A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances: Historical Perspective and Recent Research
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Plain English Summary
This landmark paper put 'remote viewing' on the scientific map, published in the prestigious Proceedings of the IEEE. Across 51 double-blind experiments at Stanford Research Institute, subjects sat sealed in a room and tried to describe a randomly chosen distant location with no normal way of knowing where it was. Results were stunning: experienced viewer Price hit targets at odds of about 1 in 34,000, and learner Hammid scored at 1 in 550,000. A Faraday cage (a metal box blocking electromagnetic signals) made no difference. In four precognitive trials where the target hadn't even been selected yet, judges matched every description correctly. The researchers concluded remote viewing is a real, learnable ability best suited to shapes, colors, and spatial information.
Actual Paper Abstract
For more than 100 years, scientists have attempted to determine the truth or falsity of claims for the existence of a perceptual channel whereby certain individuals are able to perceive and describe remote data not presented to any known sense. This paper presents an outline of the history of scientific inquiry into such so-called paranormal perception and surveys the current state of the art in parapsychological research in the United States and abroad. The nature of this perceptual channel is examined in a series of experiments carried out in the Electronics and Bioengineering Laboratory of Stanford Research Institute. The perceptual modality most extensively investigated is the ability of both experienced subjects and inexperienced volunteers to view, by innate mental processes, remote geographical or technical targets including buildings, roads, and laboratory apparatus. The accumulated data indicate that the phenomenon is not a sensitive function of distance, and Faraday cage shielding does not in any apparent way degrade the quality and accuracy of perception. On the basis of this research, some areas of physics are suggested from which a description or explanation of the phenomenon could be forthcoming.
Research Notes
The foundational published report of the SRI remote viewing program that became Project Stargate. Published in Proceedings of the IEEE — a prestigious engineering journal — it brought RV research into mainstream scientific discourse and established the double-blind outbound-experimenter protocol adopted by subsequent researchers including May, Utts, and the AIR evaluation.
Fifty-one double-blind remote viewing experiments at Stanford Research Institute tested whether individuals could perceive and describe remote geographical or technical targets. Six subjects (experienced and learners) plus visiting scientists generated tape-recorded descriptions and drawings of randomly selected target locations while closeted with a blind experimenter. Blind rank-order judging yielded highly significant results for experienced subject Price (p = 2.9 x 10⁻⁵) and learner Hammid (p = 1.8 x 10⁻⁶). Faraday cage shielding did not degrade performance. Four precognitive trials, where descriptions were completed before target selection, were matched without error by three independent judges. The authors conclude that remote viewing is a latent, widely distributed perceptual ability predominantly involving non-analytic (shape, form, color) information consistent with right-hemisphere processing.
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- Remote Viewing as Applied to Futures Studies — Lee, James H (2008)
- Information and Uncertainty in Remote Perception Research — Dunne, Brenda J (2003)
- Apparent Association Between Effect Size in Free Response Anomalous Cognition Experiments and Local Sidereal Time — Spottiswoode, S. James P (1997)
- A Preliminary Survey of the Eastern Harbor, Alexandria, Egypt, Including a Comparison of Side Scan Sonar and Remote Viewing — Schwartz, Stephan A (1980)
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📋 Cite this paper
Puthoff, Harold E, Targ, Russell (1976). A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances: Historical Perspective and Recent Research. Proceedings of the IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/PROC.1976.10113
@article{puthoff_1976_perceptual,
title = {A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances: Historical Perspective and Recent Research},
author = {Puthoff, Harold E and Targ, Russell},
year = {1976},
journal = {Proceedings of the IEEE},
doi = {10.1109/PROC.1976.10113},
}