Roger Nelson

Roger's professional degrees are in experimental cognitive psychology, with a special focus on the lesser known aspects of perception. His primary work in design and analysis is supplemented by a background in physics, statistical methods, and multi-media production. Until his retirement in 2002, he served as the coordinator of experimental work in the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) lab, directed by Robert Jahn in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering/Applied Science, Princeton University.

Global Consciousness Project

Roger remains connected with PEAR, but gives most of his time to the Global Consciousness Project (GCP), which he directs. The GCP is an international, multi-laboratory collaboration (independent from the PEAR program) that maintains a network of random event generators (REGs) around the world that send data continuously over the Internet to a server in Princeton, NJ. The hypothesis to be tested is that there may be correlations of anomalous structure in the data with major global events.

Projects at PEAR:

Abstracts of a number of projects pursued during my time at PEAR are linked from the annotated list below. For many of these, the full paper is available via links to PEAR papers on the GCP website.

The funerals of Princess Diana and Mother Teresa were extraordinary global events that held the attention of millions of people. Twelve independent REG datasets were recorded in various places in Europe and the US. Interesting indications of an anomalous effect of this focused global consciousness are described in a web paper that can be accessed via the GCP website. A somewhat related project took advantage of a Global Event to pose the question whether there might be an anomalous effect on nominally random systems correlated with a world wide meditation organized by the Gaiamind Project on Jan 23, 1997. Another web paper is available detailing this and a subsequent, smaller global meditation. These papers can be found on the GCP website using the search facility.

Resonant consciousness in Sacred sites in Egypt was the focus of a major, hypothesis-based application in the FieldREG series of experiments, where portable random event generators (REG) are used to explore the effects of "consciousness information fields" in non-laboratory situations such as meetings, sports, and other group activities to see whether the data distribution may be responsive to the dynamics of group consciousness. A recent summary, FieldREG II details 79 independent applications, including hypothesis-based replications and an array of new explorations.

Weather Springtime outdoor celebrations of Alumni Reunions and Commencement at Princeton University provide a "natural experiment" to see whether the common interest in good weather might produce a positive effect.

Time Based Effect Size Calculations A "natural unit" is sought for comparing effect sizes across a variety of experiments at PEAR. Of several possible normalizations, the amount of time spent in the experimental task provides the most unified scaling of anomalous effects.

A Linear Pendulum Experiment extends the range of devices used in anomalies experiments to include analog systems. In this case the damping rate of a free-swinging pendulum is the target of operator intention.

A Random Mechanical Cascade Experiment

Meta-analysis: 30 years of REG Experiments

Series Position Effects in Anomalies Experiments

Remote Human/Machine Experiments

Roger Nelson
Email: rdnelson@princeton.edu