The 2015 Warcollier Prize

2015 Warcollier Research Award granted by IRVA/IRIS

The Effect of Background Conditions within Pictorial Target on
Remote Viewer’s Object Recognition

Debra Lynne Katz, Michelle Bulgatz, James Lane, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT: Photographic images of physical objects are common targets in remote viewing projects. This exploratory experiment investigated whether the background which the object is set within may impact the accuracy of remote viewing. Twelve experienced remote viewers participated in 30 individual open-response, triple-blind trials requiring them to utilize extrasensory perception to describe the photographic image they would receive via email a few days later. Investigators created a photographic target pool of complex objects set within one of three background conditions: 1) White/Artificial; 2) Regular/Normal; and 3) Abnormal/Illogical. Participants completed a total of 360 in-depth sessions consisting of 8460 words and 1472 sketches. The project used two methods of analysis, the traditional sum of ranks matching procedure and an exploratory method involving the scoring of each item and sketch by both the participant and an independent judge. These two methods revealed significant but opposite results for the effect of background condition. Scores for the White/Artificial background were higher for the matching evaluation but lower for the item and sketch evaluation. Researchers were also interested in learning whether perceptions and sketches rated as matches by independent judges pertained to the main object, or the background, or a combination. Results indicated that for the background categories, the main object was described far more frequently than the background.

Presented:
2017 International Remote Viewing Association Conference,
2017 University of West Georgia Spark Conference

Publication:
Submitted to peer reviewed journal.