Source: Psi Explorer
Human beings are quite visually oriented. Vision has become our dominate sense — so dominant, in fact, that visually-oriented expressions have crept into our language. Such phrases as: "do you see what I mean?," "see you later," "is what I’m saying clear?," "let’s take a look at this issue," "viewpoint," "watch out for," "at first sight," and so on betray our obsession with the visual sense. So it is no surprise to find that parapsychologists emphasize visual target materials, visual imagery, and the similarity of ESP to visual sensory processing. Even the general term used to designate a large class of psychic phenomena, "clairvoyance," is visually oriented; it literally means "clear seeing." And, of course, we speak of "visions" and "apparitions."
In spite of this visual emphasis, work has been carried out in which psi is expressed in non-visual ways. Different persons seem to have preferred "channels" for expressing their ESP. One person might visualize her impressions; another may acquire psychic information in the forms of words: Phrases may suddenly pop into her head, or snatches of songs which carry psychic import. Still another person may "feel things," may become psychically aware by means of bodily feelings or sensations. Change of mood or emotion may convey psychic information to another person.
In the laboratory, non-visual materials may be used as targets in ESP tests. Some experiments hsve been conducted in which musical selections served as targets. Researchers at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn conducted a study in which touch was the target event: A part of the body of an agent was randomly selected and was stimulated with a cotton swab soaked in alcohol. A percipient isolated in another room scanned his own body and attempted to become physically aware of which part of the agent’s body was being stimulated. Tastes and smells were used in early research but aren’t used very much any more — perhaps because they are more difficult to control and to turn off and on.
Sometimes, a number of the agent’s senses are stimulated in ESP experiments. A "sensory cocktail" is provided in which the target material is not only viewed, but sound, temperatures, odors, and other "props" are used to bombard the agent’s senses, to involve him as fully and realistically as possible in the target experience. Sometimes moods or emotions are elicited in the agent and the experimenter looks for similar mood or emotional changes in isolate distant percipients. Sometimes physiological activities such as brain wave changes, skin conductance changes or blood volume changes are observed in percipients and are themselves used as indications of the presence of ESP. All of these non-visual methods have yielded good results and perhaps we can look forward to more frequent use of non-visual ESP measures in the future.
