Within Utts Review
Did Practice Make Remote Viewing Stronger?
Utts highlighted stronger results from experienced viewers as one reason the database looked less random.
On this page
- How novice and experienced results differed
- Why Utts compared experience across studies
- Why skill claims remained hard to verify
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Introduction
One of the more specific arguments in Jessica Utts’ 1995 evaluation of the U.S. government’s remote-viewing research was that experience appeared to matter. Rather than treating all participants as interchangeable, she highlighted evidence that people who had previously performed well in laboratory testing tended to produce stronger statistical results than first-time or inexperienced volunteers. In her view, this pattern made the overall database look less like random guessing and more like a genuine, though variable, human ability.[UC Irvine Bren School]ics.uci.eduUC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n…
This distinction became important because critics often argued that isolated successes could occur by chance. Utts instead focused on whether experienced viewers consistently outperformed novices across multiple experiments and even across different laboratories. She regarded that consistency as one reason the observed effects deserved scientific attention, although critics maintained that apparent expertise could arise from selection effects, methodological bias or ordinary statistical variation rather than a paranormal skill.[UC Irvine Bren School]ics.uci.eduUC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n…
How novice and experienced results differed
Utts devoted attention to comparisons between participant groups rather than relying only on overall averages. In summarising the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) database, she reported noticeably larger effect sizes for experienced remote viewers than for novices. She also noted that a similar pattern appeared in the ganzfeld experiments conducted at the Psychophysical Research Laboratories (PRL), another line of parapsychology research using free-response methods rather than forced-choice guessing.[UC Irvine Bren School]ics.uci.eduUC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n…
The comparison she emphasised was striking because the numbers from two different research programmes were similar:
- Novice remote viewers at SRI produced an overall effect size of approximately 0.164.
- Novices in the PRL ganzfeld studies produced a very similar effect size of about 0.17.
- Experienced remote viewers at SRI produced an effect size of roughly 0.385.
- Experienced participants in the PRL ganzfeld experiments showed an effect size close to 0.35.[UC Irvine Bren School]ics.uci.eduUC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n…
For Utts, this parallel suggested that the apparent advantage of experienced participants was not confined to one laboratory or one experimental protocol. Instead, she argued that comparable differences emerging in independent settings weakened explanations based solely on poor laboratory practice or local experimental artefacts.[UC Irvine Bren School]ics.uci.eduUC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n…
Importantly, these figures describe average statistical performance across many trials rather than dramatic success in every individual session. Even the experienced viewers produced many incomplete, vague or unsuccessful descriptions. Utts’ argument was that repeated small departures from chance accumulated into a measurable effect when analysed statistically.[UC Irvine Bren School]ics.uci.eduUC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n…
Why Utts compared experience across studies
The comparison between novices and experienced viewers served several purposes in Utts’ broader statistical reasoning.
First, it addressed replication. Scientific claims generally become more convincing when similar patterns appear under different investigators and experimental conditions. If experienced participants consistently achieved stronger results in separate research programmes, Utts believed that pattern deserved more weight than isolated positive studies.[UC Irvine Bren School]ics.uci.eduUC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n…
Second, it fitted her interpretation of remote viewing as a variable human performance rather than an all-or-nothing phenomenon. Many recognised human abilities—including memory, perception and motor skills—improve through practice, feedback or repeated testing. Utts therefore regarded better results among experienced viewers as compatible with the hypothesis that remote viewing, if genuine, might also depend on familiarity with the testing procedure rather than appearing equally in every participant.[UC Irvine Bren School]ics.uci.eduUC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n…
Third, the experience comparison influenced how later studies were designed. The SAIC programme often relied on individuals who had already demonstrated relatively strong performance during earlier SRI research instead of recruiting entirely new volunteers for every experiment. Utts noted that several of these previously successful participants continued to perform above chance in later testing, which she viewed as evidence of consistency across time as well as across laboratories.[UC Irvine Bren School]ics.uci.eduUC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n…
Why skill claims remained hard to verify
Although Utts regarded the experience effect as meaningful, it did not settle the question of whether remote viewing reflected a genuine psychic ability.
One difficulty is selection bias. Participants labelled “experienced” were often chosen because they had already produced unusually successful performances. Statistically, selecting people after observing good results creates the possibility that at least part of their apparent superiority reflects regression towards the mean or ordinary variation rather than an enduring ability. Critics argued that any assessment of expertise must separate true improvement from the effects of selecting previous high performers.[CIA]cia.govAN EVALUATION OF REMOTE VIEWING: RESEARCH…A remote viewer is asked to visualize a place, location, or object being viewed by a "bea…
Another challenge concerns independent replication. Ray Hyman accepted that some studies reported statistically significant departures from chance but argued that statistical significance alone could not establish paranormal functioning. In his view, methodological uncertainties, subjective judging and the lack of convincing independent confirmation meant that stronger performance by experienced viewers did not necessarily demonstrate a real psychic skill.[CIA]cia.govAN EVALUATION OF REMOTE VIEWING: RESEARCH…A remote viewer is asked to visualize a place, location, or object being viewed by a "bea…
There was also uncertainty about what “experience” actually represented. The more practised participants differed from novices in several ways simultaneously:
- familiarity with the testing procedure;
- repeated interaction with researchers;
- previous success in earlier experiments;
- greater confidence and motivation;
- possible unconscious adaptation to laboratory expectations.
Because these factors were difficult to disentangle, improved performance could not be attributed confidently to practice alone. Neither supporters nor sceptics could isolate a single explanation that accounted for all observed differences.[UC Irvine Bren School]ics.uci.eduUC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n…
What the experience comparison contributed to the wider debate
Within Utts’ assessment, the comparison between novices and experienced viewers was not presented as proof that remote viewing could be learned in the ordinary sense. Rather, it formed one piece of a cumulative statistical argument. If experienced participants repeatedly showed larger effects, and if similar patterns appeared across different laboratories, Utts believed this strengthened the case that the observed results were not simply random fluctuations.[UC Irvine Bren School]ics.uci.eduUC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n…
Sceptics interpreted the same evidence more cautiously. They argued that apparent expertise could emerge naturally from selective recruitment, repeated testing and unresolved methodological issues without requiring the existence of paranormal information transfer. As a result, the novice-versus-experienced comparison became one of the central points of disagreement between statistical evidence for an effect and claims about what that effect actually represented.[CIA]cia.govAN EVALUATION OF REMOTE VIEWING: RESEARCH…A remote viewer is asked to visualize a place, location, or object being viewed by a "bea…
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Endnotes
1.
Source: ics.uci.edu
Link:https://www.ics.uci.edu/~jutts/air.pdf
Source snippet
UC Irvine Bren SchoolAn Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioningby J Utts · 1995 · Cited by 103 — The overall effect size for n...
2.
Source: cia.gov
Link:https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00791r000200180006-4
Source snippet
AN EVALUATION OF REMOTE VIEWING: RESEARCH...A remote viewer is asked to visualize a place, location, or object being viewed by a "bea...
3.
Source: psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk
Title: spr.ac.uk Jessica Utts
Link:https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/jessica-utts/
Source snippet
Utts - Psi Encyclopedia16 Dec 2019 — In her [Star Gate]({{ 'star-gate/' | relative_url }}) assessment, Utts judged the overall remote-viewing results astronomically unlikely...
4.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Jessica Utts
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Utts
Source snippet
Jessica UttsJessica Utts (born 1952) is a statistics professor at the University of California, Irvine and a parapsychologist. She is...
Additional References
5.
Source: journals.lub.lu.se
Link:https://journals.lub.lu.se/jaex/article/view/27505
Source snippet
Accuracy:: A Survey of Experienced Remote...by DL Katz — Results showed that 89% of participants reported experiencing a sense of corre...
6.
Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333228024_An_Assessment_of_the_Evidence_for_Psychic_Functioning
Source snippet
An Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic FunctioningResearch on psychic functioning, conducted over a two-decade period, is examined to...
7.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrwAiU2g5RU
Source snippet
Remote Viewing and Statistical ValidationJessica Utts, Professor of Statistics at UC Irvine, provides statistical validation and scientif...
8.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmYGtKB9EEA
9.
Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10275521/
Source snippet
Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA...by Á Escolà‐Gascón · 2023 · Cited by 10 — From a thorough review of declassified SRI and SAIC repor...
10.
Source: koestler-parapsychology.psy.ed.ac.uk
Title: KPU 1055 Results
Link:https://www.koestler-parapsychology.psy.ed.ac.uk/Documents/KPU_1055_Results.pdf
Source snippet
ed.ac.uk1 Associations among Experience, Confidence...by J Lyke — Utts (2006) has suggested that it is more difficult for remote viewer...
11.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Inside Operation [Stargate]({{ ‘stargate/’ | relative_url }}): The CIA’s Psychic Spy Experiment
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oasTnsLw_n8
Source snippet
Joe McMoneagle - CIA's Project Stargate | SRS #95...
12.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Controlled Remote Viewing
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWqldsr_zIg
Source snippet
Inside Operation Stargate: The CIA's Psychic Spy Experiment...
13.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit)
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project_%28U.S._Army_unit%29
14.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Joe Mc Moneagle
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRTon6qgVws
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