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42 54 54, 199 8
AN D
Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research, School of Engineering/Applied Science Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
A bstract Based on form al analysis of 18 exploratory applications, 12 of w hich have been reported previously, a testable general hypothesis for FieldREG experim ents has been postulated, nam ely t hat data taken in environm ents fostering relatively intense or profound subjective resonance will show larger deviations of the m ean relative to chance expectation than t hose generated in m ore pragm atic assemblies. T he 61 subsequent FieldRE G applications reported here com prise 21 hypothesis-based formal replications, along with 40 further explorations designed to learn m ore about the circum stances t hat favor anom alous deviations. T he results of t he formal replications strongly confirm t he general hypothesis, yielding a com posite probability against chance for the resonant subset of 2.2 10 - 6 com pared to 0.9 1 for t he m undane subset. The exploratory w ork suggests other venues in w hich anom alous effects of group consciousness can be expected, and also identifies a num ber of situations that do not appear to be conducive to such responses. Keywords: hum an/machine interactions engineering anom alies research group consciousness resonance random event generator inform ation-fields
1. Introduction T his pa per sum m arizes t he status as of June, 1997, of an ong oing investigation of rando m event generator (R E G ) anom alies associated with hum an consciousness t hat m ay be indicative of som et hing like a consciousness field, w hereby particular states of group consciousness m ay be m anifested in sm all but significant chang es in sensitive physical system s. E arlier experim ental evidence for direct influence of ind ividua l intention on the statistical distributions of physical rando m events has been docum ented in num erous research articles and m eta-analyses (Radin & N elson, 198 9; Jahn et al., 1997; D obyns & N elson, 1997; Jahn, D un ne, and N elson, 1987; N elson et al., 1991). W hile t he effects in t hese experim ents are statistically robu st, t hey resist explanation via canonical scientific m odels, and have lead us to pro po se broader interpretations that explicitly acknow ledge t he involve m ent of subjective aspects of consciousness in objective physical processes (Jahn & D unne, 19 97). T hese experim ents also indicated t hat som e environm ental factors and subjective reactions app arently w ere reflected in unusual trend s in t he data. To pursue suc h correlations furt her, a labor atory-based experim ent called 425
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C ontR E G w as dev eloped to record an inde xed, continuously running data sequence, w it h a facility to m ark the beginn ing of eve nts such as visitor dem onstrations, or sm all m eeting s in t he im m ediate env ironm ent of the device. T his in turn led to t he developm ent of fully portable FieldRE G equipm ent allowing acquisition of data in a broader rang e of environm ents. U sing sim ilar equipm ent and protoc ols, t he exp erim ents w ere t hen extended to address t he question w het her, und er certain circum stances, gr oups of pe ople m ay also exert anom alou s influences on t he behavior of RE G de vices, even in t he absence of directed conscious attention . A s described in a prior article (N elson et al., 1996 ), this speculation w as supp orted em pirically, thereby broadening t he rang e of possible t heoretical interpretations, and im pe lling furthe r basic expe rim entation. In that paper it w as noted that t he nam e F ieldR E G is a double entendre: i.e., t he device is deployed in field experim ents, but also appe ars to respond to chang es in a consciousness field of t he sort t hat has been proposed in a variety of different contexts by scholars from seve ral disciplines (Basham , 1959 ; D urkheim , 19 61; Jam es, 19 77; Sheldrake, 198 1). T he concept of such a consciousne ss field is also consistent with the inform al testim ony of several of ou r laboratory ope rators, w ho speak of achieving a state of resonance w ith t he device during successful o pe ration. It also m ay be related to t he larger effect sizes fou nd in laboratory-based exp erim ents using bon ded co-operator pairs (D unn e, 199 1). Conceptually sim ilar, indepe nd ent w ork by Radin and others also has i ndicated t hat the nom inally random outpu t of w ell-calibrated R E G s m ay be affected by group consciousness (Radi n et al., 1996; B ierm an, 1996; R adin, 1997 ). O ur prior FieldRE G da ta can be divided into tw o categories: one t hat displays consistent statistical evide nce for anom alous effects, and an ot her that produces few significant deviations. O n t he basis of t his em pirical division, a discrim inating hypothesis for replication experim ents can be proposed. In this pape r w e will review t he earlier experim ents leading to that hypothesis, and describe a set of confirm atory expe rim ents, as w ell as a new set of expl oratory stud ies t ha t suggest further hy pot hesis-driven applications in the future. 2. Eq uipm ent and Procedure T he F ieldR E G system s consist of either a portable RE G and a notebook com puter wit h app ro priate softw are, or a m icro-portable RE G interfacing with a pa lm top com puter. M ore detailed descriptions of t hese are available in previous reports (N elson et al., 19 96; N elson, Br adish, and D obyn s, 19 92). T he data consist of 200 -bit trials generated and accum ulated continuou sly at approxim ately one trial per second , with a tim e-stam ped inde x identifying scheduled or unscheduled periods of particula r interest. T he protocol for F ieldRE G expe rim ents requires specification of a venue of interest and a predefined criterion for selection of tem por al segm ents to serve as sam ples w herein t he hypot hesized or predicted anom alous deviations are to be sough t. For exam ple, if an academ ic convention w ere t he ve nue, t he indi-
427
vidu al presentations in plenary sessions m igh t be spe cified as t he data set of interest. In a sm all group m eeting with no readily identified presentations, sessions or m eeting days m igh t be used as t he tem poral unit for da ta acquisition. O bviously t hese specification s m ust be m ade prior to the data acquisition or analysis. (In a nu m ber of the early exploratory applications t his prior specification w as n ot m ade, and an a posteriori statistical adjustm ent for m ultiple analysis possibilities w as required.) G iven t he specifications, t he da ta seg m ents are identified using tim e-stam ped index m arks registered via t he com puter s appropriately program m ed F-keys, in conjunction wit h onsite notes taken by t he experim enter or operator of the equipm ent. For exam ple, at football gam es, ind ividua l ke ys m ay be set to i nd icate t he beginning of a hom e team drive , a first dow n, a tou chd ow n, etc., t hus allow ing precise identification of t hose segm ents of t he data stream correspo nding to tim e pe riods of interest in t he application. In ot her cases, sim ple begin and end m arks suffice to identify the appr opriate data. T he analysis begins wit h the identification and extraction of those data seg m ents correspond ing to t he m arked tim es of interest. T he m ean deviation s of all segm ents t hen are calculated and norm alized as Z-scores. T he analysis for m ost of the data is based on a sum of t he squared Z-scores across all t he seg m ents, w hich is a c 2 distributed quantity. T his is form ally a variance m easure; it quantifies t he variability of the m eans of t he active data segm ents. It should not be confused with t he distribution variance for raw da ta or for arbitrarily defined runs of data; t hese m easures are sim ilar but not equivalent to our segm ent variance m easure. Since t he segm ent leng t hs are represented in t he Zscores, t his sum is n ot otherwise w eigh ted. T he num ber of segm ents defines t he degrees of freedom , and a probability for the accum ulated deviation wit hin t he application is calculated from the corresponding distribution. S ince c 2 distributed qua ntities are additive, t he results for separate applications can be sum m ed within and across categories to yield an ove rall statistic representing t he data subset of interest. For som e of the early app lications, t he analysis w as done prior to t he developm ent of the c 2 -based procedures, and an extrem e score assessm ent w as used. In t his appr oach, t he identified segm ents are exam ined to find t he m ost extrem e deviation, and its intrinsic probability is adjusted using t he Bonferroni inequality. T his results in a probability (p B ) that is typically conservative because it doe s n ot include contributions from other deviant, but less extrem e segm ents. To incorporate these older results into the present analysis, t he equivalent c 2 is calculated as S - 2 ln p B , w hich has tw o degrees of freedom . A lthough our prim ary analysis of FieldRE G data is based on a com parison of em pirical results against t heoretical expe ctation , a kind of control data can be derived in m any cases from segm ents acquired before, after, and interspersed betw een t he active portions. T hese on-line control data are assessed using a resam pling procedure t hat com putes c 2 values from rando m ly placed segm ents corresponding in num ber and size to t hose of t he active data. O ur
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standa rd analysis repe ats t his resam pling process 1 00 0 tim es to establish a distribution of va riation s from chance expectation. To check and confirm t he probability associated with the pr im ary c 2 calculated for the active experim ental data, it is com pa red wit h t he pr oportion of the resam pled c 2 va lues t hat exceed it. A not her check is m ade by calculating a Bonferroni-corrected proba bility for the m ost extrem e individual active data segm ent. Bot h of these m et hods yield values t hat typ ically are in go od agreem ent with t he prim ary calculation. T he resam pling process also enable s t he com putation of an adjusted c 2 t hat reflects t he pa ram eters of t he resam pling distribution. T hese adjusted values are found to vary around t he t heoretically based calculations as expected, indicating t hat t he fluctuations in overall control segm ent variance are random . G iven t he conform ance of the control data to chance expectation, w e report only t he c 2 and probabilities for the active data referred to theoretical predictions (cf. A ppendix for details).
3. Venues for O riginal FieldREG Applications A. Venu es Showing FieldREG Effects (cf. Tab le 1a) 1. Sm all Groups T he earliest FieldRE G applications w ere in sm all, intim ate m eeting s of t he D irect M ental and H eali ng Interaction s (D M H I) group and t he International Consciousness Research L aboratory (IC RL ) ensem ble. Bot h of these gr oups hold regular m eetings of professional researchers w ho know each ot her w ell and w ho enjoy intense, on go ing discussions of consciousne ss-related research issues. T hese first applications w ere ana lyzed using t he Bonferroni-adjusted extrem e va lue procedu re, w hile later m eeting s of the groups w ere assessed wit h t he c 2 algorithm . T he data segm ents chosen for the latter analyses con sisted of individual presentations by t he participants, alt hou gh since bot h groups have a high ly flexible and dynam ic character, som e ot her segm entation rule, for exam ple, by sessions or days, m igh t have been m ore appro pr iate. 2. Group Rituals A m em ber of a C ove nant of U nitarian U niversalist P agans (CU U P S) expressed interest in t he F ieldR E G w or k and the possibility t hat t heir group m eetings, devoted to pa rticipatory rituals, m ight be a prom ising venue. A battery-pow ered portable system w as taken to a series of m eeting s and t he beginning and ending of the actual ritual noted, along with som e indication of t he ritual s m eaning or intent, e.g., a S abbat, a Beltane, t he F ull M oon, etc. Tw o groups of such data w ere includ ed in t he original F ieldR E G database and bot h show ed significant ind ications of anom alou s deviation.
429
df 2 2 2 2 4 12 6 9 1 16 7 6 13 20 2 63
p .02 7 .05 4 .16 1 .31 5 .2 67 .01 9 .05 0 .01 3 .00 55 .00 05 2 .03 9 .13 7 .02 7 .00 7 .00 60 1.08 10
- 7
E ffect .00 61 .00 51 .00 57 .00 28 .00 36 .00 39 .010 4 .01 19 .07 17 .01 32 .02 68 .010 9 .01 61 .04 91 .010 3 .00 77
7.22 4 5.83 8 3.65 3 2.31 5 5.20 9 24 .23 9 1 2.60 4 20 .90 1 7.70 1 41 .20 6 1 4.79 2 9.73 0 2 4.52 2 3 8.99 5 10.37 0 13 9.33 2
9 3, 94 9 4, 95 O ct 94
O ct 94 O ct 94
A pr 95 July 94
* Included in previously pub lished F ieldREG database. The n um ber of trials is an estim ate of the fu ll database size.
In another context, a Shoshon e m edicine m an m et one experim enter and t hree ot her peo ple at t he D evils (sic) Tow er m onum ent in W yom ing to visit t he sacred site and to perform a ritual healing cerem ony. H is special interest is in t he preservation of places considered sacred by t he N ative A m erican tribes, and he designed the ritual to serve t hat end. A lt hough he w as aw are of t he FieldRE G research project, he regarded it as pe ripheral to the pr im ary purpo ses of his interaction wit h us and t he sacred site. 3. Sacred Sites T he role of the physical place itself w as asse ssed m ore directly subsequ ent to the analysis of the or igin al F ieldR E G data, but these app lications w ere consona nt in som e im portant respects with ot her predictor categories, especially t hat of G roup Rituals. For exam ple, data w ere taken in the course of one traverse arou nd the D evils Tow er m onum ent t ha t w as intended solely for direct enjoym ent and appreciation of t he rem arkable site, subsequent to an i ntensive expe rim ental project related to dow sing w hich is included in category B .3, Special Investigations, and is detailed elsew here (N elson & A postol, 1996). T his tour w as focused by t he intention to m ake photog raphs of various special perspectives, including t he site of t he m edicine cerem ony and som e favorite
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spots w h ich w ere n oted during t he dow sing experim ents but could be give n little attention at the tim e. Wounded K nee in Sout h D akota is t he loc ation of a m assacre of an entire tribe of Sioux in one of t he saddest cha pters of the Indian w ars in t he course of w hich t he tribal lands w ere pr og ressively taken by t he surging w hite population. It is a desolate place, dom inated by a cem etery and a m onum ent with explanatory and descriptive signs. It is con sidered sacred by t he Indians, and en genders in t he visitor a feeling of deep quiet. 4. M usic and Theater T his category is represented in t he predictor set only by a high ly theatrical hum or conference, w hich w as designed for professionals w ho use hum or i n t heir w ork, but also for the pur pose of enjoying hum or. T he full program , including eve n t he coffee breaks, w as designed to eng age and entertain, and to be exem plary of hum or. A lt ho ugh t his conf erence m igh t seem to be an unusual exam ple for a m usic and t he ater category, its t hem atic structure and intent w ere characteristic of t ha t genre, and t he strong indication of ano m alous de viation here supports t he prediction of an effect in t heatrical and m usical ve nues t hat deeply eng age t he audience. 5. Charismatic Events A t t he tw o-w eek A cade m y of Consciousness Studies held at Princeton in 1994, data w ere recorded for m ost session s. A lt hough t his w as a sp ecial gat hering with som e asp ects of an academ ic conference, it entailed qua lities asso ciated with sm all, t hem atically oriented w orking groups. O ne session am ong 60 show ed a persistent de viation t hat w as sufficiently extrem e to produc e a significant Bonferroni-corrected ove rall deviation for the A cadem y as a w hole. T he topic of t he session w as ritual i n day-to-da y life and the im portance t his natural m anifestation of consciou sness m ay hold for its ow n deeper understanding . T his application is t hus related to t he Ritual category, but it w as not designed or conducted as a ritual. T he topic and t he presentations w ere deeply eng aging , and several individuals indepe nde ntly reported shared reactions t hat w ere subjectively very intense and coherent, suggesting that t his m ay be pro pe rly characterized as a charism atic eve nt t hat pow erfully focused attention and integrated the attending individuals into a grou p. A t present t here are no confirm atory applications in t his category. B. Venues Showing No Anom alous FieldREG Effects (cf. Table 1b) In the origina l F ieldR E G applications, priority w as given to situations t hat seem ed on intuitive grounds likely to prod uce t he group coherenc e and en gagem ent t hat w e suspected m igh t foster anom alous F ieldR E G de viations. D ata also w ere taken at academ ic conf erenc es, business m eeting s, and a num ber of other environm ents w hich seem ed less propitious, and indeed none of
431
df
E ffect
Jun 95 Au g 95
19 55 74 12 2 10 12 1 99
- .0 02 5 - .0 03 5 - .0 03 2 - .0 01 6
.0 06 8
De c 94
S pecial In vestigations M arfa, Texas* M ar 94 Dow si ng, De vils Tow er Oc t 94 A ll In vestigations Control Con ditions De vils Tow er Co ntrol Total Oc t 94
- .0 23 2 - .0 09 3 - .0 26 0 - .0 04 0
t hese ve nues show ed any tendency tow ard unu sual deviations. In fact, t hese situations appeared to suppress segm ent variance to a sugge stive de gree ( c 2 = 77.363, 99 df , p = 0.053). T he following br ief descriptions pertain to Table 1b, w hich sum m arizes t he da ta gat hered in these and ot her categor ies for w hich null effects prevailed. 1. Academic M eetings FieldRE G data w ere taken at annu al m eeting s of t he Society of S cientific E xploration (S SE ) and the P arapsychological A ssoc iation (PA ), wit h the beginning and end of presentations m arked for segm ent analysis. S uch conferences are characterized by varied t hem es and individualized patterns of attention that do not lend t he m selves to group coherence. 2. Business M eetings T he origina l F ieldR E G database i nc lud ed a m eeting of the S SE gove rning council, w hich m eets wit h an agenda of typically businesslike m atters. W hile discussion s are am icable and coo perative, t here is usually little em otional en gagem ent. 3. Special Investigations A variety of otherwise un classified original applications i nc luded an investigation of the M arfa L igh ts in Texas, in w hich data w ere taken in t he low m ou ntains near M arfa w here m any reports of strang e ligh ts in the nigh t sky have been m ade . S om e observers have suggested a connection with natural
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phenom ena, w hile ot hers link the ligh ts to U FO speculations. T he researchers took a F ieldRE G system as part of an array of electronic and ot her m onitor ing devices, and recording s w ere m ade ove r seve ral evening s of the project. N o strong deviation s associate d wit h t he ligh t ph enom ena w ere observed. A nother project investigated t he possibility t hat F ieldR E G recording s m ight show deviations correspond ing to the indication s gene rated by dow sing. T his consisted of ten replications of a circuit around t he D evils Tow er m onum ent accom panying a dow ser, wit h t he data segm ents m arked correspon ding to t he dow sing responses. A lt hough the dow ser ho ped for an objective indicator, t he results show ed no consistent trends (N elson & A postol, 1996) . 4. Control Conditions O ther than the und esignated data taken during periods of tim e surrounding t he active data segm ents, one of t he original app lications w as designed as an explicit control con dition. T his w as a cerem on y pe rform ed at D evils Tow er by t he S ho shone sham an i n a control site selected by on e of t he ot her m em bers of t he group, rather than by t he sham an, w ho considered t he sacred site to be an im portant com pone nt of t he cerem ony. 4. Results of O riginal FieldREG Applications Tables 1a and 1b detail t he results obtained in the various ve nues described above for the anom alous and null effect categories, respective ly. Colum ns sum m arize t he num ber of RE G trials, the segm ent-based c 2 s with their degrees of freedom and correspon ding proba bilities, and t he trial-based effect p siz es, cal cu l at ed a s Z = n w h ere Z is o b t ai n ed as t h e n o rm al d ist ri b u ti o n q u an- tile of the p-value, and N is t he num ber of trials in the active data taken during t he application. A s n oted before, som e of t he early data w ere assessed by finding the segm ent with the m ost extrem e de viation and correcting for m ultiple analysis, so t hat t he actual num bers of trials for t ho se applications are not available without a m ajor re-analysis. T herefore, to allow effect size com putations t hat can be com pared to the later replications, a rough but adequate estim ate of N for t he full dataset has been m ade fr om the num ber of days or sessions. A s a graphical exam ple of the anom alous effects t hat m ay oc cur in these ap plications, F igure 1 sho w s t he cum ulative deviation of t he RE G trace dur ing t he Shosho ne sham an s healing ritual at the D evils Tow er sacred site. Figure 2 prov ides an exam ple of relative ly m odest cum ulative deviations of t he RE G trace during sessions of t he 199 5 m eeting of the Parapsychological A ssociation, w hich show ed, overall, no significant an om alous effect. A lt hou gh t his is a large dataset, wit h m any o ppo rtunities for an im pressive deviation such as t hat show n in F igure 1, none appe ar.
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Fig . 1. Cu mu lative d eviation of F ieldR EG trace du ring a 2 0-m inute healing cerem ony performed b y a S ho sh on e sh am an at D evils Tow er. T h e horizontal line sho ws the expectation for the r ando m w alk d escribed by the accum ulating deviations, and t he parabolic envelope show s the locus o f the 0.0 5 prob ability for so large a deviation as t he database increases.
Fi g. 2. Cu m ulative deviation of F ieldR E G trace d ur ing the An nu al Co nv ention o f the Pa rapsy chological A sso ciation, 19 95 . Vertical lines indicate t he beginn ings and end s of se ssio ns, each of w hich contained se veral presentations of 15 m inu tes du ration or m ore. T he hor izontal lines in each seg m ent sh ow the expectation, and the p arabo lic envelopes sh ow th e locus of the 0.0 5 pro bability for so large a deviation as t he database increases within that seg m ent.
434
O n t he basis of bot h t hese sets of results, w e n ow erect t he hypot hesis t hat future trials perform ed in environm ents closely resem bling t ho se in catego ry 1a, or otherwise fostering a high degree of sub jective resonance within the group , should continue to display anom alous segm ents of F ieldRE G respo nse. Conve rsely, trials cond ucted in environm ents sim ilar to category 1b or others involving little subjective resonance within the group, should show little anom alous character. T he next part of this paper describes a series of experim ents designed to test this hyp ot hesis.
5. Con rm atory Experim ents A. Venu es Favoring Anom alou s Effects (cf. Table 2a) 1. Sm all Groups In this category are further m eeting s of t he D M H I and ICR L grou ps described in S ection 3.A .1, supplem ented by data from tw o other very sim ilar situations. O ne of t hese (designated E gypt C in Table 2a ) is a subset of t he data gat hered dur ing a trip to E gypt with a group of 19 pe ople interested in ancient E gyptian religion and culture (N elson , 19 97a). T his group gat hered on several occasion s duri ng the trip to discuss pl ans and share ideas and practices t hat w ere of interest to eve ryone in t he group. T he second new venue in t his catego ry is a m eeting of the PE A R staff for a retreat (D unw alke) to share im pressions and ideas on t he current and future w ork of the laboratory group. 2. Group Rituals A t hird dataset from the CU U P S group described in Section 3.A .2 falls properly in t his category, along with a series of visits to E gyptian sacred sites (designated E gy pt A in Table 2a) by t he group m entioned in t he previou s pa ragraph . T he participants eng aged in m editation and cha nting in t he tem ples and t he interior cham bers of t he pyram ids, to honor the ancient traditions and to attem pt to create a spiritual connection to t he places in w hich t he ritua ls of t he ancient E gyptians had been conducted. 3. Sacred Sites Crater L ake is an un spoiled natural park of extraordinary beauty, and a place t hat has be en regarded as sacred by t he N ative A m ericans. It w as visited in late sum m er by tw o of t he aut hors and tw o com patible guests, all of w hom im m ersed t hem selves m editative ly in t he scenic and m ystical am bience of t he site.
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df
E ffect
N ov 95 D ec 96 Jan 96 A u g 96 A p r 97 O ct 96 M ay 97
14 14 6 10 9 14 6 73
.1 94 .0 75 .2 56 .5 26 .5 01 .24 8 .27 4 .0 82
G rou p Rituals CU U PS Pa gan Circle 9 5, 96 E gyp t A , chanting O ct 96 Al l G rou p Rituals S acred S ites Crater Lake E gyp t B, Casu al A ll Sa cred Sites M usic/Theater Revels 95 Revels 96 Bayreuth O pera M et/NY C Op era A ll M usic/T heater Total
824 04 296 60 11 20 64
16 22 38
.42 0 .00 04 .0 02 0
A u g 96 O ct 96
6 27 33
D ec 95 D ec 96 Jul 96 9 6, 97
.00 49
T he E gypt B da taset w as gat he red in various sites im portant to t he ancient E gyptian sacred view, including t he tem ples and pyram ids. T hese sites w ere of t he sam e na ture as t hose in E gypt A , but in t hese cases t he group w as casually present and did n ot un dertake m editation, chanting , or other activities intended to foster group resonance. 4. M usic and Theater T he confirm atory w ork here includes a large-scale m usic and t heater production called T he Revels t hat is m ounted annually in eigh t or m ore cities around t he U nited S tates. T he artistic director in S an Francisco proposed t hat t he participatory nature of the production, and its basis in various cultural rituals celebrating t he passage of t he old year into t he new, w ould m ake it a likely cand idate for anom alous F ieldRE G effects. (T he Revels m igh t also be included in the G rou p R ituals subset ba se d on its content and on its com m unity and celebratory na ture .) Five especially eng aging pieces from the show w ere predicted to yield anom alous deviations. Ten show s in tw o cities w ere recorded in 1995, and an eve n large r replication in 1996 included eigh t cities
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presenting sim ilar program s, each with m ultiple pe rform ances. T his dataset is described in greater detail in a separate report (N elson & M ayer, 19 97). Tw o datasets w ere accum ulated at operas, on e set i n Bayreut h, taken by a G erm an colleague , t he ot her in N ew Yo rk at the M etropolitan and N ew Yo rk City O peras. T he B ayreut h o peras w ere po rtions of t he Wagner R ing cycle, and t he separate acts w er e designated as t he tem por al segm ents for the expe rim ent. (T he Wagner festival could also be included in group ritual or the sa cred site categories since it constitutes a ye arly pilgrim age by devotees to t he Festspielha us, a t he ater designed by t he com poser for op tim al resonance wit h his w ork.) F or form al analysis, t he sam e act-based prediction w as m ade for the N ew Yor k data, bu t inform al rating s also w ere m ade of espe cially pow erful acts, allow ing a subset to be draw n for w hich the prediction of an effect m igh t be linked to a spe cific subjective reaction of t he expe rim enter to the situation. B. Venues Favor ing Null Effects (cf. Tab le 2b) 1. Academ ic M eetings Inc lud ed in t he confirm ation w ork w he re a nu ll deviation is predicted are tw o m ore S SE m eetings, a m ultidisciplinary conferenc e, Tow ard a S cience of Consciousness (Tu cson II), and an SS E sym posium on alternative archaeology called Return to t he Source. In m ost cases all presentation s w ere included in t he analysis, except for the Consciousness conference w here t here w ere m any parallel sessions and only t he plenary presentations could be recorded. 2. Business M eetings Tw o confirmatory databases w ere acquired in subsequent m eetings of t he SSE C ounc il.
Table 2b Co n rm atory F ieldR E G D ata W ith P redicted N ull D eviation Ve nu e A cadem ic M eetings SS E M eeting Tucson II M eeting E uroS SE M eeting Return to So urce Sy m p. Al l A cademic Bu si ness M eeting s S SE Cou ncil SS E Co un cil A ll Busin ess Total D ate N-Trials
df
Eff ect
Jun 97 A pr 96 O ct 96 S ep 96
58 05 7 50 84 6 99 18 8 65 15 4 2 73 24 5
27 6 42 14 89
N ov 9 5 Jun 97
32 59 9 25 92 4 58 52 3 3 31 76 8
17 14 31 12 0
- .00 37
.00 13
.00 52
- .00 23
FieldRE G II: Consciousness Field E ffects 6. Results of Con rm atory Experim ents
437
Table 2a details t he results for the hypothesis-based expe rim ents testing t he prediction t hat ve nu es conceptually sim ilar to t ho se of t he corresponding predictor set (Table 1a) will display sim ilar tendencies tow ard anom alous deviations. Com pared to t he bottom line for the early applications, w hich had a chance probability of about one in ten m illion , that of the conf irm atory set is about tw o in one m illion. T he m ean Z-scores in the tw o cases, 1.656 0.209 and 1.118 0.297, respectively, bot h differ significantly from t heoretical exp ectation, bu t not from each ot her, constituting a strong replication of the an om alous effects. T he trial-based effect size calculated from t he unw eigh ted Z-scores in the confirm atory dataset is som ew hat sm aller t han in t he original set (E t = 0.0077 com pa red with E t = 0.00 49), but again not sign ificantly so (Z = 1.531). Figure 3 show s t he accum ulation of c 2 in the anom alous effect category, com bined across t he predictor and confirm ation datasets. Table 2b details t he confirm ation expe rim ents in venues predicted to yield null effects, in circum stances t hat are prim arily intellectual and businesslike. A s predicted, deviations tend to be relatively sm all, and t he c 2 is sm aller t han chance expectation to a sugg estive degree ( c 2 = 99.80 , 12 0 df, p = 0.09). If the data for t he predictor and con firmatory sub sets are com bined, t here is a
F ig. 3. A no m alous effect. The so lid line sh ow s the cum ulative c over the applications in the p redictor se t detailed in Table 1a (t he f irst 6 3 d egrees of freedom , m arked by a dash ed line) and th e applications in the confirm atory d atase t detailed in Table 2a. T he do tted lines sh ow the expectation and t he locus of the 0.0 5 pr obability fo r so large a deviation as t he database increases.
2
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significant indication t hat t here m ay actually be a suppression of segm ent varianc e in applications of t his genre ( c 2 = 177.164, 219 df, p = 0.019). T his aspect of t he FieldRE G data will require further effort to clarify. Figure 4 show s t he accum ulation of c 2 in t he nu ll effect category, ove r both t he predictor and confirm ation datasets. 7. New Exp loratory Experim ents (cf. Table 3) T he early experim ents and t he replication s described above cover only a lim ited spa n of possible F ieldR E G applications, and alt hough the patterns of success and failure suggest and t hen confirm t he general discrim ina ting concept em bodied in t he hypot hesis of S ection 4, it seem s desirable to expand t he environm ental rang e of exp loratory experim ents in orde r to extend and refine t he releva nt criteria. F or this purpose, ne w form al data have be en collected in about 40 app lications w here no specific predictions could be m ade directly from t he earlier w ork. T hese are subdivided into ten groups wit hin each of w hich t he applications are either repe tition s of a ve nue or closely related situations. T he rang e is fairly broad, and t he data collection is often o pportunistic in t he sense t hat it depe nd s upon t he experim enters interests and access to particular field situations. In addition, a variety of inform al, but potentially instructive sm all data-
Fi g. 4.
N u ll effect. T he so lid line sh ow s t he cum ulative c over the applications in the predictor set d etailed in Table 1b (the first 99 degrees of freedom , mark ed by a dashed line) and the applications in the confirmatory dataset detailed in Table 2 b. T he do tted lines sh ow the expectation and t he locus of the 0.05 pro bability for so larg e a deviation as t he database increases.
2
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df
E ffect
Religious Rites S tokes M em orial S ervice Fe b 97 L ud tke Rose nk ranz Ap r 97 L ud tke F un eral Ap r 97 A ll Religious Rites Pe rson al Rituals M oon Winter S o lstice M oon eclipse M oon eclipse M oon eclipse E gy pt E A ll P erson al Rituals Sh aring Pa rty H alloween Pa rty M om s Birthday A ll S haring Pa rty In vited Talks RG J O ld Gu ard RG J Rockefeller U . RG J Colgate RD N N CA S RD N Freiburg RD N Na ssa u Club RD N Ne w Di m ensions A L L M t. Sinai A ll I nv ited Talks Visits to S pecial Sites Black H ills D akota Badlands E gy pt D , Tour S ites Yo se m ite P ark A ll S pecial Si tes Sp irit Chann eling Chann eling S essio n Chann eling S essio n Chann eling S essio n Chann eling S essio n A ll Chann eling G lobal E vents Rabin Sh ot, 5 m in. G aiam ind M editation A ll G lobal E vents S piritual Training Ji n S hin D o Classes
3 18 3 4 46 7 217 50 294 00
1 4 5 10
- .0 22 6 - .0 19 5 - .0 06 2 - .0 11 3
.0 13 8 .0 16 0 .0 16 2 .0 01 9 .0 01 2 .0 02 1 .0 03 7
25 Oc t 96 21 De c 9 6 26 Se p 9 6 26 Se p 9 6 26 Se p 9 6 Oc t 96
6 21 2 3 94 4 4 47 3 4 45 3 4 47 0 10 44 0 33 99 2
1 1 2 2 2 9 18
Oc t 96 Oc t 94
13 13 6 13 23 5 26 37 1
4 1 5
.0 11 4 .0 12 8 .0 102
Oc t 95 Oc t 95 Ap r 97 M ar 94 N ov 95 N ov 96 N ov 96 M ay 97
7 49 0 12 67 0 28 00 122 32 60 49 36 27 78 11 56 69 583 48
1 1 1 7 5 3 2 3 23
- .0 08 8 - .0 03 9 - .0 02 8 - .0 02 1 - .0 04 6
.0 08 0 .0 01 4 .0 18 1
.0 13 4
Oc t 94 Oc t 94 Oc t 96 Jun 97
22 79 1 13 67 7 18 23 5 20 39 8 7510 1
10 18 8 3 39
- .0 00 3 - .0 02 2
.0 04 0 .0 13 7
.0 05 0
23 22 31 01
N ov 96 De c 9 6 M ay 97 Jun 97
13 36 7 4 75 4 13 14 6 5 12 2 363 89
6 5 16 3 30
- .0 07 6 - .0 09 8 - .0 30 0
.0 02 7
.0 24 9
04 N ov 95 23 Jan 9 7
69 0 4 90 0 5 59 0
1 14 15
.0 90 5 .0 23 9 .0 31 1
Nov 95
142 31 1
19.60 7
26
.810
- .0 02 3
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Table 3 (C on tinued) Co ntinued: Su m m ary of Exploratory F ieldRE G Ap plications
Ven ue
D ate
N-Trials
df
E ffect
Gro up Celebr ations Pr inceton P -R ade Jun 96 Base lerM or gestraich F eb 97 Bu m m el S on ntag (offtim e) M ar 97 Al l G rou p Celebr ations Sp orts Pr inceton F oo tball Pr inceton F oo tball Pr inceton F oo tball Pr inceton F oo tball Princeton F oo tball Su perbow l T V RG J Su perbow l T V RD N A ll Sp orts Total Table 3
19 65 3 270 9 12 60 0 34 96 2
8 5 1 14
.00 71 .00 35 .0 15 3 .0 06 6
23 14 11 26 23 28 28
8.52 2 2.90 3 8.50 8 29 .25 5 4.11 6 14 .62 7 15 .43 8 83 .36 9 296 .42 9
6 5 12 20 13 12 13 81 260
- .0 18 5 - .0 08 6 - .0 30 7
.0 04 8 .0 04 2 .0 010 .00 22 .0 21 8
.01 68
bases have been recorded in t he laboratory and at various m eeting s and talks give n by t he lab staff m em bers. A lt hou gh m any of these situations hav e an identifiable relationship to other w ork, the da ta w ere not taken un der spe cific hypot heses t hat allow incisive analysis and inc lusion in t he form al database. A num ber of attem pts have been m ade in venues t ha t proved infeasible for practical reasons. F or exam ple, m eeting s of a m ens group and of a B udd hist Sangha w ere t hought to be go od cand idate venues, but it proved im possible to m ake suitable n otations wit hou t interfering with t he gr ou ps processes. 1. Religious Rites T his com prises a sm all gr oup of recording s take n at m em orial services and a funeral. O ne service w as for a high ly regarded D ean at P rinceton U niversity w ho died sudde nly after a sho rt illness. T he ot he rs w ere for an experim enter s m ot her-in- law in G erm any and consisted of an eve ning church service and t he funeral on the following day. T his is a sm all da tabase, but it is w ort h noting t hat t he results sho w supp ressed variance akin to t hat observed in the venues favoring null effects. 2. Personal Rituals Som e of these are sim ple, ind ividua l cerem onies t hat are intended to m anifest respect for variou s ancient traditions in w hich phases of t he m oon and t he chang ing of seasons are honored. T hey differ from t he G roup R itual category in having only one or tw o peo ple in attend ance. T he recording and analysis is also relatively sim ple, typically con sisting of a sing le segm ent covering t he period of the ritual. N oting t hat eclipses tend to draw t he attention of large num -
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bers of peo ple, independent datasets w er e taken by t hree experim enters du ring a m oon eclipse to asse ss possible cor relations. T hough one of t hese show ed a fairly strong deviation, t he com bined results show ed no evidence of an an om alous effect, and t here w as n o significant correlation across t he t hree datasets. T he E gypt E sub set is a designed collection of data taken in person ally en gaging situations, including several t hat involved rituals, recorded dur ing t he aforem entioned E gypt tour. T he intent w as to prov ide a sam ple of segm ents t hat w ere ot he rwise sim ilar to those involving t he tour group, but with on ly t he expe rim enter actively eng aged. 3. Convivial Parties Tw o exam ples of gat hering s of fam ily and friends at parties bo t h sho w prom ise as sou rces of an om alous deviation. A s an i ndicator of the subjective im pact t he consciousne ss field research m ay have, w e note t hat a graph ic representation of t he data from t he H allow een party reve als a rem arkably apt t hou gh surely coincidental configuration, wit h sharp peaks t ha t (given t he context) are strong ly rem iniscent of a classic witch hat (see Figure 5). In both cases, t he interpe rsona l or group activity w as relaxed, fam iliar, and fun, all qua lities t hat help to create a natural unity and resonance.
Fig . 5. Cum u lative deviation o f F ieldRE G trace du ring a con vivial H alloween party in 19 96 . Ve rtical lines indicate index entries made at tim es th at seemed to m ark different ph ases of the p arty. The ho rizontal line sh ow s the expectation, and t he parabo lic envelope sh ow s the locus o f t he 0.0 5 prob ability fo r so large a deviation as t he database increases.
R. D . N elson et al.
Seve ral recordings of professional talks given by t he PE A R staff indicate t hat t his type of activity tends to yield a null outcom e sim ilar to that foun d in academ ic or bu siness m eeting s. O verall, the eigh t exam ples show essentially undistorted data distribu tions. M ost of the recording s are sing le units cove ring t he entire talk, t hu s precluding any analysis t hat m igh t be sensitive to tem porary achievem ent of a group coherence. 5. Tourist Sites T his is a va ried group, but t he com m on them e is a location t hat attracts peo ple t hrough som e form of natural or cultural interest, includ ing scenic beauty and unique character. S everal are w ell-know n nationa l pa rks or m onum ents, and in each case t he data w ere recorded with only on e or tw o people in attendance. T he E gy pt D dataset w as recorded at several m ajor tourist sto ps of t he E gyptian visit t ha t w ere not sacred sites as defined for the project. T hese included t he rem arkable Cairo m useum with its Tu tankha m un exhibit, tom bs in t he Valley of the K ings, and t he beautifully preserved tom b of N efertari, nearby. In all cases t he re w ere no group activities or efforts to foster any sort of group resonance. E xcept for the E gyp t D subset, none of the tour ist sites produced anom alous yields. 6. Channe ling Sessions A n opportunity w as presented to attend oc casional channeli ng sessions w here a spirit entity nam ed S am uel w as im puted to give inform ation and com m ents to a sm all grou p. T he group m em bers he ld a va riety of different levels of belief in t he process and varied also in t he ir interpretations, but all w ere interested participants with a respe ctful attitude. T he first of four sessions show ed a strong FieldRE G result, w hile later sessions did n ot; hence no clear prediction about future applications in this ve nu e can be m ade. 7. Spiritual Training A n eigh t-day course of training in Jin Shin D o w as attended by a colleagu e, provi ding an opportunity to do FieldRE G recording s in a structured environm ent with a spiritual tone . T he classes consisted of physical and m ental exercises (pal dan gum ), m editation, and w ork sessions i n w hich participants practiced healing techniques with each ot he r and with t he teaching m aster. D ata segm ents corresponding wit h t hese t hre e activities w ere defined as t he form al analysis subset. T he results show ed no strong trends tow ard either anom alous deviation or variance suppression. 8. Sporting Events Seve ral hom e gam es of t he Princeton varsity football team w ere recorded.
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A nalysis of t he early applications focused on hom e team touchdow ns w hile ball possession by t he hom e team defined the ana lytical segm ents i n later gam es. T he results sho w little indication of an anom alous effect in eit her m od e, despite t he exp ectation t hat sports activities often are pow erfully engaging and w ould seem to be a likely source of a grou p consciousne ss effect. It m ay be relevant t hat m ost of the gam es w ere som ew ha t lacklu ster, according to t he experim enter s subjective criteria, and elicited relative ly little crow d ent husiasm . Tw o independent recording s of the 1996 Superbow l w ere m ade via television broadcast, wit h a ball-po ssession segm ent pr otoc ol. A lthough t he re w as only m odest evidence for corresponding anom alous deviations, t he effect size w as com parable to the ave rage across t he conf irm atory applications in Ta ble 2a. A sim ilar study cond ucted at E uropean soccer gam es foc using on t he relatively rare goal plays, found a significant increase in data variance (Bierm an, 1996) , suggesting that the question regarding spo rts venues should rem ain open. 9. Global Events Specific oc casions w ith ve ry widespread interest present an o pportunity to ascertain w het her a global eve nt m igh t create an extended consciou sness field t hat could be detected using the F ieldR E G techn ology and protocols. W hen t he assassi na tion of Prim e M inister Rabin w as ann ounced in N ovem ber, 1995, t he continually running ContRE G sequenc e i n t he P E A R lab w as exam i ned retrospectively for any deviation at t he tim e of the m urder. T he pe riod of five m inutes surrou nding t he event does indeed show a pow erful, low -prob ability m eanshift, and an extraordinary effect size (see Figure 6). Because t here w as no pre-planned definition of the analytical segm ent boundaries, t his application m ust be regarded as exp loratory only, but it m ay be useful in form ing assessm ent strategies for ot her sing ular eve nts. A m ore positive occasion w as t he G aiam ind M editation , during w hic h sev eral researchers around t he w or ld took data to correspo nd with a widely prom oted m editation for w orld health and peace t hat took place in January, 1997. T his project, docum ented m ore fully in a separate repo rt (N elson, 1997b), also indicated a significant com po site effect. T he survey of this catego ry is at present too sm all for reliable prediction but toget her wit h related w ork (Radin, 1997) , sugg ests t hat t his is a potentially instructive ve nu e; further applications are ong oing . A ll of these data w ere acquired in a necessarily rem ote protoc ol, i.e., t he FieldRE G units w ere not proxim ate to the venues, but geographically far rem oved. F urther discussion of t he im plications of t his variant follow s in Section 9.
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F ig. 6. Cu m ulative d eviation o f Con tRE G data record ed in P rinceton at the tim e of the assassi nation of Pri me M inister Rabin. T he graph sh ow s a ten-m inute period of tim e exactly centered on the tim e of the sho oting. The h orizontal line sh ow s the expectation, and t he parabo lic envelope sh ow s t he locus of the 0.05 p rob ability fo r so large a deviation as t he database increases.
10. Group Celebrations T he P rinceton P -R ade is part of a yearly reunion of Princeton U niversity alum ni. A high proportion of alum ni return, and t he celebr ation s are rew arding , high -spirited, and som ew hat com plicated, in t he sense t hat m any different activities are in process and com pe te for attention . T he culm inating parade, how ever, does bring t he participants toge t her as a large attentive group, and FieldRE G data segm ents taken duri ng especially eng aging parts w ere m arked for analysis. T he results w ere equ ivocal at best. T he Baseler M orgestraich is an annu al celebration of ancient traditions in Basel, S witzerland, w here a m ajor proportion of the citizenry and a large num ber of pilgrim s from across E uro pe conve rge in t he city center at 4:00 am to partake. A ll electric ligh ts are turned off and candles illum ina te t he procession of m archers w earing gigantic m asks, i nterspersed wit h nu m erous floats be aring cartoon s and satiric text wit h political and social t hem es. T he m archers play eerie drum and piccolo m usic t hat is draw n from ancient ritual sou rces. A rem ind er version of t he M orgestraich, called B um m el S onntag, occurs on each of t he following four S und ay evening s, wit h t he m arche rs and m usicians repe ating t heir w andering pat h t hrough t he city, m inus t he costum es, but again wit h t he m usic, and t he fasci na ted attention of m any of their fellow citizens. T he data in t his case w ere taken in bo t h a rem ote and an offtim e m ode; t he
445
first aut hor serendipitou sly discovered the event w hile in B asel for ano t her purpose, and since he did n ot have a F ieldR E G system available, m ade t he decision to take data upo n his return to Freiburg. T he offset tim e and t he am ount of data w ere pre-specified, and notes m ade to docum ent t he offtim e protocol. T he results show a sign ificant deviation. 8. Results of Exp loratory App lications In Table 3, as in the earlier tables, t he venue and date of t he application are give n, and t he results are sum m arized as a segm ent-based c 2 with its degrees of freedom and corresponding probability, and a trial-based effect size. T he data indicate t hat som e of t he subgroups could be prom ising ve nues for additional replications in t he future. O t hers show consistent indication s of null effects. B ecause t he selection of pa rticular applications in t his exploratory category is som ew hat arbitrary and dependent on o pportun ity, t he com posite statistical evaluation is n ot likely to be an incisive indicator. N evert he less, t he bottom line across t he ten subgr oups com prising a total of 40 applications is m arginally significant, with a c 2 of 29 6.429 on 26 0 degrees of freedom , and a corresponding prob ability of 0.059. Figure 7 show s t he accum ulated c 2 for t he exploratory category.
Fi g. 7. E x ploratory data. The solid line sho w s t he cum ulative c over all the applications in the exp loratory d atabase detailed in Table 3. T he do tted lines sh ow the expectation and t he locus o f t he 0.0 5 p rob ability fo r so larg e a deviation as t h e database increases.
2
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Beyond confirm ing t he prim ary hypothesis posed in S ection 4, t he replication data listed in Ta ble 2, along with the origina l data of Ta ble 1 and t he exploratory results listed in Table 3, also display several indicators of sub sidiary structure in the FieldRE G databases t hat could be ar on t he form ulation of theoretical m odels of t he phe nom enon, and t hence on its eventual com pre he nsion. U nfortunately, t he data in ha nd are insufficient in sco pe and incisiveness to allow detailed assessm ent of any of t hese at t his tim e. Rat her, w e can sim ply ackn ow ledge t hese tendenc ies and rem ain alert to t hem in future w ork. A. Differences in Z-scores an d Effect Sizes M any of t he replications, w hile vigorously substantiating t he prim ary hypothesis, tend tow ard som ew hat sm aller Z-scores and effect sizes as t he num ber of applications in a given venue increases. T his m ay w ell be an other m anifestation of the serial position profiles found in our laboratory-based RE G studies (D unne et al., 1994 ), w hich in turn m ay indicate t he im portance of various subjective factors, such as n ove lty, confidenc e, or expectation, to operator pe rform ance in such experim ents. T heoretical inclusion of such factor s in t he FieldRE G genre of hum an/m achin e interactions, w here t he role of the o perator clearly is m ore indirect, diffuse, and subtle, will not be straigh tforw ard, and ultim ately m ay requ ire revisitation of the role of the experim enters in t his and ot her classes of anom alies research. O n t he ot her hand, since an experim enter is pe rforce included in all venues, t he significant differences in effects across application categories are m ore likely attributable to other factors asso ciated with t he group per se. B. Reductions of Varian ce A s m entioned briefly in S ection 6, the data acquired in application s predicted to have sm all yields, i.e., in prosaic or businesslike venu es, individu ally and collectively display variances w ell below those of t he high er yield categories and even below chance expectation. T here is a suggestion, as n oted earlier, t hat varianc e m ay be suppr essed in ot her situations, such as t he religiou s fune ral cerem onies described in S ection 7.1. O nce again t his is rem iniscent of sim ilar effects noted in ou r laboratory RE G expe rim ents (Jahn et al., 198 5) and elsew here (Bierm an, 199 6), and if confirm ed in further research, m ay constitute anot her m ode of ano m alous response of t he FieldRE G system to the prevailing consciousness environm ent. C. Displacem ents in Space and Tim e A s noted briefly in t he sections describing t he ve nu es of application, a few situations necessarily entailed sub stantial ph ysical separation of t he FieldRE G units from the groups being assessed. O ne of t hese eve n requ ired opera-
447
tion of the equipm ent at tim es ot her than t hat of the actual assem bly. T hese radical departures from nom inal protocol have precedents in large bodies of laboratory-based RE G expe rim entation w herein t he o pe rators w ere physically far displaced from the m achines, and in som e cases directed t heir attention to t hem at tim es ot he r t ha n t hose of t he data collection. Ye t, t he scale and charac ter of these rem ote and offtim e results bear striking sim ilarities to t hose achieved under local, realtim e conditions (D unne & Jahn, 1992 ; N elson et al., 1991) . A lthough t he rem ote and offtim e FieldR E G da ta are very sparse at t his point, indications of t he viability of such protocols can be found, notably in t he G lobal E vent category. If substantiated by future applications, such results m ust have huge im pact on t he m od eling of suc h phen om ena by severely restricting t he m odalities of influence t hat can be posed. In particular, the roles of such objective pa ram eters as physical distance and tim e w ould need to be dim inished, w hile t hose of appropriate sub jective param eters, such as attention , com m itm ent, and em otional resonance w ould ne ed to be enhanced. D. Directions of Anom alou s Deviations We have as ye t n o answ er to t he question w het her the direction of de viations relative to expectation has any m eani ng ful im plication. O ur ana lysis explicitly igno res direction by considering only t he variability (or variance) of the deviations of the segm ent m eans. M os t applications show both po sitive and negative excursion s, but t here are som e exception s. T he CU U PS database has a num ber of F ull M oon cerem onies; am ong t hese are t he four m ost extrem e datasets and all four have nega tive deviations. T he E gy pt C da tabase has a consistent negative m eanshift across its 14 segm ents (m ean Z = - 0.604 , standard deviation = 0.963), and t he E gypt A databa se has a m arginally significant positive m eanshift (m ean Z = 0.449, standard deviation = 1.49 7). A m ong t he exploratory applications, t he eigh t Invited Talks stand out, wit h all deviations positive. H ow ever, given t he nu m ber of ana lyses from w hic h t hese exam ples are selected, as w ell as t heir lack of ove rall consistency, t hese suggestive results actually m ay be chance fluctuations. T he design of t he expe rim ent, w here w e specify t he variance m easure as our criterion for ano m alous results, and t he total sym m etry of t he FieldR E G electronics to positive and negative outputs (N elson et al., 1996), m ay m ake it both im possible and i nappropriate to infer m eaning from the direction of de viations. E. Alternative Segm entations In describing t he sm all groups w e observed that t he re m ight be be tter w ays to specify the active data segm ents i n som e cases, especially t hose w here t he group dynam ics w ere not w ell represented in term s of individual presentations. A lternatives such as se ssions or da ys m igh t better capture t he interpersona l dy nam ics of deep eng agem ent and broad interaction that cha racterize such m eeting s. In the ICR L case, for exam ple, suc h an alternative analysis w as
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done in an exploratory m ode prior to the form al assessm ent base d on participant presentations. In t his prelim inary analysis, t he t hree m eeting s show ed individual probabilities of 0.256 , 0.152, and 0.031, and a com bined prob ability of 0.046. Com pa rison of this with t he com bined prob ability of 0.453 for t he form al analysis indicates t he im portance of careful, expe rience-based design of the experim ental protocol and statistical analysis. Sim ply put, w e are still learning how to ask app ro pr iate questions in t he FieldRE G research. F. F uture Cou rse T he em pirical success of our hy pot hesis, lim ited as it m ay be, points to a progressive ly m ore com prehensive exam ina tion of other sub jective factors t hat m ay bear on t hese an om alous effects. We are attem pting now to extend such understanding by m ore detailed evaluation of the subjective qua lities characterizing t he original, confirmatory, and new exploratory app lications described above . W hile it is difficult to specify such qua lities with precision since t hey are by t heir nature defined in pe rsonal term s, it ne vertheless is po ssible to list som e concepts t hat generally seem to characterize conditions or situations in w hich w e m ay expect an an om alous effect: 1. G roup resonance, particula rly in em otionally m eaning ful contexts; 2. H igh ratios of subjective to objective , or em otional to intellectual contents; 3. R elatively profound personal involve m ent, especially if shared in a group; 4. D eeply eng rossing , fully interactive com m un ication; 5. S ituations or sites t hat are spiritually eng aging ; 6. C ircum stances t hat evoke a sense of fun and hum or; 7. A ctivities t ha t are intensely creative, and 8. F reshness or novelty for participants. It is im po rtant also to consider t he null deviation venues, w hich regu larly show reduced variance of segm ent scores. T hese typ ically do not have a global structure or a unifying t hem e, and possess few of t he characteristics listed above. Rat her, t hey tend to be high ly analytical or designed to transm it specific, w ell-def ined, objective inform ation. W hile t hey m ay eng age participants intellectually, t hey tend to exclude personal and em otional reactions and interactions. In fact, t here is an im plicit presum ption that objective considerations will take precedence over subjective expe rience. U ltim ately, of course, it will be necessary to seek an explanatory m od el and t heoretical structure to accom m od ate t hese results (Jahn & D unne, 1988). A n adequate m odel m ust help us to understand bot h t he intention-driven laboratory experim ents, and t he field studies w he re little or no attention is give n to t he RE G and t here is no explicit intention. It also m ust address t he obvious relevance of num erou s subjective factors, and ackn ow ledge t he apparent insensi -
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tivity of the an om alous effects to recog nized ph ysical variables, inc luding spatial or tem poral separations, or t he type of random sou rce involved. A s a very crud e initiative, w e postulate t he existence of a pervasive con sciousness i nform ation field t ha t m ay, under certain circum stances, exhibit detectable m odulations generated by individuals or groups. M ore specifically, it is pr oposed t hat via this field, hu m an consciousness can act as a radiati ng source of inform ation, capable of affecting otherwise random proc esses by inserting som e degree of order and m aking them sligh tly m ore predictable. Since t he environm ental aspects t hat seem to correlate m ost strong ly with such anom alous effects are sub jective in cha racter, t his structuring influence, w hich m ight be labeled subjective inform ation, involves t he attribution of m eaning to situations or eve nts. In t he field experim ents reported here, as in t he intention-ba sed laboratory experim ents, t his m odification of the con sciousness i nform ation field appears to m anifest t hrou gh alterations of statistical distributions generated by suitably prepared phy sical system s t hat have random or undeterm ined com ponents. In t he laboratory experim ents, these alterations appe ar to be drive n by ope rator intention, wishing , or purpose, and seem to be am plified by som e form of em otion al or spiritual resona nce. In t he field experim ents, resonance seem s to pl ay t he prim ary role, supplem ented by som e less conscious s tate of intention. A lthough , by their nature, subjective pro pe rties are particularly difficult to specify or m onitor, let alon e to quantify, w e are persuaded that their inclusion is essential for understanding the anom alous interaction s of consciousness wit h its env ironm ent (Jahn & D unne, 1997) . T he F ieldR E G experim ents com prise a prom ising em pirical vehicle for technical assessm ent of natural, o perational situations w here people are eng aged in activities em ploying the full rang e of their capabilities. A m ong t hese, apparently, are heretofore un detected direct interactions of consciousne ss w ith random physical system s, t ha t can reflect im portant characteristics of bot h. Acknow ledgm ents We are grateful for the help and interest of m any individuals, and for the m ajor contributions of tim e to these studies by sev eral colleagu es, inc luding D r. M ary K uh ner, D r. A rnold L ettieri, D r. E lisabet h M ayer, M r. Charles O ve rby, and Prof. D ieter Va itl. T he Princeton E ng ineering A nom alies Research pr og ram is suppo rted by a num ber of founda tions and ind ividua ls, includ ing t he Institut fr G renzgebi ete der Psychologie und P syc hoh ygiene, t he L ifebridge F ounda tion, the O hrstrom Founda tion, M r. Richard A dam s, M r. A lexander Im ich, M r. L aurance S. Rockefeller, and M r. D on ald Webster.
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Bash am , A . L. ( 19 59 ). The Wo nder T ha t Wa s In dia. N ew Yo rk: Grove Press. Bierm an, D . J. (1 99 6) . E xp loring correlations betw een local em otional and g lobal em o tional events and th e behavior of a rando m nu m ber generator. Journ al of Scientific E xploration , 10 , 3, 36 3. D ob yn s, Y. H . & N elso n, R. D. (1 99 7) . E mp irical Evidence Against D ecision Augm entation Theo ry. Techn ical N ote PE A R 970 05 , P rinceton E ngineering A no m alies Research, Pr inceton U niversity, Sc ho ol of Engineering/A pp lied S cience. D un ne, B. J. (1 99 1) . Co-O perat or E xperiments with an R E G D evice. Techn ical N ote PE A R 910 05 , Pr inceton E ngineering A no m alies Research, P rinceton Un iversity, S chool o f E ngineering/Ap plied Sc ience. D un ne B. J., D ob yn s, Y. H ., Jah n, R. G., and N elso n, R. D. (1 99 4). Se ries position effects in rando m event generator experim ents; W ith an A ppend ix by A . M . T ho m pson , S erial posi tion effects in the p sy chological literature. Journ al of Scientific E xplora tion, 8, 2 , 19 7. D un ne B. J. & Ja hn , R. G . (1 99 2). Ex perim ents in rem ote hu m an/m achine interaction. Jou rn al of Scientific E xplorat ion, 6 , 4, 31 1. D ur kh eim , E . (1 96 1). S o ciety and individual consc iousn ess. In T. Pa rson s, E . Sh ils, K . D . N aegele, and J. R. P itts (E ds.), Theo ries of Society, 2, 720 . G lencoe, Illinois: T he F ree P ress. Ja hn , R. G . & Du nn e, B. J. ( 19 88 ). M arg ins of R eality: The R ole o f Co nsciousne ss in the P hysical World . N ew Yo rk: Ha rcourt Br ace. Ja hn , R. G . & D un ne, B. J. (1 99 7). S cience of t he su bjective. Journa l o f Scientific E xplorat ion, 11 , 2, 20 1. Ja hn , R. G ., D un ne, B. J., and N elson , R. D . (1 98 7) . E ng ineering anom alies research. Jou rna l of Scientific E xplorat ion, 1 , 1, 21 . Ja hn , R. G ., Du nn e, B. J., N elson, R. D ., D oby ns, Y . H ., and Br adish , G . J. (1 99 7) . Correlations of rand om binary seq uences with pre-stated operator intention: A review of a 12 -y ear pro gr am . Journa l of Scientific Explora tion, 11 , 3, 34 5. Ja hn , R. G ., N elso n, R. D ., and D un ne, B. J. (19 85 ). Va ri an ce E ffects in RE G Series Score D istributions. Techn ical No te PE A R 85 00 1, Princeton Eng ineering A no m alies Research, Pr inceton U niversity, S choo l of E ngineering/Ap plied Sc ience. Ja m es, W. ( 19 77 ). H um an I mm orta lity. Bosto n: H oughton- M ifflin. (O riginally pu blish ed 189 8). N elson, R. D . (1 99 7a). F ieldR E G M easure me nts in E gypt: Reson an t Con sc iousn ess at Sacred Sites. Techn ical N ote P E AR 970 02 , Princeton E ngineering A nom alies Research, Pr inceton U niversi ty, S choo l of E ngineering/Ap plied Sc ience. N elson, R. D . (1 99 7b ). M ultiple field REG /RN G recordings du ring a global event. T he electronic Jo urnal fo r A no malous Ph enom ena (eJA P) , http://ww w.psy.uv a.nl/eJA P. N elson, R. D . & A po sto l, A . (19 96 ). A Repeated M easu res F ieldR E G Application: D owsing B iolocation a t D evils Tow er. I nternal Report P E AR 9 6.0 1, Pr inceton E ngineering A nom alies Re se arch, P rinceton U niversity, Sc ho ol of Eng ineering/A pp lied S cience. N elson, R. D . & M ayer, E . L . ( 19 97 ). D epartu res from Expectation in R an do m E vent Sequences: A F ieldR EG A pplication a t The Christm as R evels. I ntern al Report PE A R 97 .01 , P rinceton Eng ineering A nom alies Research, Pr inceton U niversity, Sc ho ol of E ngineering/A pp lied S cience. N elson , R. D ., Br adish , G . J., and D ob yn s, Y. H . (1 99 2). T he P ortable P EA R RE G : H ardw are and S oftwa re D ocumentation. In ternal D ocum ent #92 -1 , P rinceton E ngineering A nom alies Rese arch, P rinceton, N J. N elson , R. D ., Br adish , G . J., D oby ns, Y. H., D un ne, B. J., and Ja hn , R. G . ( 19 96 ). F ieldRE G ano m alies in gro up si tuations. Jou rna l o f Scientific E xplorat ion, 10 , 1, 11 1. N elson , R. D ., Do by ns, Y. H ., D unn e, B. J., and Ja hn , R. G . (1 99 1) . A na lysis o f Va ria nce of R EG E xperiments: O pera tor In tention, S econd ar y P aram eters, Da taba se Struc ture. Technical No te P EA R 9 10 04 , P rinceton E ngineering A n om alies Research, P rinceton U niversity, Sc ho ol of E ngineering/A pp lied Science. Radin, D . I. & Ne lso n, R. D . ( 19 89 ). E v idence fo r con sc iousn ess-related anom alies in r andom phy sical sy stem s. F ou nd ations of P hysics, 19 , 12 , 149 9. Radin, D . I., Rebm an, J. M ., and Cr oss, M . P. (19 96 ). A nom alous organization o f r ando m events by gro up con sciou sne ss: Tw o exploratory experim ents. Journa l of Scientific E xploration , 10 , 1, 14 3. Radin, D . I. (19 97 ). The Con sc ious U niverse. S an Fr ancisco: H arper S an Fr ancisco.
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S heldrake, R. (1 98 1). A New Science of L ife: The H ypothesis of Fo rma tive Causa tion. L os A ngeles : J. P. Tarcher, I nc.
Ap pendix: Con trol Data and Theoretical Com parison Stand ards T he generation of appro priate control data in F ieldR E G experim ents is ne cessarily com plicated by t he variable tem poral and spatial aspects of t he disparate venues. T he only uniform standa rd of com parison for active data is t he norm al approxim ation to the appr opriate t heoretical binom ial distributions. T hus, although specific com parisons agai nst em pirical con trols often can be m ade i n t he course of our analyses, t he sum m ary presentation of results refers in all cases to t he t heoretical standard. T he analytical justification for t his strategy derives from t hree pe rspectives: 1. C alibration data sho w ve ry good correspo ndence w ith t heoretical expectations. 2. R esam pled, non-active data take n in t he sam e con text w ith the experim ental da ta differ little from theoretical exp ectation. 3. C om parisons of active data agai nst t he pa ram eters of t he resam pled, non-active data yield essentially t he sam e results as com parison s w ith t heory.
Calibrations A ll PE A R random event generators incor porate three special m easures to ensure nom inal perform ance. First, only high quality com ponents are deployed in so phisticated hardw are design s. Second, an X O R of t he raw bit-stream with an alternating or balancing tem plate elim inates secular bias of the m ean. T hird, the actual experim ental data are sum s of 200 bits, m itigating all residua l short-lag autocorrelations and ot he r potential tim e-series aberrations. A ll RE G devices are subjected to extensive calibr ation s prior to and during t heir expe rim ental app lication s. F or t he F ieldR E G experim ents, m ost data are taken wit h a third-gene ration m icro- RE G designed for use wit h a palm top com puter. Ty pical calibration results are give n in Table A .1, w hich sum m arizes t he
Table A .1 : Stand ard Calibration A nalysis fo r Typical M icro-R EG Calibration D ata S ou rce T heory Batch 1 Batch 2 Batch 3 Batch 4 N- Trials M ean 10 0.0 00 0 99.9 98 4 99.9 891 10 0.0 04 0 99.9 94 6 S td. De v 7.0 71 1 7.0 72 7 7.0 85 8 7.0 67 9 7.0 72 4 Sk ew K urtosis*
- 0.0 07 9
0.0 07 7 0.0 03 0 - 0.0 00 0
0.0 00 0
* T he expected value for ku rtosis is normalized to zero fo r th e n ormal distribution, and calculated as - 2/N w here N is th e num ber o f binom ial sa m ples.
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distribution pa ram eters for four indepe nd ent calibration datasets, n one of w hich is significantly deviant in any param eter. In addition, t he standard calibration ana lysis includes com parisons agai nst t heoretical predictions for the frequency of counts, statistics for blocks of 10 0 and 10 00 trials, run s betw een consecutiv e high trials, runs betw een consecu tive low trials, t he arcsine distribution for proportion of 50 trial runs above t he m ean, and autocor relation function s for raw data and 50-trial blocks. A ll toget her, the analysis suite com prises 12 separate (t hough not necessarily independent) tests for each batch of calibr ation s. In t he full battery of test scores for the data sum m arized in Table A .1, t here are a total of 48 tests, tw o of w hich are significant at p = 0.05 or less, differing little from w hat w ould be expe cted by chance. T he B onferroni-adjusted p-value for the m ost extrem e outcom e of the 48 different tests also is non-significant. T hus, according to t his broad spectrum of canonical calibration tests, t he rando m event generator perform ance is statistically indisting uishable from t he oretical expe ctations. Resam pling In F ieldR E G applications, it is not alw ays feasible to collect m atch ing control data because m any potentially im portant situa tional factors cann ot be m aintained. U sua lly t he best t hat can be don e is to take data in non- active tim e periods pr ior to or after the active data segm ents. For exam ple, control data for a t heater perform ance can be taken only before or after the pe rform ance, or be tw een its acts, w hen t he prevailing am bience is qu ite different. W hen it is feasible to take data in a given environm ent before and after t he design ated experim ental segm ents, som e of t he surrou nding tim e periods t hem selves m ay be subject to t he sam e i nflue nces as t he active segm ents. (Inde ed, eve n in labor atory experim ents there is evidence t hat traditional control da ta m ay not be im m une to ano m alous effects of consciousne ss.) N evert he less, our standard analysis of F ieldR E G data includes a resam pling procedure w henever t he data file contains as m uch or m ore data in non- active segm ents as i n t hose defined as active for the application. A pseudo random process is used to identify and extract segm ents m atch ing in num ber and size t hose designated as active data from t he surrounding undesign ated data. T his resam pling process is repeated 10 00 tim es, allow ing t he construction of a distribution of outcom es against w hich t he results for the pre-defined, active experim ental segm ents m ay be com pared. To prov ide a specific exam ple, w e sho w the outcom e of t he protocol-based resam pling analysis follow ed by t hat for an arbitrary resam pling of the sam e data, using a dataset from a strong ly deviant portion of the E gy pt database (cf. Table 2a, E gypt A ). Table A .2 show s t he or igin al output from t he analysis program with data take n from the file for O ctober 17, w hich includes abou t 2.5 hours of active data in nine segm ents taken i n t he M ycerinus and K huf u pyram ids, surrounded by several hou rs of non-active data. (We should n ote t hat t he non-active designation is relative to t he spe cified analysis category t he
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p(T) 0.35 48 0.02 16 0.48 57 0.02 11 0.00 36 0.08 76 0.01 54 0.33 46 0.27 38
147 41 - 15 88 1 0.3 77 0 158 81 - 16 66 7 1.9 67 3 414 66 - 41 97 3 0.0 37 7 419 79 - 43 46 4 1.9 41 4 434 64 - 44 47 9 2.6 589 444 83 - 45 23 0 - 1.3 45 3 452 30 - 46 11 2 - 2.1 33 3 466 79 - 4 891 3 - 0.42 79 4891 3 - 52 79 8 - 0.610 3 A ctive data 12 68 1 o f 756 11 ( 0.1 67 7)
Bon ferro ni-adjusted p-v alue of greatest deviation: 0.0 68 37 66 9 df , c (Z) = 21 .7 69 ( 0.00 96 ), c ( T) = 22.6 10( 0.0 07 1) P erform ed 10 00 resam plings fo r gro up (chant). D istribu tion o f Z-sco res: M = - 0.1 55 24 4, SD = 0.9 65 09 7 2 M axim um c is 2 4.5 01 4 A total of 2 out of 10 00 resam ples exceed the test value. 2 Average resam pled c : 8.59 86 9 +/ - 3.5 51 55 o n 9 df Resam pling-C orrected c (Z ): 22.78 5 on 9 df , p= 0.0 06 7
day s recording m ay include active segm ents from other analysis categories. T his increases t he conserva tism of the analysis in proportion to the extent t hat deviant da ta are included by chance in t he com parison distribution .) Table A .3 show s a calibr ation analysis for this sam e database. In t his case, a set of arbitrary offsets w as defined by taking segm ents of 1000 trials spaced at 10 000-trial intervals instead of using t he segm ent definitions of the actual field application. In both cases, t he c 2 , noted as c (Z), is associate d wit h a probability that is sim ilar to t he pro po rtion of the 100 0 resam ples t ha t exceed t he test value. A Resam pling -C orrected c (Z) based on t he param eters of t he distribution of Zscores differs little from the t heoretically based value, and t he average resam 2 pled c does n ot differ from its expectation or degrees of freedom . T hus, in t his exam ple w here a large com posite anom alous deviation is found in t he active data, bot h the original, experim ent-based resam pling and an arbitrary calibr ation resam pling yield results consonant w ith t heoretical expe ctation. Com bining t he calibration and resam pling perspectives, t he sam e sort of calibration resam pling as w as done for Table A .3 w as perform ed on all t he E gypt datasets. T here are ten of these, with am ounts of data varying from about 60000 to 190000 trials. T he resam pling w as based on arbitrary
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Table A.3 A r bitrary Calibration from E gy pt, G iza2 ( Oc t 17) Report of Resam pling A nalysis
F ou nd eld.d at wi th le si ze 756 11 . D ata gro up (arbcal): Range Z p(Z ) 0.2 14 3 0.4 20 3 0.0 74 3 0.2 37 1 0.2 896 0.2 46 9 0.2 19 6 T p(T) 0.21 45 0.42 20 0.08 15 0.23 88 0.29 36 0.24 68 0.22 12
10 00 0 - 110 00 - 0.7 91 6 200 00 - 2100 0 0.2 01 2 300 00 - 3100 0 1.4 44 5 400 00 - 4100 0 - 0.7 15 5 500 00 - 5100 0 - 0.5 54 5 600 00 - 6100 0 - 0.6 84 2 700 00 - 7100 0 - 0.7 73 7 A ctive data 70 00 of 7561 1 (0.09 26 )
Bon ferro ni-adjusted p- value of greatest deviation : 0.6 75 70 5 7 df ,c (Z) = 4.64 0( 0.7 03 8), c (T) = 4.46 9( 0.7 24 4) P erform ed 10 00 resam p lings fo r gro up (arbcal). D istribution of Z -sco res: M = - 0.00 12 783 9, S D = 1.07 61 9 2 M axim um c is 2 8.1 562 A total of 81 5 out o f 100 0 resam ples exceed the test value. Aver age resam pled chisquare: 8.106 15 +/ - 3 .8 80 71 on 7 d f Resam pling-C orrected c (Z): 4.0 07 on 7 df, p= 0.7 79 0
specification of 10 00-trial (15-m inute) segm ents at 1 000 0-trial intervals. O nly 2 one of the 10 datasets sho w ed a significant c , at p = 0.031 (Bonferroni-adjusted p = 0.31), despite t hat t he random placem ent certainly often w ould have in2 cluded by chance parts of t he active data segm ents. T he com posite c for all t hese resam pled da ta from t he E gy pt application is 85.012, with 81 de grees of freedom and an associated probability of 0.359. T hus, again, t he data indicate a w ell-behaved random source w hen arbitrarily sam pled; only w he n t hose da ta segm ents sp ecified by the FieldRE G protoc ol are considered does t he data se quence exhibit anom alous deviations. T hese exam ples dem on strate t he com plex structure of t he FieldRE G da tabases and illustrate the issues associated with adequate controls. T he calibration and resam pling results show n he re clearly indicate t hat com parison of FieldRE G data against theoretical standards is appropriate.