken
to assist the Koestler Lab in constructing a free-response target pool for
use in our future research. We thought such a review -e.e.s necessary as
initial discussions as to what type of targetswe shou:d be looking for
revealed that various researchers in our group held differing
*idols/ideas as to what qualities a successful ta should have.
These differences were further reinforced when we st discussing
various targets which we had used in our own independ&-t7:: ::.-esearch, and
those of other researchers with whose targets pccls we were familiar. An
:initial search through same of the major parapsychelzAzv iournals and
SOurce books revealed- very little coherently arrar.:9 information
-regarding free-response targets. This review was undertaker:in an attempt
to remedy this situation. To this . end, we e..,NELL.nerl relevant
parapsychological and psychological experimental findincs a?nd, theoretical
=des, post hoc observations, and lab lore in hopes ofsome
'OOnsensus regarding psi-conducive target qualities and 7,,wrials. This
first paper will present the findings from parapsychologice: e?Terinerrtal
findings, including post hoc findings are. anecdotal observeticns.
; It should be stressed that this review is not mr.w.nt ? to be
_I-exhaustive. We have tried to scout out related informat:-..... in the main
journals and newsletters (journal of the American Societ. f'zr Psychical
Aftweirch, journal of Parapsychology, journal and Procie of the
andety for Psychical Research, European Journal of Plogy,
ZUternational journal of Parapsychology, Parapsycholocv iew, and
*Search Letter). We have also examined various confere.-.1..--.e..ccedings
(Parapsychological Association and Parapsychology Fouratizr.), major
Altiralwithological source books, same of the popular liter--e recrdinog
.:Vodeveloprnent of psychic abilities, some of the relataa sychology
literature, and other prominent books in our field whic?thought
_likely to contain the information we were seeking. HCrAmt, it was
elbvlk)usly impossible to examine all of the possibly relat.
Ur survey of the historical literature was necessarily quite -i--Litied (in
4,Set we examined only two main sources, Warcollier s lict.-;ngs and
lbsritzmms of the Living, 1886).
Target-related information fran forced choice studies -s t been
tically considered here, the primary reason for this ci being
two reviews of this literature already . conducted by Palmer. :::a77.8) and
..,1.4irperter (1977). However, general findings fram t.te spurces
0Xesionally will be referred to where appropriate in this rev-_:_e.4.e.
The most frequent comments regarding targets foux.-: in these
s were generalizations regarding the choice of target mer-=-ial For
le cairrents might be made that targets were chosen which ilikm-evivAly
, intrinsically interesting, pleasant, and so on. bk-ti.= such
maybe viewed as conveying the?experimenters'perspece what
titutes an easy-to-perceive target, to list all such ccem-1-:s
been a very tedious task for both the author and 1-?*_--z
no comment could be made upon the utility of lotrorer
$ were adopted when choosing targets unless one were to .e7:Dt a
lysis of the relevant studies, a project which was far 'tec.,-A5 the
Of the present undertaking. Thus, such cannents were not. ..fmcluded
this review unless information was provided which related -0.,-=';'..=11ar
characteristics to the success or failure of the study, q-.,=;tcr the
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target materials were speciricailya-cno0WWWM29910&02some respect,
with the author describing the reason for such selection.
The initial task in this undertaking required finding same way to
organize the target information in a meaningful and useful manner. This
proved to be quite problematic, as target materials and content are
seldam one-dimensional. Thus it was required to find a means of
categorizing a diverse range of target materials, such as film clips,
actual geographical sites, agents' experience of some sensory stimulus,
and a large range of assorted pictorial material, each representing
varying degrees of denotative and connotative complexity. Indeed, even
defining the target in many studies was not a straightforward
proposition. Per example, in telepathic designs, is the target the
agent's experience of the target material or the target material itself?
In approaching this task it was thought that the target information
could perhaps be divided according to the type of target material used
(e.g. art prints, film clips, geographical locations, etc.). However,
this approach was rejected as in many cases there was not enough available
information about a specific target material to allow sensible
generalizations to be made. Also explored were various ways of trying to
represent and categorize the obtained target information in a
multi-dimensional manner, taking into account both denotative and
connotative meaning. To this end, attempts were made to apply to the
data various three-dimensional conceptualizations of the sort obtained
fram the semantic differential. Thus, we sought to find one scale
which would categorize the obtained target information taking into
consideration various connotative camponents such as evaluation (does the
information convey something which is good-bad, clean-dirty, sacred-
profane, etc.), potency (weak-strong, powerless-powerful, light-heavy,
etc.), and activity (fast-slow, active-passive, sharp-dull, etc.).
This approach of organizing the data was rejected as there was not enough
information about most targets to justify a post hoc fitting of the
obtained information into such a model. Thus, in the end the task was
necessarily defined by the type of information obtained in the literature
search.
Locking through the data obtained, it was decided that the
information could best be organized according to the following target
characteristics: colour / black and white; camplex / simple; novel /
familiar; abstract / concrete; dynamic / static; form / idea and
meaning; emotion; and theme / content. The "working definitions" of
these categories will be delineated in the following appropriate sections
of this paper. There were many instances where the same data fitted into
several different categorizations. For instance, in Krippner, Ullman, et
al. (1972) the target consisted of a randomly chosen word, an art print
which portrayed the word, and then a multi-sensory (auditory, gustatory,
olfactory, tactile and kinesthetic) environment relating to the
word/picture was created for the agent. Such a target could easily be
classified as complex, novel, dynamic, emotional, and as having a strong
theme. In such situations, the author has attempted to refer to the
information in all the relevant categories, but has only provided
details of the study in the category where it was first mentioned.
Colour / Black and White
The colour category referred to all target materials which were
coloured, as opposed to black and white. A telepathic dream study by
Krippner and Zeichner (1974) obtained a significant degree (p < .002) of
psi-hitting using 74 art prints as the targets. A descriptive analysis of
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the art prints was then performed using an adapation of Gough and
-eodiOgiii4N1064/040454101A-R019660015501002002NOV4ach of the art
using this list. If two judges checked the same adjective for any
picture, that adjective was deemed to describe the particular print.
This analysis revealed that a higher percentage of hits were
associated with targets which had blue in them, where targets containing
orange and yellow were associated with more misses (whether results were
significant is not reported). Puthoff and Targ (1979), in an anecdotal
comment upon their remote viewing studies stated that most hits were
associated with various nonanalytic aspects of a target, such as colour.
However, in another remote viewing study (Targ, Targ and Lichtarge, 1986)
where colour was superimposed over black and white slides of locations,
it was found that the viewers were unable to perceive the colour. In
commenting upon these results the authors speculated that the lack of
colour perception may have been due to the restricted number of colour
choices which resulted in making the colour perception a more analytic
task than the free-response perception of possible target sites. Mich
of Warcollier's (1938) work used simple black and white line drawings
as targets. However, he observed informally that when colour was in the
target, it appeared to be perceived as frequently as was the form of the
drawing.
A non-psi study by Braud, Davis, and Opella (1985) examined the
frequency of occurrence of different types of imagery in dreaming and
ganzfeld states. As this study used no targets, the results could
indicate what types of imagery have an a priori probability of being
mentioned more often than others. In relation to this category, they
found that dreaming and ganzfeld imagery contain a predominance of colour
(among other things). These results could be pertinent to the findings
discussed in this paper, in that some of these findings could be due to a
simple predominance of certain naturally-occurring types of imagery as
opposed to reflecting actual transmission of target-related content. It is
possible that the higher frequency of colour imagery in general could lead
to spurious observations of success with colour targets unless formally
examined. This should be borne in mind when considering anecdotal
observations.
Many studies have been conducted using black and white targets, most
notably those experiments where the target consisted of simple line
drawings. However, we found no free-response work which compared the
effectiveness of black and white to coloured targets. McMahan and
Rhine (1947) conducted a forced-choice study using both coloured and black
and white Zener cards. They found a higher average score with the
coloured cards than with the black and white, but the difference was not
significant.
The findings from this category do not indicate any clear-cut
differences between the success-rate of colour and black and white target
materials. As both have a long track-record of obtaining significant psi
outcomes, research specifically aimed at mparing the two in a
free-response setting would be needed before any conclusions regarding the
superiority of one over the other could be made.
Information included in the "complex" category referred to comments
and findings about target materials, most commonly pictorial, which
were complex and/or rich in content. Krippner and Zeichner (1974) found a
higher percentage of misses with more complex targets (whether the
finding was significant was not reported). Stuart (1946b) stated that
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6siibjects Irippaer
(1970) expressed concern that complex targets would mislead not the
subjects but the judges, as complex targets could make the evaluation
procedure overly problematic, with the creative judge finding numerous
correspondences between many dream sequences and complex, detailed
pictures. On the other hand, significant results have been obtained with
very complex target material such as film clips (Psychophysical Research
Laboratory, 1985) and the multiwsensory target environment of Krippner,
Ullman, et. al. (1972) described in the introduction.
Information classified as "simple" included references to targets
composed of clear, unequivocally definable, common objects and symbols.
Mbst frequently these targets were simple line drawings. Both Carington
(1940) and Stuart (1946a) recommended the use of simple, as opposed to
compound, drawings so as not to confuse the subject. Warcollier (1963)
noted that even though ills targets were simple, percipients' responses
still showed considerable distortion. As above, Erippner and Zeichner
(1974) found a higher percentage of hits associated with more simple
targets as measured by the number of adjectives used to describe the
target (again, whether this finding was significant is not reported).
Several forced choice studies have examined the use of
multiple-aspect targets. Generally these targets would be considered to
be 'simple' by free-response s ; . However, being multi-aspect by
definition, they would represent more complex material than many
forced-choice targets. Palmer (1978) in reviewing this work concluded
that when multiple-aspect targets were used subjects tended "to score at
least as high or higher on the total target than on any of its primary
attributes. Such results suggest either that such targets are perceived
holistically (even if the overt responses are fragmentary) or that a
correct guess on one attribute somehow facilitates correct guesses on
other attributes."(Palmer, 1978, p.88) In a review of six studies
utilizing dual-aspect targets, Kennedy (1980) examined whether
complex target information was treated as a gestalt or whether the
individual parts' of the information appeared to be processed separately.
No support for or against either mode of information processing was
obtained.
The above- findings do not merit any clear conclusions. Before
such conclusions could be drawn direct comparison within studies of
complex target material is needed.
Novel / Familiar
Information relating to unexpected, unfamiliar, unusual and/or
incongruous target material was included in the novel category. Cavanna
and Servadio (1964) conducted a pilot study to investigate suitable
methodologies for studying the occurrence of ESP during states induced by
taking hallucinogenic drugs. Their targets were photographs consisting of
very incongruous elements, for example an upside-down foot, balancing an
artificial eye between the toes. The results were non-significant,
although this outcome could have been due to the difficulties involved in
attending to a test situation when under the influence of an
hallucinogenic drug. Exippner and Zeichner (1974) obtained a higher
percentage (whether or not significant was not reported) of hits when
targets were described as imaginative and interesting (qualities which
could be construed as novel). Ullman and Krippner (1973) ran a four
subject dream study in which the same target was used for half of the
testing nights and a different target used for each REM period for the
other half. They observed that the the four participants preferred the
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14441174644Nalle. owxyD.461511ne nhA_tingle target.
8adreOr Ere rs a lerition being more
engaged by novel ESP stimuli. In another of the dream studies (female
subjects, eight nights ESP, eight of control, no significant scoring)
Ullman and Krippner (1973) commented that the subjects felt that the
target material should be as unusual as possible. Roll and Harary (1976)
found that "interesting responses" (hits) were obtained when spontaneous,
unexpected changes were made in the experiment. Two examples they
provided of this involved last minute changes being made to the target
material.
Several forced-choice studies have considered the effect of novelty
of task and/or target material upon ESP performance. In reviewing these
studies Carpenter (1977) concluded that novelty could facilitate
psi-hitting for most subjects, but could be counterrproductive for star
subjects used to a specific routine.
Information classified as "familiar" included references to targets
which held varying degrees of recognition for the percipients. Many
studies have been conducted using targets of emotional significance to the
subject and with which the subject would have been also necessarily
familiar. However, as emotional significance was usually deemed the more
important aspect of such targets, these studies will be considered under
that section.
Irwin (1982) conducted a study examining the influence of subjects'
familiarity with the targets. Half of the targets (Maimonides slides)
were exposed to the subjects prior to testing, and half were not. This
manipulation had no significant effect upon the study's outcome.
Warconier's (1938) research lead him to anecdotally conclude that only
elements of a target familiar to both the subject and agent could be
successfully transmitted. Targ, Puthoff and May (1979) have commented on
the basis of informal 'observations of their own research that use of
either repetitive target sequences and/or use of target pools of which the
subject had prior knowledge would inhibit remote viewing success.
The few findings reported in this category do not support the
drawing of any firm conclusions. There is same anecdotal support for the
utility of using a different target, with which the subject is not
familiar, for each testing of that subject. Also, the Krippner and
Zeichner (1974) findings offer some support for the use of imaginative and
interesting targets.
Abstract / Concrete
Abstract information included references to targets which portrayed
a potentially realistic scene or object in either an abstract and/Or
unrealistic manner (to varying degrees) or in a not readily recognizable
fashion. Krippner and Zeichner (1974) found a greater percentage of
misses with targets which were described as unrealistic (whether
this finding was significant was not reported). Ullman and Krippner
(1973) in the series of dream studies with reported that purely
abstract pictures which lacked human figures' gave poorer results than
targets which contained human figures engaged in activity.
Information included in the concrete category would be references
to target material which presented an object or scene in an immediately
recognizable, undistorted manner. While a great number of studies have
used targets which could be characterized as being concrete, we found no
specific reference regarding the utility of this characteristic in the
free-response studies.
Although Krippner and Zeichner's (1974) finding and Ullman and
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Krippner's (1973),pbservation suggest that abstract targets may not be
conducive to psi-hitting, more research is needed before firm
conclusions can be drawn.
Dynamic / Static
The dynamic categorization was used to refer to informations about
targets which portrayed and/or conveyed movement, a sense of movement,
and/or gustatory, olfactory, auditory, tactile, and/or kinesthetic
stimulation. Thus a wide diversity of target materials fell into this
category including pictorial material (showing movement), film clips
(containing movement), and a variety of non-visual target material such
as music excerpts, the taste of a food, etc. In considering this large
category perhaps it should first be noted that Hraud, Davis, and Opella
(1985) in their non-psi, no target study, found a predominance of
activity contained in ganzfeld and dreaming imagery. Gurney, Myers and
Podmore (1886) reporting on the findings of the Society for Psychical
Research's Census of Hallucinations found that in cases of apparent
GESP of literal reproductions of the agent's bodily sensation (pain,
smell, touch, etc.) were rarely transmitted. They noted from their own
experience that while taste was perceived in experimental situations,
they received no accounts of such in the spontaneous reports. The
spontaneous cases seldom contained reports of touch, and when it was
reported it was normally associated with auditory and/or visual
impressions. Maio and other auditory stimuli were frequently reported.
Warcollier (1963) informally observed that moving objects or the ability
of the target to suggestioavement seemed to be perceived by the subject.
Warcollier (1938) also expressed the belief that kinesthetic sensations
should be easily transmitted, but admitted to having little data to back
this up. Reporting on an Etalen Meeting on Psi Research, Schlitz (1984)
reported general agreement among the participants that kinesthetic,
auditory and olfactory images were as important, if .not more so, as
visual images in conveying psi information.
Honorton and Schechter (1987), reporting on the significant (p =
0.027, 1-t) outcome of 187 automated testing ganzfeld sessions, found
that sessions using dynamic targets (video segments and other *lifelike"
material) were independently significant Op &I 0.007, 1-t), while those
using static targets (defined as "still pictures") were at chance. The
difference between the two was suggestive, but not significant Op =
0.079, 2-t). Likewise, Krippner and Zeichner (1974) found more hits
associated with targets having dynamic content (whether this
finding was significant was not reported).
Altom and Hraud (1976) ran a pilot study aimed at exploring the idea
that right-hemisphere brain activity may be conducive to psi. They used
four different excerpts of music as targets, which it was thought might
encourage right-hemisphere activity. They obtained a significant level of
psi scoring Op = 0.05). Kesner and Morris (1978) conducted a guided
imagery, precognition study using music from records and their album
covers as targets. The subjects imagery was rated by an independent
judge who individually rated subjects visual and auditory imagery.
Neither the results fram the visual or the auditory ratings were
independently significant, however the two combined were (p < 0.02),
suggesting that the more senses involved in a target, the better.
Several dream studies have been conducted using dynamic target
material. Erippner, Honorton, and Ullman (1972) obtained significant
results Op < .001) usings thematically related slides, accompanied by an
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ilalten-MakPaill9i08X1Si4glAIRDEllfe011WRO90MofikfteerialKrippner,
rton, et. al. (1972) again elicited a significant level of psi-hitting
Op = .004). An even higher level of significant scoring Op = .0002) was
obtained by Erippner, Ullman, et. al. (1972) using the multi-sensory
target environment described in the introduction of this paper. As
previously mentioned, Ullman and Krippner (1973) found that paintings of
humans engaged in activity seemed to be more successful than abstract
paintings in the Erwin series. The second Erwin study, which again
obtained a significant degree of psi-hitting (reported effects "on the
order of a thousand to one" p.116), used art prints together with
associated objects and activities on the part of the agent.
Dunne and Bisaha (1979), reviewing seven remote viewing series,
noted that dynamic targets were perceived as readily as stationary ones.
Yet, Puthoff and Targ (1979) commenting upon their remote viewing work
said that motion was very rarely reported, even when it was an important
component of the scene. Although, Targ, Puthoff, and May (1979) stated
"that real-time activities at the target site are often perceived" (p.94).
These authors also noted that "in addition to visually observable detail,
subjects sometimes report sounds, smells, electromagnetic fields, and so
forth, which can be verified as existing at target locations" (p.95). It
should be noted that the above three observations were all ancedotal.
TWo studies made specific comparisons between static and
dynamic target characteristics. Honorton and Schechter (1987) obtained
highly significant psi effects with dynamic targets, while static targets
obtained chance results. Krippner and Zeichner (1974) found more hits
associated with dynamic targets. The findings of Kesner and MOrris
(1978) and those of the reviewed dream studies further suggest the
possible benefits of using multi-sensory target materials.
Form / Meaning and Idea
Comments related to the importance of the shape or form of the target
or some of its components are included in this category. Puthoff and Targ
(1979), in discussing their remote viewing work stated "most of the
correct information that subjects relate is of a nonanalytic nature
pertaining to shape, form, colour, and material rather than to function or
name" (p. 65). Barrington (1983), reviewing past work with the medium
Stefan Ossowiecki, found many examples where the form of the target had
been correctly identified but not the meaning, a situation which she
labelled as "incomprehending clairvoyance". Similarly, Warcollier (1938
& 1963) observed that frequently the shape of a target would be perceived
without reference to the target's meaning or idea, although he also notes
that meaning and idea may also be perceived without specific reference to
shape. Warcollier (1938) also discusses the work of Richonnet (no
reference provided) noting that Richonnet thought that form was both
easier to perceive than meaning and would be perceived prior to perception
of the identity (idea) of the ESP target.
The "meaning and idea" categorization includes information referring
to situations where the meaning, idea and or identity were perceived,
without reference to the shape or physical appearance of the target.
Carington (1940) believed that the idea of a target, not the form, was
what would come through to the subject. Gurney, Myers and Podmore (1886)
received reports which indicated that meaning and idea were the important
aspects of the target. The example they provide of this is where a word
in one language is received in another, having been suitably translated.
Marsh (1960), in a study using simple line drawings as targets,
commented that subjects tended to reproduce the ' concept of the target
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rather than the, shape. Lodge apparently shared these beliefs as,
according to Whrcoilier (1938), he believed that an idea is more easily
transmitted than a drawing (i.e. form). As noted above, Puthoff and Targ
(1979) believed that most correct information provided by subjects
pertained to the nonanalytic aspects of targets such as form, shape and
colour. Indeed, they thought that errors could arise when the subject
tried to make sense (i.e. label according to name and function) of such
nonanalytical target components.
This category presents some conflicting observations and opinions,
all of which are anecdotal in nature, regarding the utility of form, as
opposed to meaning and idea, in conveying psiv-related information.
Given this state of affairs, the only conclusion that can be drawn is
that research aimed at resolving this question is needed.
Motion
Any comments having to do with the emotional content of or emotional
reactions to target materials were included in this category. Same
researchers have also made comments about specific target themes/content
which could be interpreted as having a strong emotional component
(e.g. war scenes, erotic scenes, religious themes, etc.). However,
whether these themes would be regarded as positive or negative would
probably vary greatly fram subject to subject. Therefore, these findings
will not be referred to in this section unless the author specifies that
the emotionality of the target was an important factor in the study's
success or failure.
Gurney, Myers, and Podmore (1886) observed that in spontaneous
cases emotions were frequently received, often with the receiver having
no idea why they were experiencing certain feelings. However, the
emotion experienced by the percipient was later found to be appropriate to
the event which was taking place at the time, unknown to the percipient
(e.g. feeling sadness over the death of a close friend). Whrcollier
(1938) also comments that in spontaneous cases, the message is almost
always emotional.
Williams and Duke (1979) conducted a study specifically examining
various target qualities and their relationship to psi performance. They
devised a 39-item Target Evaluation Rating which measured various target
qualities, including overall emotional impact and positive and negative
emotional dimensions, upon which each of 152 targets were rated. They
then looked at data, gathered from 174 subjects, fram other free-response
studies which had used these targets. For the purposes of their
analysis, they excluded any target which had not been randomly chosen as a
target at least three times in the previous studies. This criterion
provided 22 targets, and ESP data fram 91 subjects (overall
significant psi-hitting was obtained, p < .047, 2-t). The individual psi
scores obtained for each of these 22 targets were averaged to provide a
composite psi score for each target. The composite psi scores were divided
into good psi targets and poor psi targets resulting in 12 high
psi-scoring targets and 10 la-psi scoring targets. Comparing these
targets to the total emotion score (the mean of the positive and negative
emotion ratings) fram the Target Evaluation Rating, they found that
targets containing a stronger emotional content were significantly better
(i.e. high psi-scoring targets) than non-emotional targets (141) < .001).
Sondow, Braud and Barker (1981) conducted a ganzfeld study also aimed
at investigating target qualities, which obtained a significant outcome
using a sum of ranks (p < .04 1-t), but did not reach significance using
direct hits as a measurement. Using the Target Evaluation Rating,
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111111110mmummmommos
dearzynisbeeldftankt9leviiic2M11123/tfirgM-Ftgate-Gempagletnaziogb6_2five having a
relatively high emotion rating and five having a low emotion rating.
Each high emotion pack consisted of two positive and two negative emotion
pictures; the low emotion packs consisted of two natural scenes and two
pictures of material objects. This complex study involved many different
neasurements and analyses, of which only those met relevant to this
paper will be reported. The neutral (low) emotion target pecks showed
nore psi-hitting than the high emotion pictures, udth the difference
approaching significance (p = .052, 2-t). Using a scale they devised to
measure emotion which both the subjects and agents completed, they found
that when a high emotion picture was the target, receivers would feel
more total emotion whilst in the ganzfeld than did receivers with a low
emotion target pack (p < .04, 2-t). Also receivers felt more emotion when
senders felt more emotion while sending (? < .04, 1-t). However,
Stanford (1984) has pointed out that this latter finding could be
artifactual due to commonalities of experience between subjects arid
agents (e.g. the weather that day). Using Osgood 's Semantic Differential
to measure the components of the target pictures, they found there more
hits when the receivers' and senders evaluation of the targets were in
close agreement than when their categorizations widely differed. Of
twenty targets where agreement was close, nine were direct hits (p = .04,
Both Williams and Duke (1979) and Sondow, Braud and Barker (1981)
found significant outcames in various analyses examining how well their
subjects liked (emotionally 'preferred) the target. Williams and Duke
(1979), comparing subjects ratings of target preference for hit and
missed targets for two different groups of subjects (with the rating
being made prior to obtaining feedback as to the target identity),
found the first group of 101 subjects significantly preferred targets
with which they had obtained a hit (p < .035, 2-t), as did the second
group of 80 subjects (p < .0038, 2-t). A similar finding was reported in
the Sondow et al. (1981) study, where a comparison between liking for
psi-hit and for psi-missed targets again yielded a significant outcome (ID
< .0096, 2-t). Another analysis in this study showed that pictures
received a significantly higher liking rank (2 < .0094, 2-t) when they
were the target than when they were a control. Braud and Loewenstern
(1982) also found that psi-hitters liked their targets significantly
better than psi-nissers Op < .025, 1-t). Two other significant target
preference findings were presented in Braud and Boston (1986). The
authors replicated the preference effect (p < .036, 1-t), and also
reported similar results from Braud, Ackles & Kyles (p < .045, 1-0.
However, these findings may be contaminated due to response bias
problems. To quote Stanford (1984) "these findings could be
artifactual;... Because of their desire for success, subjects may tend to
like pictures which correspond to their ganzfeld mentation, and such
correspondence tends to be greater and more detailed when ESP has actually
occurred. Thus such pictures may be liked appreciably more." (p. 107).
Many forced-choice studies have examined the role of target preference.
These findings have been reviewed by Carpenter (1977) and Palmer (1978).
In drawing sone conclusions about these findings Palmer comments that
while a preferential effect has been found most often "with respect to
response type rather than target type, it (the preference hypothesis)
offers our best hope to date of intergrating a very messy and inconsistent
body of data concerning the effect of target type on ESP scoring in
forced-choice experiments." (p. 87).
Krippner, Honorton, et al. (1972) considered their targets
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(thematically related slides and appropriate sound tracks) to be
emotionally arousing, and thought that their significant results provided
support for the use 'of such material. Ullman and Erippner (1973) also
felt "that an important ingredient in the success of experiments in
dream telepathy over `milting telepathy ... is the use of potent, vivid,
emotionally impressive human interest pictures to which both agent and
subject can relate." (p. 210).
Miss (1968; also see: MOss, 1969; and Moss & Gengerelli, 1968)
described the evolution of her experimental methodology over a series
of six experiments. Etptisizing the importance of using emotionally
arousing targets, her targets evolved to consist of slides accompanied
by appropriate sound effects paired so as to present contrasting
emotions. The results from these studies were very sketchily presented,
although significant outdomes were described for same of the studies.
However, no comparison was made between either emotionally arousing
targets and neutral ones, or between the effectiveness of the different
contrasting emotions. In a series of studies Preiser (1986) found that
ESP performance was highly dependent on the emotional loading of the
target material. The information about this study is limited as it was
obtained from an abstract. However, while no overall significance was
obtained, one part of the series did get a significant ESP outcome.
Cayenne and Servadio (1964) stressed the careful choosing of targets which
they considered to have definite emotional significance. While they did
not obtain significant psi-scoring, they did express the belief that
their future targets should be chosen to be even stronger, emotionally.
Some studies utilizing physiological measurements have used
targets chosen to have specific emotional significance for individual
subjects. Esser, Etter, and Chamberlain (1967) used plethysmographic
responses to personalized target material, devised from initial
interviews with the participants. The resulting targets, designed to
have greater emotional significance for either the percipient or the
agent, were either names of importance to the subject or sentences or
quotes describing a emotional conflict of relevance to the participants.
No significant oqtcomes were obtained, but the results were suggestive in
that there was same correspondence between onset of the sending period and
plesthysmograph responses. Dean (1971) contrasted plethysmograph
recordings of vasoconstriction examining the reaction of subjects to
targets consisting of either a blank card or a card upon which was written
a name of a person who has emotional significance to the subject. He
found larger vasoconstrictions (i.e. more emotional arousal) for the names
than for the blanks. This study also had a group of control subjects for
wham the names would have had no special relevance. Interestingly, he
found that the control subjects displayed a greater level of reaction to
the names than did the subjects for wham the names had emotional
significance. Haraldsson (1983) again used names of emotional
significance to the participants as the target in a study using a
plesthysmograph. No overall significant results were obtained, however,
he did obtain a significant outcome in the first 20 sessions of the study
Op < .003), with results declining later.
Several studies have compared targets having positive emotional
qualities to those having negative ional characteristics. Williams
and Duke (1979), comparing good psi targets to poor psi targets, found
that targets which contained a positive emotion were significantly better
targets Op < .02) than those which did not and that targets which
contained negative emotion were significantly worse (p < .047) than
those which did not. Sondow, Braud and Barker (1981) found no significant
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dAffpnommcbFbefitadeaspoUned/WaCtlagliaft9f-actigaiQPNAWNP-2Eisenberg and
Donderi (1979) used 7 emotionally stimulating sound films as targets in a
study incoporating both forced-choice and free-response conditions. They
obtained a significant degree of psi-hitting (forced-choice condition: p <
.02; free-response condition: p < .001). The film clips were
classified as conveying either positive or negative emotions,
although no significant difference was found between the scoring on the
positive and negative emotional targets. Krippner and Zeichner (1974)
found more misses when the target was described as pleasant and more hits
when the target was described as unpleasant (whether these findings were
significant is not reported).
One forced-choice study which specifically addresses the
positive/negative issue was conducted by Johnson (1971) who asked subjects
to provide two words, one having an exceedingly pleasant meaning for the
subject and the other having a very unpleasant meaning, from which he
created targets of associated words/concepts. These concepts (secondary
targets) were paired with a digit frau one to five (primary targets),
although 20 per cent of the primary targets were left unpaired as a
control (emotionally neutral targets). The subjects in this precognitive
study were to guess what number would be selected as the target. Johnson
compared performance on positive, neutral and negative emotions. No
significant overall scoring was obtained, the positive targets showed a
non-significant degree of psi-hitting, the negative targets significantly
psi-missed (p .0094, 1-t), and the neutral targets scored at chance.
The difference between the positive and negative targets was significant
(p < .005, 1-t).
The anecdotal observations in this category reveal that many
researchers believe emotional targets to be superior to non-emotional
ones. However, only two studies (Williams & Duke, 1979; and Sondow et
al., 1981) explicitly examined this assumption and they obtained
conflicting results. Cne analysis in Sondow et al. (1981) found that the
percipient would experience more emotion with a high emotion target, but
as this study also obtained a greater degree of psi-hitting with low
emotion targets, this result could be seen as arguing against the use of
high emotion targets. Nor can the physiological studies be readily
interpreted as providing support for the utility of using target material
chosen to have specific emotional significance for individual subjects.
Aside from the general lack of significant outcomes of these studies, the
Dean (1971) study actually obtained a greater response from his control
subjects to whom the target material should have had no special
relevance. The studies comparing positive emotional targets to those
with negative emotive qualities also obtained conflicting results. Thus,
again more research is needed before any conclusions can be drawn
regarding the psi-conducive effects of emotional targets.
Theme / Content
This category includes all references which associate the specific
content or theme of individual targets with the success/failure of these
targets. Williams and Duke (1979) found that "Most of the psi-hitting
targets were natural, while the missing targets were material
objects--metal, concrete, man-made, and mechanical."(p. 8) A post hoc
analysis revealed this difference to be significant (p < .02). Dunne,
Jahn, and Nelson (1983), reporting on several remote viewing studies,
noted that there was no difference in effectiveness between the following
site characteristics: natural vs. man-wade; permanent vs. transient; and
indoor vs. outdoor. The Psychophysical Research Laboratory (1985)
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compared various categories of target ,content to see if some were more
successful than'others. The category of "disasters" obtained significant
'psi-hitting (p = .014, 2-t). Sexual themes were associated with
significant psi-missing (p = .008, 2-t). Nan-significant scoring in the
psi-hitting direction was obtained by (listed in descending order of
strength of effect) the categories of religion, sports/hunting, locales,
and animals. Non-significant scoring in the psi-missing direction was
obtained by the racing and fighting/warfare categories. A post hoc
analysis by Sondow (1979) found that targets were chosen and non-targets
avoided significantly often when the pictures showed horses (p < .01),
water (p < .02), fire (p < .03), and flying-leaping-swinging Op < .04).
Such effects were not found with the target categories of food, war and
famine, and music. Ullman and Krippner (1973) observed that the art
prints containing/portraying religion, colour, eating/drinking, emotions,
and people tended to be successful, as did the agent's multi-sensory
involvement with the target. Stuart (1945), using simple line drawings as
targets found that the two most successful targets portrayed a cartoon
character and a candle. The two least successful targets were a book and
a mathematical equation. In another drawing study, Stuart (1947) found
the best target was a church and the worst was a train. Lastly, Hraud,
Davis, and Opella (1985) found a predaminance of human characters and
architectural content contained in ganzfeld and dreaming imagery. Less
frequent were mythical characters, animals, food, and unconnected body
parts. These findings could contribute to spurious anecdotal
observations.
Examining these diverse content categories it was discoved that
religion was mentioned three times as a generally successful target topic.
Warfare was twice mentioned as being less successful. Williams and Duke
(1979) found that natural targets were associated with psi-hitting, and
the categories specified as successful by Sondow (1979) could also be
classified as natural. However, given the wide diversity of actual
targets which these findings represent, these similarities should be
viewed at most as possible trends which require further reseach for
confirmation.
Discussion
The most consistent category findings of this paper relate to the
possible advantages of using dynamic, multi-sensory targets. However,
these findings are based on the outcome of relatively few studies and
thus should be treated with caution pending further confirmation. The
novel category provided some tentative support for the use of new targets
with which the subject is not familiar for each trial with that subject,
and also suggested possible benefits of using imaginative and interesting
targets. But again these finding are derived fram very few studies.
The two findings relevant to the abstract categorization both found
abstract targets to be associated with poorer results. The emotionality
of targets, often quoted in the literature as one of the yardsticks by
which targets are chosen, has not been shown to be reliably associated
with psi-hitting. Nor have any of the other categories investigated
herein.
In short, this review has not succeeded in shedding a great deal
light upon what qualities/characteristics might discriminate successful
from unsuccessful free-response targets. Indeed, the outcome of this
paper could be viewed as demonstrating how very little we actually know
about successful versus unsuccessful target characteristics.
However, another interpretation of these findings could be that
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target cnaracteristics can not be consistently related to successful
FoOIRMe'WelffedMIWUP1CIAAMR964W828.106066P2011944 years ago
ier (1963) cammented that "No two subjects respond alike to the
same target. No two targets seem to affect the same subject in the
same way."(p. 56). Indeed, a great deal of experimentation has
examined and revealed interactions between various trait factors and
psi performance (for reviews of this literature see Palmer, 1978; CT
Carpenter, 1977). Other variables such as state, setting, response
method, and so on, may also influence the particUlar type of target
which is successful in any given situation. Future research could
profitably examine the effects of such variables. In addition, the
development of a descriptive set of scales, such as the three-dimensional
scale discussed in the introduction of this paper, which could be used on
an inter-laboratory basis, could forward our knowledge of target success
considerably. The development of such scales will be the focus of future
research at the Edinburgh Lab.
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