Engineering Anomalies Research
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Plain English Summary
This is the paper that launched a thousand debates. In 1987, Princeton's PEAR lab asked whether human minds can nudge random electronic devices — psychokinesis, or "mind over matter." They tested three machines: a high-speed electronic coin-flipper, a pseudo-random source (looks random but follows a hidden pattern), and a mechanical cascade (picture a giant Plinko board). Across all three, people who intended the output to shift produced small but real effects, with odds against chance from 5,000-to-1 up to 300,000-to-1. Individual operators even showed consistent personal "signatures" that carried across devices. This foundational study became the bedrock that virtually every later mind-matter experiment built upon or tried to tear apart.
Research Notes
Foundational PEAR lab publication that established the REG paradigm, operator-signature concept, and pseudo-random source test central to the PK literature. Virtually every subsequent REG/PK paper in this library either builds on, meta-analyzes, or critiques this dataset. Speaks directly to Controversy #8 (GCP/RNG) and the Bosch et al. 2006 meta-analysis debate.
Presents the first comprehensive report from the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory, covering three PK experiment types and precognitive remote perception. Using a microelectronic REG (33 operators, >150 million bits), a deterministic pseudo-REG (10 operators, 29 series), and a Random Mechanical Cascade (22 operators, 3,072 runs), the program found small but statistically significant mean shifts in intended directions: REG dPK p < 2 × 10⁻⁴, pseudo-REG dPK p = .003, RMC dPK p = 3 × 10⁻⁶. Remote perception experiments (334 trials, 30 binary descriptors) showed anomalous information acquisition at p ≈ 10⁻¹¹, independent of spatial or temporal separation. Individual operator 'signatures' of achievement transferred across all three PK devices, suggesting effects are not device-specific.
Related Papers
Same Research Program
- The Persistent Paradox of Psychic Phenomena: An Engineering Perspective — Jahn, Robert G (1982)
- Correlations of Random Binary Sequences with Pre-Stated Operator Intention: A Review of a 12-Year Program — Jahn, Robert G (1997)
- Mind/Machine Interaction Consortium: PortREG Replication Experiments — Jahn, Robert G (2000)
- Information and Uncertainty in Remote Perception Research — Dunne, Brenda J (2003)
- On the Quantum Mechanics of Consciousness, with Application to Anomalous Phenomena — Jahn, Robert G (1986)
Extended By
- FieldREG Anomalies in Group Situations — Nelson, Roger D (1996)
- Correlations of Continuous Random Data with Major World Events — Nelson, Roger D (2002)
- Evidence for Consciousness-Related Anomalies in Random Physical Systems — Radin, Dean I (1989)
- Correlations of Random Binary Sequences with Pre-Stated Operator Intention: A Review of a 12-Year Program — Jahn, Robert G (1997)
Companion
Cited By
- Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries: Going Beyond Even Meta-Analysis of Distant Intention Effects — Bengston, William F (2012)
- Reexamining Psychokinesis: Commentary on the Bösch, Steinkamp and Boller Meta-Analysis — Radin, D (2006)
- Assessing the Evidence for Mind-Matter Interaction Effects — Radin, Dean (2006)
- The Global Consciousness Project — Nelson, Roger D (2014)
Also by these authors
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Observer Influence on Quantum Interference: Testing the von Neumann-Wigner Consciousness-Collapse Theory
New Year's Eve as a Case Study in Experimental Metaphysics: Exploring Global Consciousness in Random Physical Systems
Anomalous Entropic Effects in Physical Systems Associated with Collective Consciousness
Psychophysical Interactions with Electrical Plasma: Three Exploratory Experiments
Psychophysical Effects on an Interference Pattern in a Double-Slit Optical System: An Exploratory Analysis of Variance
📋 Cite this paper
Jahn, Robert G, Dunne, Brenda J, Nelson, Roger D (1987). Engineering Anomalies Research. Journal of Scientific Exploration.
@article{jahn_1987_engineering,
title = {Engineering Anomalies Research},
author = {Jahn, Robert G and Dunne, Brenda J and Nelson, Roger D},
year = {1987},
journal = {Journal of Scientific Exploration},
}