Information transmission under conditions of sensory shielding

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Plain English Summary

This is the paper that started it all. Published in Nature — one of science's most prestigious journals — in 1974, it launched the Stanford Research Institute's remote viewing program, which eventually became the classified Stargate project. The experiments tested whether people could perceive distant locations without any normal sensory contact. The standout result came from Pat Price, who described faraway places being visited by another person, with independent judges confirming his accuracy at odds of about 3 in 10,000 against chance. The paper also tested the famous Uri Geller reproducing hidden drawings from inside a shielded room — a controversial inclusion that made this a lightning rod for debate. A third experiment even found brainwave changes linked to a flashing light the subject couldn't physically see.

Actual Paper Abstract

WE present results of experiments suggesting the existence of one or more perceptual modalities through which individuals obtain information about their environment, although this information is not presented to any known sense. The literature and our observations lead us to conclude that such abilities can be studied under laboratory conditions. We have investigated the ability of certain people to describe graphical material or remote scenes shielded against ordinary perception. In addition, we performed pilot studies to determine if electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings might indicate perception of remote happenings even in the absence of correct overt responses. We concentrated on what we consider to be our primary responsibility—to resolve under conditions as unambiguous as possible the basic issue of whether a certain class of paranormal perception phenomena exists. So we conducted our experiments with sufficient control, utilising visual, acoustic and electrical shielding, to ensure that all conventional paths of sensory input were blocked. At all times we took measures to prevent sensory leakage and to prevent deception, whether intentional or unintentional. Our goal is not just to catalogue interesting events, but to uncover patterns of cause-effect relationships that lend themselves to analysis and hypothesis in the forms with which we are familiar in scientific study. The results presented here constitute a first step towards that goal; we have established under known conditions a data base from which departures as a function of physical and psychological variables can be studied in future work.

Research Notes

The foundational remote viewing publication in Nature (Vol. 251, pp. 602–607) that launched the SRI program and eventually the classified Stargate project. Controversial for including Uri Geller experiments alongside the more controlled Price remote viewing trials. Central to the remote viewing debate (Controversy #4 in reading paths).

Researchers at Stanford Research Institute conducted experiments investigating anomalous information transfer under sensory-shielded conditions. Three main experiment series were reported: (1) drawing reproduction by Uri Geller in an electrically shielded room, where two independent judges achieved perfect target-response matching; (2) remote viewing by Pat Price, who described distant geographical targets visited by an outbound experimenter, with blind judge matching yielding P = 3 × 10⁻⁴ across nine trials (24/45 correct matches vs. 5 expected); and (3) EEG experiments showing alpha-blocking in one subject correlated with remote strobe stimulation. The authors concluded that a perceptual channel exists for information transfer about remote locations through an unidentified modality.