GAINS IN ESP STUDIES BY SOVIET DOUBTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080034-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 5, 1998
• Sequence Number: 34
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2001/03/26 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080034-7
'GAINS IN ESP STUDIES
4BY SOVIET DOUBTED
merican Specialists See No
'Evidence of Any Development
Not Already Known ,in U. S.
By BOYGB RENSBOGER
Indications that the S et Union is
ing a serious research in parapsychol-
have fascinated and worried some
ericans for years. As a' result of the
ge of Soviet science as a "monolithic"
institution dedicated to serve the goals
of the Communist Party. some people
frar that the. Russians see such research
o leading to some effective method of
nought control" or "psychological war-
`The Menninger Foundationhas suggest.
that it may be a r
gackct idea (or Amer. can scientists to learn alt they can about
parapsychology, also known as pacho-
tronics, before the Russians get the ' up?
,pet' hand. Tbe, foundation itself is en.
aged n such studies.,
pestpite the fears, the best Indications
le that ' although the Russians are in-
4ed pursuing parapsy, hology research,
much of it under.militriy auspices, the
Have not discovered or developed any.
"*ting that American resparchers do,.not
4lready know. And that is little Indeed,
Son) Soviet research hag been pub,
+lished in literature available to Western-
'''ers, including such books as -Mysterigus
YPhenomena of the Human Psyche," "Su =
zestion from a Distance " and "E ,
anental Studies in Mental Sugges on,"
;Research on parapsychology is" widely
'publicized In the domestic Soviet press.
Nesearchers have participated in inter.
national conferences' and contributed
;gapers to international books,
W
Same Skepticism as in U. S.
From one such paper-In a report of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific
find Cultural Organization on the "para-
kiences")---It appears that parapsycho-
Igists in the Soviet Union and Eastern
urope face as much skepticism in their
"t,untries as do Americans.
Zdenek PejdAk, a Czechoslovak re-
,searcher, author of several books and in
419774 presidt;nt of the International As-
,soc.iation for Psychotronic Research, said
wthree years ago.that,the goal Is to de-
velop methods so that experiments can
be replicated just as is the standard in
the rest of science.
R. A. McConnell, a professor of bio-
physics at the University of Pittsburgh
and a founder of the Parapsychological
Association, has attempted. to survey
Soviet research in the field. He has cor-
responded with Soviet researchers and
read much of their published work, He
said in an interview that he knows of no
evidence that they have hit on anything
American scientists do not know about.
"in fact," he said, "from some of the
approaches they're taking, I don't think
they have a good grasp of the essence'
of the phenomenon.'
Interest Lit Electrical Emanations
He was referring to Soviet interest In
electrical and radio emaantions of the
human bodyy'a.nd brain. Such etnaant.lons
exist but are extremely weak,--an elec-
troencephalograph picks them up-and
decades of attempts by Western scien-
tists to make senss of them have yielded
laothing that ap>t'.oars remotely like
thought transmission:.
Kirlian' photograply, a phenomenon
discovered in the Soviet Union, is among
these interests. Under certain conditions,
the human body and other things have a
certain amount of high frequency elec-
trtlcal current that, like tnocroscopic
sparks, will discharge on a piece of film
when it is touched. When developed, the
film shows Images corresponding to the
shape of the finger or whatever.
it ip said that faith healers generate
such electricity when doing their thing
and that the "life force emanations"
from sick people are different from those
of the healthy. The Russians have sought
to Adapt this to Medicine through bio-
n'gotherapy.
The Soviet Interest In parapsychology
Is in keeping with the interests of Soviet
researchers In other tlelds that are con-
sidered of marginal interest in the West.
They are looking for their version of
the abominable snowman and "loot. stone
age tribes," .
Soviet interest in this parapsychology
has been criticized and ridiculed by
Chinese scientists as an example of the
decay of Soviet ideological resolve. The
Chinese consider such research quackery
and pseudoscience. Chinese researchers,
writin the journal Scientia Sinica, have
said the Soviet belief in ESP denes the
fundamental Marxst principle that con-
sciousness is a true reflection of the
objective world.
Approved For Release 2001/03/26 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080034-7