51 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
51 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
"The Use of Personal Computers in Psychical Research"
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by, Charles Honorton
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Honorton initiated his talk by stating the parapsychology deals with
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fundamental issue of reality. The field forges empirical questions
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about important aspects of our nature. One of the more important
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questions, according to Honorton, is whether our mental states and
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intentionality can have a causative effect on our environment. He then
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briefly turned to the benefits of computers in psi research. He
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believes that the use of computers can allow us to bypass criticisms
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that have paralyzed experimental research for some time. Computers can
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document all information from an experiment and can essentially free
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the experimenter(s) from mechanical concerns so that interpersonal
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activities can receive more attention.
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Honorton then laid some foundation for his work in altered states of
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consciousness, the ganzfeld technique and computers. He provided some
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background material in regards to his early work with altered states of
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consciousness at Maimonides Hospital in New York. He briefly described
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the dream telepathy work of Ullman, Krippner, and himself. Nine out of
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13 dream studies were statistically significant. As an outgrowth of
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these studies, Honorton searched for a method that would incorporate
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important aspects of the dream work, without the need for monitoring a
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subject throughout the night. He decided that the use of the ganzfeld
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technique to elicit psi utilized some of these important features, such
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as: hypnosis and meditation, and most importantly, noise reduction (a
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relative absence of perceptual processing).
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Honorton showed a video tape that described his ganzfeld work and the
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use of the Apple computer to automate the experiments. In one
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particular series, in one room a randomly selected section of the video
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tape was displaying a ca rtoon with Bugs Bunny going up in a space ship
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and ascending out the top of the craft. We heard the audio portion of
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the subject who was in another room. The subject was uncanny in his
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description of the cartoon, his imagery closely matched the activity on
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the film in the next room.
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In looking at the future of research with ganzfeld and computers,
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Honorton offered several important points to consider. He doesn't want
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to be concerned with methodology. He would like to see himself and his
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fellow experimenters have such "tight" experiments that they should
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only be concerned with interpersonal activities with the subjects.
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Also, until now work has focused only on receiver optimization. He
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would like to see work on rapport between sender and receiver. He would
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like to develop more meaningful targets for the subjects. In fact, if
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it is possible, he would like to tailor the targets to the individuals.
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Biofeedback should also be utilized in this experimental setting.
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Finally, more psychological and demographic information should be
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collected.
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EOF> |