Operator-Related Anomalies in a Random Mechanical Cascade

Abstract

apparatus have yielded anomalous results correlated with pre-stated inten-tions of human operators. Based upon a common statistical demonstration device, this machine allows 9000 polystyrene balls to drop through a matrix of 330 pegs, scattering them into 19 collecting bins with a population distribution that is approximately Gaussian. As the balls enter the bins, exact counts are accumulated photoelectrically, displayed as feedback for the operator, and recorded on-line. Operators attempt to shift the mean of the developing distributions to the right or left, relative to a concurrently generated baseline distribution. Of the 25 operators who have completed one or more experimental series with this device, four have achieved anom-alous separations of their right and left efforts, and two others have dis-played significant separations of either their right or left efforts from their baselines. The overall mean difference of right versus left efforts concaten-ated across the total data base of 87 series (3393 runs), has a probability against chance of < with 15 % of the individual series significant at p