Random Event Generator. Whereas J. B. Rhine investigated micro-PK effects using tossed dice, most modern PK laboratory research studies of micro-PK effects use high-tech devices called random number generators (RNGs) - also called random event generators (REG) - a type of electronic coin-flipper that is designed to produce a random sequence of bits (the numbers 1 and 0) derived from some random source such as the rate of decay of some radioactive material (or electronic noise). In a typical experiment a participant is asked to influence the RNG’s output so that more 1’s or more 0’s are produced, depending on instructions, with a measured hit rate greater than 50 percent.
Advantages of automation. The experimental psi research conducted by physicist Helmut Schmidt “comes as close as one can get to a definitive experiment in such controversial areas as parapsychology” (Rao, 2001, p. 10). Schmidt invented a specially built machine that has come to be known as “The Schmidt Machine” that randomly selects stimulus material (called the “targets”) and then automatically records subject’s responses.
This automated system of selecting independent variable targets and recording dependent variable responses controls confounding variables such as recording errors, sensory leakage, subject cheating, and improper analyses of data. Complete automation provides for complete control over the presentation of instructions, permits feedback on a trial-by-trial-basis, assures proper data storage and data analysis, “eliminates the possibility that experimenters may inadvertently contaminate the data set, and allows the experimenter to act as participants in their own studies without fear of introducing recording biases into the data” (Radin, 1997, p. 140).
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In his first psi experiments titled “Precognition of a quantum process” (Schmidt, 1969),
the subject’s task was to select which of the four lamps in the panel would light up and then press the corresponding button to indicate the selection [i.e., a “forced choice” test procedure in which the subject is aware of the possible target alternative – the four lights]. Random lighting of the lamps was achieved by a sophisticated random event generator (REG) with a weak radioactive source, strontium 90. After extensive testing in control trials, it was determined that the output of the REG did not deviate significantly from chance. The results of each of the three experimental series gave highly significant results suggesting ESP on the part of the subjects tested. (Rao, 2001, p. 10)
Helmut Schmidt’s REG experiments have been successfully replicated by a wide number of independent laboratories (Nelson & Radin, 2001), especially by engineer Robert Jahn and associates at Princeton University (Jahn, 1982) and has withstood detailed scrutiny by critics (Rao & Palmer, 1987).
Princeton University psychologist Roger Nelson and Dean Radin conducted a meta-analysis of 832 independent experiments (597 experimental and 235 control studies) conducted using REGs by 68 investigators between 1959-1987 (including both strong and weak replications) to answer the fundamental question of whether an observer’s intention can influence the average statistical output of the random events (Nelson & Radin, 2001). Results showed unequivocal evidence for a replicable statistical effect of REG-PK experiments with odds against chance beyond a trillion to one. Analysis indicated that the quality of REG studies improved over time, hit rates were not correlated with experimental quality, and that 54,000 unpublished, unsuccessful studies would need to have been conducted to cancel the observed REG psi effect – almost 90 times the number of studies that were actually published.
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