Physical Variables II

The Effect of Ambient Magnetic Field Fluctuations on Performance in a

Free-Response Anomalous Cognition Task: A Pilot Study

S. James P. Spottiswoode (Science Applications International Corporation)

Retrospective analyses of putative spontaneous psi, or anomalous cognition (AC), events have shown
the tendency for these to be reported en days of relatively low geomagnetic disturbances (For example,
Schaut & Persinger, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1985, 412-414). Studies of past laboratory
experiments have also produced evidence that scores in successful AC experiments are negatively
correlated to geomagnetic field (GMF) indices, While these results are suggestive of an association
between AC and low GMF activity, it is not known whether the spontaneous case material constitutes
real evidence for AC. There are also disputes over what features, if any, of the local magnetic
environment are described by the geomagnetic indices used in these studies. A further problem in
interpreting these results comes from the range of effects measurable at the earth's surface that are
correlated to the GMF indices. Electromagnetic no¡ se over six decades of frequency as well as cosmic
ray flux covary with the GMF indices. Thus many physical models for the AC correlations are possible.
To investigate the relationship between the global 3-hour index ap, which has been extensively used in
AC studies, and local field changes at a particular site, measurements every 10 minutes of the GMF
strength at a location in California were compared with the ap index values. For each 3-hour interval for
which the ap value was defined, the range of the locally measured field strength was calculated. These
local range values were compared to the ap value for the same 3-hour period (rs,[7201 = 0.52, r = 0.78).
Thus ap provides a useful measure of local fluctuations at a typical mid-latitude site. The ap index is
primarily sensitive to GMF field changes larger than 2nT and of a frequency lower than 100 mHz,
although GMF variations at higher frequencies and correspondingly lower amplitudes, also are
correlated with ap (Fraser-Smith & Buxton, Journal of Geophysical Research, 1975, 3141-3147).

Method
In designing a prospective experimental test of the putative AC-GMF correlations, a region of the
electromagnetic spectrum must be chosen for testing. In the absence of a compelling argument as to
which part of the electromagnetic spectrum might be responsible for AC correlations, an experiment
was designed to test the impact on AC performance of the large amplitude low frequency field changes
to which the index ap is most sensitive. The apparatus chosen allowed a subject to be immersed in
field conditions which approximated the GMF field in both quiet periods, when changes were less than
2nT over a 20-minute period, and during magnetically noisy conditions with changes of the order of
over ± 440 nT occurring. This was achieved by means of a Helmholtz coil and a computer-controlled
current source, which supplied the appropriate current to produce the various field conditions. Ambient
field changes at the experimental site were measured with a proton precession magnetometer and the
computer calculated the current required for field stabilization or simulated noise. To minimize field
changes due to the subject's motion through ambient field gradients, as would occur inside man-made
structures, the apparatus was located away from houses in a canyon, Subjects were housed in a
weatherproof tent for comfort. Measurements confirmed that field changes experienced by subjects in
the stabilized condition were less than ± 1.5nT.
The experiment was conceived as an exploratory pilot study and therefore ¡t was thought desirable to
investigate AC performance over a range of magnetic field conditions. Tests were conducted in the
stabilized field condition and in three types of magnetically noisy conditions. It was hypothesized that
at least some of the noisy conditions would result in lower AC performance than in the stabilized
condition. Six subjects were tested in a free-response design in which the targets were drawn from a set
of 160 color photographs of a wide range of objects. The bulk of the sessions were contributed by three

1
subjects, two of whom had previous experience as free-response AC subjects. Data were collected by
the subjects who were alone during the viewing sessions, which lasted approximately 10 minutes, after
which they were immediately shown the actual target. Subjects were encouraged to produce and record
both imagery and verbal information. The data for each trial were subsequently ranked against four
decoy targets by an independent judge. Of the 68 trials, half were conducted under three kinds of
computer-generated magnetic noise of peak intensity of ± 400 nT away from the ambient background
field of 4900 nT. The remaining trials were conducted in field-stabilized conditions in which the
ambient field strength at the subject was controlled at ± 1.5 nT. Noisy and stabilized trials were
conducted in randomly ordered pairs. The following three noise regimes were used: (1) a slowly
varying random walk field with maximum deviation of ± 300 nT and a maximum rate of change of ± 8
nT/sec; (2) a sawtooth waveform field of ± 300 nT amplitude and 3.3 mHz frequency-, and (3) a filtered
white noise field of maximum amplitude ± 4OOnT, upper frequency cut-off of 10 Hz and –3 db/octave
roll off below 0.5Hz.

Results
Over all the trials a moderate AC effect was observed (z[68] = 0.43, h 0.05). The hypothesized
reduction of AC perfonnance in the noisy conditions was not observed (z[34 = 1.15, h = 0.20 for all
the noise conditions combined versus z[34 = -0.55, h = -0.09 for all stabilized field trials). Noise type
1 resulted in z(7) = 1.74, h = 0.66 and z(7) = -0.13, h = -0.05 for the stabilized controls. Noise type
2 produced z(11) =0.53, h = 0.16 versus z(11) = - 1. 17, h = -0.35 for the control trials. Finally, noise
type 3 resulted in z(1 6) = -0.09, h = -0.02, and z(1 6) = -0.009, h = -0.02 for its controls. Therefore
AC performance was actually better in two of the three noise conditions than in the corresponding
control trials with stabilized subject field.
Given the exploratory design of this study and the corresponding small numbers of trials, ¡t would be
unwise to deduce too much from the result. Leaving aside the possibility that the hypothesized result of
the pilot study would have been observed in a larger study, there remain the possibilities that the
magnetic conditions imposed on the subjects either had no effect on their AC performance, or that the
noisy condition used enhanced their AC. The first alternative might be due to the non-existence of the
AC-GMF correlation or to its being mediated by a region of the electromagnetic noise spectrum not
manipulated in this experiment. The second alternative may be explained in several ways. It might be
that some additional magnetic noise was present in the shielded condition, perhaps in a different region
of the spectrum. Another possibility is that AC performance is really enhanced by the noise conditions
imposed in types 1 and 2.- Neither of these noise conditions exactly reproduces the GMF field changes
that occur naturally. It is not possible to determine from this experiment which of these explanations, if
any, is responsible for the observed AC performance differences. *

*
Address correspondence to S. James P. Spottiswoode, Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, 330 Cowper Street, Suite 200, Palo Alto, California,
94301, USA