The 2012 Warcollier Prize

2012 Warcollier Research Award granted by IRVA/IRIS

Remote Searching: An Evaluation of Dowsing and Intuition

Robert Price, PhD., James L. King, Jan A. E. Six, PhD.
Institute for Neuroscience and Consciousness Studies (INACS), Austin, TX

ABSTRACT: In this double blind validation study of “remote searching,” 50 subjects were evenly divided by gender, to evaluate several means of describing the unknown location of a known object. Using the ingenious analogue of a “grid box,” a physically square, matrix-like structure subdivided into equal-sized squares, over which was placed a motorized, two-dimensionally moveable object-holder, each test subject was asked to bring a personally meaningful object that could be placed in the object-holder. Using a computer program to generate a random location in the grid box, the motorized object-holder (with an object in place) was then be moved electrically to one of the squares based on the location randomly selected. Whereupon, blind to the grid box, each test subject who brought an individual object was asked to determine the location of his or her personal object in the grid box by using each of the following methods: (i) dowsing by pendulum, as a binary procedure moving square-by-square, (ii) simple intuition, as a binary procedure moving square by-square, and last, (iii) simple intuition, via pointing to that square in which the subject felt (thought?) their object was located. With the data analyzed by the researchers, the statistics of correct “hits” showed that the test subjects overall performed more accurately using simple intuition via pointing than either dowsing or binary “guessing” square-by-square. This study was thus unable to validate remote searching by dowsing.

Presented:
  2015 IRVA Conference, Las Vegas, NV.

Publication:
  Submitted to a peer reviewed journal.