AN OVERVIEW OF EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION

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Body:  Approved For Release 2003/09/10 : CIA-RDP9670078878 00200090019-3
 AN OVERVIEW OF EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION
 SG1I
 January 27,
 The following brief summary presents some conclusions and
 observations derived from an independent, and somewhat critical,
 study of extrasensory perception over the past several months.  These-
 opinions are based upon study of the literature, material presented
 at the Geneva Conference of the~Parapsychology-Foundation in August
 1974 and, in particular, the work of Puthoff and Targ at SRI as
 reflected in their. publications as well as their oral presentation
 in Washington.  First some general observations and recommendations
 in this area are presented, then a brief comment on the SRI work,
 and finally somer"remarks about' practical applications.
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
 1.    A large body of reliable-experimental evidence points to the
 inescapable conclusion that ext;,asensory perception does exist
 as a real phenomenon, albeit characterized by rarity and lack
 of reliability.  It appears as a low-capacity, high-noise
 information channel exhibiting data rates orders of magnitude
 less than normal perceptive processes.  Almost by definition
 extra-sensory perception must involve.-in an essential way the
 operation of the human mind.
 2.   There exists no satisfactory theoretical understanding of
 these phenomena.  Present theories, of which there are-many,
 are both speculative and unsubstantiated.  They range in content
 from. the physical through the psychological to the metaphysical.
 One theory- that of the French physicist, Costa de Beauregard-
 offers the possibility of interpreting psi phenomena within
 amodest extension-of established physical theory, but in general
 these efforts appear premature.  At this stage of knowledge
 the most meaningful basic research consists of a search for.
 correlates- physical, physiological, and psychological- to
 which the phenomena may be quantitatively related.  Guidance
 must consist of general ideas which are not dependent upon
 possibly overspecific theoretical assumptions.
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 All the experimental evidence to date is consistent with the
 assumption that paranormal perception behaves as an information
 channel in the conventional sense of information theory.  The
 information theoretic approach to investigation in this area
 has probably not been adequately exploited but offers definite
 possibilities of aiding understanding as well as practical
 advantages.  The success of enhancement techniques such as
 redundancy, majority vote, etc. is indicative of the efficacy
 of even simple applications of information theory in parapsychological
 research.
 a. Information theory in itself makes no assumptions of specific
 mechanism, but contains a body of concepts ( bit rate, redundancy,
 equivocation, etc.) by which experimental results may be
 quantitatively presented and analysed.. Moreover these quantities
 have direct meaning in terms of applications.
 b. Although problems of coding are of central concern in information
 theory, it is innately an input-output theory.  Experiments can
 be devised to measure information rates in comparatively unstructured
 situations, independently of coding assumptions.
 c. The very low information rates ( 0.01 to 0.1 bits/sec ) measured
 in extrasensory perception may explain the failure--to detect
 physical energy or correlated physical variables associated with
 the phenomena.  A signal lower in strength than thermal noise and
 only detectable through its high redundancy would exhibit a similar
 low rate of information transmission.  Physical energy less than
 thermal noise would be;yery difficult to detect.
 The complete ESP channel may or may not involve a detectable
 physical link, but it most certainly does involve a psychological
 one.  Although difficult to quantify there do appear to exist some
 genuine psychological correlates of paranormal perception.  Rather
 than detail these, mention is made of only one aspect which seems
 especially significant, namely the striking similarity between
 many psychological features of paranormal perception and normal,
 though subliminal perception.  Clearly this suggests that similar
 processes may be operative in both cases and that studies of
 subliminal perception below the conscious threshold.  y''be of
 relevance to the psychological part of paranormal perception.
 5._    The physiological correlates of extrasensory perception which have
 been measured are autonomic responses and therefore?somewhat related
 to emotional responses.  Variations of BEG alpha rhythm, galvanic
 skin resistance and blood capillary volume have all been identified
 in relation to extrasensory activity.  There is some experimental
 evidence for believing that these physiological responses  may be
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 more sensitive indicators of paranormal communication than -
 consciously controlled responses.  Presumably a large part
 of the noise in the paranormal channel originates by the
 interfering effect of conscious processes, and measurement
 of autonomic responses could short circuit a noisy part of
 the channel.  Also the physiological responses themselves
 are directly accessible to physical, instead of only psychological,
 measurement.
 THE RESEARCH AT STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE
 The work at SRI, using gifted individuals, has acheived some
 convincing and striking demonstrations of the existence of paranormal
 perception, and has demonstrated perhaps less convincingly the
 possible existence of psychokinetic influences upon sophisticated
 physical instrumentation.  The careful-and systematic use: of sensory
 shielding in these experiments has excluded a large class of gross
 physical correlates of paranormal perception.  The work has been
 less successful in.showing unambiguous relations of inhibition or
 enhancement between paranormal performance and possible physical,
 physiological, and psychological conditions.   The enhancement method
 used was selection of special individuals either through prior
 reputation or through preliminary screening.. Thus the approach was
 one of enhancement through selectivity rather than enhancement
 (or inhibition) by deliberate manipulation of variables.  This research
 produced some information,z,measurement of alteration of alpha rhythm
 amplitude and measurement of neurological profiles, relevant to the
 question of correlates but was not aimed primarily in this direction.
 The contribution to fundamental understanding was a minor pofthis work, but it produced manifestations of extrasensory perception
 sufficiently sharp and clear out to justify serious consideration of
 possible applications.
 A separate point is that the high apparent bit rate of information
 transmission implied by successful replication of drawings or recital
 of detailed descriptions may be illusory.. In no case was the percipient
 asked to replicate or describe unfamiliar or unknown objects.  A low
 bit rate may trigger detailed stored associations which in themselves
 have high information -content.
 PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
 No matter how gifted the paragnost existing ilgnoraneeof.?the basis
 of paranormal phenomena together with the capricious and unreliable
 nature of the channel dictate that information derived from this source
 can never stand alone and must Jie used with caution.  Extrasensory
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 NOO                                 M_
 information should at best supplement normal information or guide its
 collection, but should never serve in place of it.     Even such limited
 use of this information channel would seem:o require-much more detailed
 investigation of its character and limitations.  A certain bare minimum
 of understanding, or at least experience, is required to establish
 confidence.  Experimental tests guided by a thorough information theoretic
 .analysis, as alluded to earlier, offer the closest coupling with
 applications and the best prospect of usefully quantifying the capabilities
 of this information channel.
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