Libriufo

Journal of Scientific Exploration

Volume 6 Number 4 1992

Editor: Bernhard M. HAISCH

CONTENTS

Author	Title	Pag

	`SSE News Items`
	1993 Annual SSE Meeting	299
	Grant to Radin	299
	International Federation for Aerial Anomalies	299-300
	Angela Thompson to Coordinate Foundation Research	300

Topher COOPER	Anomalous Propagation	301-305

Michael EPSTEIN	The Skeptical Perspective	307-310
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 7 Number 4 /1993 - On Biological Transmutation of Elements

Brenda J. DUNNE, Robert G. JAHN	Experiments in Remote Human/Machine Interaction	311-332
	Abstract: Several extensive experimental studies of humanlmachine interactions wherein the human operators and the target machines are separated by distances of up to several thousand miles yield anomalous results comparable in scale and character to those produced under conditions of physical proximity. The output distributions of random binary events produced by a variety of microelectronic random and pseudorandom generators, as well as by a macroscopic random mechanical cascade, display small but replicable and statistically significant mean shifts correlated with the remote operators' pre-stated intentions, and feature cumulative achievement patterns similar to those of the corresponding local experiments. Individual operator effect sizes distribute normally, with the majority of participants contributing to the overall effect. Patterns of specific count populations are also similar to those found in the corresponding local experiments. The insensitivity of the size and details of these results to intervening distance and time adds credence to a large database of precognitive remote perception experiments, and suggests that these two forms of anomaly may draw from similar mechanisms of information exchange between human consciousness and random physical processes.

S. JEFFERS, J. SLOAN	A Low Light Level Diffraction Experiment for Anomalies Research	333-352
	Abstract: Some interpretations of quantum mechanics assert an active role for human consciousness in actualizing the results of measurements on quantum systems. At the same time, some empirical studies have claimed positive results in testing the abilities of human subjects to bias randomly generated events i.e. those governed by Gaussian statistics. Experiments have been conducted using a different probability distribution i.e. the digitally recorded diffracted light intensity from a single slit. This normalized distribution is conventionally interpreted as the probability of locating a photon in a specified location in the observation plane. Human subjects have been invited to attempt to bias this distribution in a prescribed way. The experiment is tightly controlled against any artifacts generating very high data rates with high statistical accuracy. Calibrations show that any displacement of the diffraction pattern relative to the detector of order 1.6 X 10.~ cms should be detectable. Of twenty subjects tested, none has produced a detectable displacement corresponding to this upper limit. Introducti

Ian STEVENSON	A New Look at Maternal Impressions: An Analysis of 50 Published Cases and Reports of Two Recent Examples	353-373
	Abstract: -The idea that a pregnant woman may be so frightened by the sight of some deformity on another person that her baby will be affected by a similar defect is widely believed in most parts of the world today; it was also generally believed in the West until the early years of this century. The skepticism that then developed may have derived from lack of an explanatory principle and not from lack of evidence for a significant correspondence between stimulus and birthmark or birth defect. The present paper summarizes the main features of 50 published cases in which an unusual stimulus to a pregnant woman was followed by the birth of a baby with unusual birthmarks or birth defects that nearly always corresponded closely to the stimulus the pregnant mother had received. Two recent cases that the author investigated are presented. The author concludes that in rare instances maternal impressions may indeed affect gestating babies and cause birth defects. Almost nothing is known about why such effects occur in some pregnancies, but only rarely, or about the implementing processes involved. These may be paranormal.

D. P. Wirth et al.	The Effect of Alternative Healing Therapy on the Regeneration Rate of Salamander Forelimbs	375-390
	Abstract: -The following experiment examined the effect of noncontact therapeutic touch (NCTT) on the regeneration rate of salamander forelimbs surgically amputated through the distal third of the stylopodium. A total of 154 newts, Notophthalmus viridescens, were used and limb regeneration was assessed using two criteria: (1) the time to first finger differentiation, and (2) the time to fourth finger differentiation. The experiment was divided into two sections. For section #I, four NCTT healers worked individually under three separate conditions in a specially designed laboratory. The conditions were: (1) treatment through an opening in the wall, (2) treatment through smoked opaque glass, and (3) treatment through smoked opaque glass and plastic. For section #2, the four individual healers were paired, with each pair working together on a tank of newts situated directly in front of them. The results for section #1 showed that: (I) Healer 1 obtained nonsignificance for all three conditions at both the first and fourth finger differentiation stages, (2) Healer 2 obtained significance for all three conditions at both differentiation stages, (3) Healer 3 obtained significance for condition 1 only at both differentiation stages, and (4) Healer 4 obtained significance for conditions 2 and 3 at both differentiation stages. For section #2, only the pair of Healer 1-Healer 3 obtained significant results (p < .002). The data, therefore, suggest that NCTT may have the potential to accelerate the rate of regeneration of newt forelimbs surgically amputated through the distal third of the humerus

	`Letters to the Editor`
	Darwin on Trial Review	391-395

	`Book Reviews`
Henry H. BAUER	Cold Fusion, The Scientific Fiasco of the Century	395-400

Michael EPSTEIN	Beyond the Body: An Investigation of Out-of-the-Body-Experiences	401

Journal of Scientific Exploration

Volume 8 Number 4 1994

Name: Jeffers, S.; Sloan, J.

CONTENTS

Author	Title	Pag

	`Research Articles`
Pierre GUÉRIN	A Scientific Analysis of Four Photographs of a Flying Disk Near Lac Chauvet (France)	447-469
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 9 Number 2 /1995 - Comment on McMinnville UFO Photos
	Abstract: `A series of four photographs of a disk-shaped object apparently flying in the sky was physically analyzed. Certain details led us to develop a mathematical model of the supposed trajectory. The model was validated by measurements on the photographs, which demonstrated that the disk was distant from the camera, flying along a straight and horizontal trajectory, and was not a fabrication`
R. D. Nelson et al.	A Linear Pendulum Experiment: Effects of Operator Intention on Damping Rate	471-489
	Abstract: An attractive pendulum consisting of a two-inch crystal ball suspended on a fused silica rod is the focus of an experiment to measure possible effects of conscious intention on an analog physical system. The pendulum is enclosed in a clear acrylic box, and provided with a computer controlled mechanical system to release it from the same starting height in repeated runs. A high speed binary counter registers interruptions of photodiode beams, to measure velocities at the nadir of the pendulum arc with microsecond accuracy. In runs of 100 swings, taking about three minutes, operators attempt to keep swings high, i.e. to decrease the damping rate (HI); to reduce swing amplitude, i.e. to increase the damping rate (LO); or to take an undisturbed baseline (BL). Over a total of 1545 sets, generated by 42 operators, the HI - LO difference is significant in the direction of intention for five individuals, and the difference between intention and baseline runs is significant and positive for five other operators. The overall HI - LO difference is reduced to non-significance by strong negative performances from several operators, four of whom have comparably large scores in the direction opposite to intention. Analysis of variance reveals significant internal structure in the database (main effects F,, ,,= 2.845, p = .025). Subset comparisons indicate that male operators tend to score higher than females, and that randomly instructed trials tend toward higher scores than volitional trials, especially for male operators. Trials generated with the operator in a remote location have a larger effect size than the local trials. While direct comparisons are not straightforward, it appears that effects of operator intention on the pendulum damping rate may be similar in magnitude and style to those in other humanlmachine interaction experiments. Although this result fails to support an experimental hypothesis that the analog nature of the pendulum experiment would engender larger effect sizes, it does confirm a basic similarity of consciousness effects across experiments using fundamentally different physical systems.
P. A. STURROCK	Applied Scientific Inference	491-508
	Abstract: The purpose of this article is to use the principles of scientific inference to provide guidance in evaluating complicated issues such as those raised by the study of anomalous phenomena. Specifically, the article presents a formalism (a "protocol") for organizing and combining the many judgments that must be made in the scientific evaluation of the relevant hypotheses. All judgments are to be expressed as probabilities, and the rules for combining probabilities are derived from Bayes' theorem. Setting up a problem in a manner that permits such an analysis can be helpful in imposing a structure and discipline upon the analysis, and also in exposing relevant questions that might otherwise have remained hidden. Furthermore, the introduction of probabilities makes it possible to put on a sound numerical basis such assertions as "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." One finds that extraordinary evidence can be built up from many (but not very many) items of unspectacular evidence, provided the items are truly independent. The proposed procedure permits a clear separation between a statement of initial prejudice and an evaluation of the significance of considered evidence. However, it would be even better to set out explicitly the considerations on which the prejudice is based, and to view those considerations as part of the evidence to be evaluated. The procedure also draws a clear separation between the roles and judgments of data analysts (who assign probabilities to specified statements, based on the evidence), and those of theorists (who assign probabilities to the same statements, based in turn on the considered hypotheses). In order to reach a consensus on any topic, it is recommended that probability estimates be made by teams of experts, all team-members being presented with the same data but acting independently, and procedures are proposed by which individual estimates may be combined to yield a consensus estimate.

	`Essay`
John BELOFF	The Mind-Brain Problem	509-522
	Abstract: `The mind-brain problem, which is still with us, raises the question as to whether the mind is no more than the idle side-effect of our brain processes or whether the mind can, in some degree, influence behavior. Here we rehearse the arguments on both sides plus some desperate recent attempts to eliminate mind altogether.`

Dean I. RADIN	Guest Column: On Complexity and Pragmatism	523-533

	`Letters to the Editor`
	Comments on James Warwick's Book Review of Cross Currents	535-538
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 7 Number 4 /1993 - Cross Currents by Robert 0. Becker [Warwick, James]
	Further Comments on the Unreliability of Home Blood Glucose Monitors	538-539
	`Related:` Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 8 Number 3 /1994 - Complementary Healing Therapy for Patients With Type I Diabetes Mellitus [Wirth, Daniel P. & Mitchell, Barbara J.] Journal of Scientific Exploration Volume 9 Number 1 /1995 - Erratum

	`Book Reviews`
Michael C. IBISON	The Interrelationship Between Mind and Matter edited by B. Rubik	541-545
Theodore ROCKWELL	The Interrelationship Between Mind and Matter edited by B. Rubik	545-546
Emily Williams COOK	A History of Hypnotism by A. Gauld	546-553
Angela THOMPSON	The Allagash Abductions: Undeniable Evidence of Alien Intervention by R. E. Fowler	554
	Review: Raymond E. FOWLER,THE ALLAGASH ABDUCTIONS - 1993
Henry H. BAUER	Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by P. R. Gross and N. Levitt	555-563
Stuart EDELSTEIN	Perilous Knowledge: The Human Genome Project and Its Implications by T. Wilkie	563-565
Lori Anne NEALE	The Body, Self-Cultivation, and Ki-Energy by Y. Yuasa	565-568

Roger NELSON	The Second Euro-SSE Conference	569

	`Abstracts of the Second Euro-SSE Conference`
Robert MORRIS	Investigating Anomalies in Human-Machine Interaction	570
Jessica UTTS	Decision Augmentation Theory: Can Precognition Explain PK Data	570-571
Walter VON LUCADOU	Psychological Correlates of Experimental Human-Machine Anomalies: Influence, Selection, or What?	571
Zoltan VASSY	Correlation without Causation: on the Nature of Parapsychological Phenomena	571-572
B. E. P. CLEMENT	Conceptual Modeling in the Temporal Domain	572
Harold ASPDEN	The Experimental Pathway to New Sources of Energy	572-573
Harold E. PUTHOFF	On the Feasibility of Converting Vacuum Electromagnetic Energy to a Useful Form	573-574
Bernhard HAISCH	Zero-Point Field, Inertia, and Mach's Principle	574
Roger NELSON	Anomalous Interactions: Intention, Information, and Consciousness	574-575
S. JEFFERS, J. SLOAN	The Double-Slit Experiment as a Potentially Sensitive Detector of Anomalous Effects	575
Euan J. SQUIRES	The Implication of Quantum Theory for an Understanding of Consciousness	575-576
Jacques BENVENISTE	The Transfer of Specific Molecular Signals by Electromagnetic Means, and Its Consequences in Biology and Medicine	576
L. PYATNITSKY	Consciousness Influence on Water Structure	576-577
Zbignew WOLKOWSKI	Recent Advances in the Phoron Concept: An Attempt to Decrease the Incompleteness of Scientific Exploration	576-577
Roeland VAN WIJK	Understanding the Benefits of Subharmful Doses of Toxicants	577-578
Zoltan DIENES	Tests of Sheldrake's Claim of Morphic Resonance	578
Suitbert ERTEL	The Maharishi Effect in Transcendental Meditation: Fancy or Fact?	578-579
Archie E. ROY	The Great Crop Circle Mystery	579
Robin ALLEN	Science, Pseudoscience, and the Crop Circle Phenomenon	579-580
Léon BRENIG	Remote Sensing: A Tool for UFOLOGY	580
Paul DEVEREUX	"Earth Lights": History and Latest Developments Concerning Research into Anomalous Light Phenomena	580-581
George EGELY	Ball Lightning: The Last Enigma of the Atmosphere?	581
Erling STRAND	Project Hessdalen-A Field Investigation of an Unknown Atmospheric Light Phenomenon	581-582
Susan J. HOWAT, Deborah L. DELANOY, Robert L. MORRIS	Remote Staring Detection and Personality Correlates	582
Deborah L. DELANOY, Sunita SAH	Cognitive and Physiological PSI Responses to Remote Positive and Neutral Emotional States	581-582
	Comparison of the SenderINo Sender Conditions Using an Automated Ganzfeld System	583-584
Ian STEVENSON	Six Modem Apparitional Experiences	584
Peter A. STURROCK	The Role of Heresies in Scientific Research	584-585

	`SSE News`
	Odier Research Foundation Publishes Bulletin	587
	14th Annual Meeting: Announcement and Call for Papers	588

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