Remote Viewing: A Response Bias Interpretation

Abstract

The psychic or paranormal phenomenon termed “remote viewing” was investigated using a signal-detection experimental procedure. “Remote viewing” involves the reported ability of a person (the receiver) physically separated from another person (the sender) to describe the surroundings (the target) of the sender. 90 volunteer college students were used in an experimental condition designed to measure the accuracy of “remote viewing” and 25 students served in a control condition designed to provide a baseline for guessing or response bias. The accuracy of “remote viewing” was objectively measured by having receivers select color photographs of the sender's location and rate the confidence of their selections. The results offered no statistical support for “remote viewing” either in terms of the proportions of correct and incorrect selections or in terms of the confidence ratings attached to correct and incorrect selections. The finding that successful receivers offered reliably more selection responses or guesses than did nonsuccessful receivers provided a basis for possible interpretation of success in demonstrations of “remote viewing.”