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                                 February 15, 1994

                                      PSI.ASC
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               This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Bert Pool.
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                        Scientists peer into the Mind's Psi
                    Science News, Volume 145, January 29, 1994

       New evidence supporting the existance of what most folks refer to
       as telepathy -  and what parapsychologists call "anomalous processes
       of information or energy transfer"  -  boasts a rare distinction: It
       passed muster among  peer  reviewers  and  gained publication  in  a
       major, mainstream psychology journal.

       Suspicion of research   into   peculiar  and  unexplained  forms  of
       communication, known as psi effects,  runs deep among psychologists.
       For a century, reports of psi and other psychic phenomena have often
       dissipated in a  mist  of  poor experiment design, wishful  thinking
       about chance statistical results, and outright cheating.

       "I used to  be  a  skeptic,"  says  Daryl  J. Bem, a psychologist at
       Cornell University and coauthor  of  the  new  report  with the late
       Charles Honorton of the University of Edinburgh in  Scotland.   "But
       we met strict  research guidelines and the results are significantly
       significant.  We hope the findings  prompt others to try replicating
       this effect."

       Bem and Honorton describe studies of the ganzfeld ("whole field")
       procedure in the January PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLETIN.  Honorton  died  in
       November 1992, before the article was accepted for publication.

       The ganzfeld procedure tests for telepathic communication between
       a "sender" and  a  "receiver".  Honorton directed 11 studies between
       1983 and 1989 that avoided the methodological  problems  of previous
       ganzfeld experiments.  Bem - also a magician who  knows  how  people
       can simulate psi  effects - visited Honorton's laboratory in 1983 as
       one of several  outside  consultants   who  evaluated  the  project.
       Shortly thereafter, the two scientists joined forces.

       Honorton first showed volunteers around his lab to make them feel
       comfortable.  A receiver   and   sender   then  sat   in   separate,
       acoustically sealed rooms.   Each receiver had Ping-Pong ball halves
       taped over his or her eyes and heard  a steady humming noise through
       headphones.  A red  flood  light  illuminated  the  chamber.   After
       performing relaxation exercises, the receiver described all thoughts
       and images aloud for 30 minutes.

                                      Page 1





       At the same  time,  the  sender  concentrated on a randomly selected
       target - one  of  80  still  pictures   (including  art  prints  and
       advertisements) or one of 80 short video clips (such as a scene of a
       tidal wave).

       Receivers later sat  at a computer displaying a random  sequence  of
       the target image  and  three decoys.  They rated the degree to which
       each of these images corresponded  to  those  experienced during the
       ganzfeld period.

       The researchers labeled as a "hit" any session in which  a  receiver
       rated the target as most like the ganzfeld image.

       Bem and Honorton   statistically  combined  ganzfeld  data  from  11
       studies involving a  total  of 100  men  and  140  women.   Overall,
       receivers obtained a hit about every third session.   Compared  with
       an expected random  hit  rate  of  one  in  four,  this represents a
       modest, statistically significant effect, Bem and Honorton argue.

       One study of 29 music, drama, and  dance students yielded a hit rate
       of one in  two, one of the highest reported for a ganzfeld  session.
       Creative or artistic    abilities   may   somehow   boost   ganzfeld
       performance, the researchers contend.

       Belief in psi and an extroverted personality also showed links to
       increased hit rates by receivers.

       The ganzfeld procedure may dampen bodily and external sensations and
       allow receivers to detect normally  weak  psi  mediated information,
       Bem suggests.

       No scientific consensus  exists to explain how psi-ganzfeld  effects
       could occur, although  some  parapsychologists  propose  a mechanism
       based on quantum theory (SN: 1/11/86, p.28), Bem notes.

       "Bem and Honorton's article is very  sophisticated statistically and
       you can;t dismiss their findings," holds Robert Rosenthal of Harvard
       University.  "They haven't  shown  that  we go around  reading  each
       other's minds, but   there's   a   phenomenon   here  that  requires
       explanation."

       Rosenthal and three other psychologists  served  as referees for the
       ganzfeld paper.  Each  referee recommended it for  publication,  but
       two cite lingering concerns about the data.

       Although Bem and  Honorton  conducted "experiments of high quality,"
       the results differ in curious and  unexplained  ways  from  previous
       ganzfeld findings, writes Ray Hyman of the University  of  Oregon in
       Eugene, in an accompaning comment.

       For instance, only  video  clips produced significant psi effects in
       the new studies, but pictures yielded good performance in Honorton's
       ganzfeld experiments prior  to   1983,   Hyman   says.   In  another
       departure from earlier projects, psi effects did not  increase  when
       receivers and senders were friends, he adds.

       And for some  reason,  hit  rates  increased mainly for targets that
       appeared in more than one session, Hyman argues.


                                      Page 2





       Moreover, of the  11  ganzfeld  studies,  smaller  samples displayed
       larger hit rates than larger samples,  notes Lee D. Ross of Stanford
       University.  "if the effect is real, this is the  opposite  of  what
       you'd expect," he contends.

       Subtle factors influencing  the  results  may  still  be eluding the
       researchers, Ross adds.  Only a single,  large-scale replication can
       shed light on Bem and Honorton's results, according to Ross.

       Four ganzfeld studies, including one directed by Bem,  are underway.
       These samples should  be  pooled into one large study, Hyman assets.
                                                              - B. Bower

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                             Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet

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