Vision Outside the Eyes

Ravil Lutfulovich Iskhakov

Original Russian cover

The work was performed under the auspices of:

The Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, the International Academy of Informatization,

the International Academy “Information, Communication, Control in Engineering, Nature, and Society” (MAISU),

the International Academy of Energy-Informatics Sciences (MAEN), the International Academy of Human Development, the Tatarstan Branch of MAEN, the Kazan Section of MAISU

Reviewers:

Doctor of Medical Sciences N.U. Akhmerov, Candidate of Psychological Sciences R.R. Garifullin

R.L. Iskhakov

VISION OUTSIDE THE EYES.- Kazan: LLC “Publishing House Exclusive”

324 pages

otkati1@mail.ru tel 202493, 612215

Although the discovery and study of the phenomenon of vision outside the eyes first occurred in Russia at the end of the 19th century, and after that each time psychologists, psychiatrists, neurophysiologists, and biophysicists unsuccessfully tried to explain this psychophysical phenomenon, nevertheless, this developed amazing ability helps a person in practice. The book is for psychologists, physicians, biologists, philosophers, historians of science, and a wide circle of readers.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE 7

Chapter 1 8

THE PHENOMENON OF THE VISION OF SOFIA M-VA 8

1.1 DOCTOR A.N. KHOVRIN ABOUT HIS PATIENT - THE SUBJECT 8

DETECTION OF AN ENHANCED DISCRIMINATORY ABILITY IN SOFIA M-VA 10

THE ABILITY TO READ CLOSED LETTERS 11

THE FIRST EXPERIMENT 12

THE SECOND EXPERIMENT 14

THE FIRST COMMISSION FOR THE STUDY OF THE ABILITY OF M-VA 22

THE ABILITY OF M-VA TO DISTINGUISH OBJECTS INDISTINGUISHABLE TO THE EYE 32

RECOGNITION OF COLOR BY MEANS OF TOUCH 37

ON THE STABILITY OF THE MANIFESTATION OF THE ABILITY OF M-VA 44

SEES THROUGH THE GROUND 51

CHAPTER AND THE PHENOMENON OF THE “SKIN” VISION OF ROSA KULESHOVA 52

THE PHENOMENON OF SKIN-OPTICAL SENSITIVITY 52

FROM THE HISTORY OF THE ISSUE 52

THE INITIAL STAGE OF THE STUDY OF ROSA KULESHOVA’S ABILITIES 57

THE SECOND STAGE OF RESEARCH. THE STUDY OF THE DISTANT AND PENETRATING SENSITIVITY OF ROSA KULESHOVA 67

THE FEATURES OF SKIN-OPTICAL SENSITIVITY AND ITS DIFFERENCE FROM VISION 72

THE EVOLUTION OF SKIN-OPTICAL SENSITIVITY IN ROSA KULESHOVA 76

AN ATTEMPT AT A PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION OF THE PHENOMENON OF ROSA KULESHOVA 79

ON “SKIN VISION” IN HUMANS 82

EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS ABOUT AN UNUSUAL TACTILE SENSITIVITY 82

EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS OF AN UNUSUAL TEMPERATURE SENSITIVITY 86

A STUDY OF THE UNUSUAL LIGHT SENSITIVITY OF THE SKIN 88

DISCUSSION OF THE MAIN RESULTS OF THE TESTS 91

HOW TO DISTINGUISH COLOR WITH FINGERS 92

“SKIN VISION” CAN BE DEVELOPED IN EVERYONE 93

THE STUDY OF COLOR DISCRIMINATION BY THE FORCE OF RESISTANCE 94

TEACHING THE BLIND TO “SEE” WITH THEIR FINGERS 97

VERIFICATION OF THE THERMAL AND PHOTORECEPTOR HYPOTHESES OF “SKIN VISION” 99

SKIN-OPTICAL SENSE AS A NEW PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM 102

4.1. RESULTS OF THE TRAINING EXPERIMENT 104

FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF FORMING THE SKIN-OPTICAL SENSE IN UNSIGHTED PEOPLE 106

THREE WAYS OF DETERMINING COLOR DURING SKIN-OPTICAL SENSATION 108

THE DEPENDENCE OF THE QUALITY OF COLOR RECOGNITION ON ITS AREA 111

5 3. THE PHENOMENON OF COLOR TONE TRANSFER 113

5 4. THE PENETRATING PROPERTY OF THE SKIN-OPTICAL SENSE 115

THE LAWS OF SKIN-OPTICAL MIXING OF COLOR SIGNS 117

DISTANT PERCEPTION OF TEXT WITH THE PALM 119

THE INFLUENCE OF A BREAK IN CLASSES ON THE FORMATION OF THE SKIN-OPTICAL SENSE 122

PEEKING AND MENTAL SUGGESTION ARE EXCLUDED 123

THE SKIN-OPTICAL SENSE IS DEVELOPED BY EXPLORATORY-COGNITIVE ACTIVITY 124

5.10. CONCLUSIONS 125

ON THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE SKIN-OPTICAL SENSE 130

CONDITIONS OF THE EXPERIMENT AND MEASUREMENTS 132

THE RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF A. AVDEEV 135

THE EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF ROSA KULESHOVA 136

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE WORKS ON THE SKIN-OPTICAL SENSE UP TO 1965 139

THE STATE OF THE PROBLEM OF SKIN-OPTICAL SENSITIVITY 141

THE GENERAL PROPERTIES OF SKIN-OPTICAL SENSITIVITY 143

THE HYPOTHESES OF SKIN-OPTICAL SENSITIVITY 147

WHAT DOES THE SKIN-OPTICAL SENSE REFLECT? 155

ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ELECTROMAGNETIC SENSE 159

SLANDER AGAINST THE ABILITIES OF ROSA KULESHOVA 162

STUDIES OF THE SKIN-OPTICAL PERCEPTION OF COLOR AND IMAGES IN THE BLIND ARE CONTINUING 174

DEBATES ABOUT SKIN VISION ARE CONTINUING 178

ABOUT SCHOOLCHILDREN WHO … READ WITH THEIR EARS 181

WHY IS TRAINING IN ALTERNATIVE VISION NOT USED IN BLIND REHABILITATION PROGRAMS? 182

ABROAD, PEOPLE ALSO SEE … WITH THEIR SKIN 192

Chapter III The Personal Biocomputer — An Innate Organ of the Human 197

CLAIRVOYANTS FROM “KORTAS” 197
MEETINGS OF VYACHESLAV BRONNIKOV IN KAZAN 212
LIVE X-RAY 216

“SIMPLY CLAIRVOYANT… ” 217
IT TURNED OUT THAT A SINGLE CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO PEERS SUFFICED … 220
“LIKE A LIVE X-RAY — SEES RIGHT THROUGH” 222
“ALL ILLNESSES COME FROM NERVES” 223
I SEE HOW THE HEART BEATS 225
“VIRUS” VERSUS THE BIOCOMPUTER 233
TURN ON YOUR BIOCOMPUTER 235
GAMES WITH BLINDFOLDS AT THE SABANTUY AMONG THE TATARS 241
FORMATION OF VISION WITHOUT EYES ACCORDING TO BRONNIKOV’S METHOD — CONSISTENTLY AND REFINED 244
I KNEW THAT I WOULD SEE 249

PHYSICISTS WISH TO UNRAVEL THE PHENOMENON OF VISION OUTSIDE THE EYES 252

FOR VISION, EYES ARE NOT MANDATORY 252
MAGIC IN A CLOSED LOOP 254
EVERYTHING HIDDEN BEHIND THE WALL, I SEE 256
THE WORK IS DONE. THE MYSTERY REMAINS 258

THE HUMAN BRAIN — SUPERPOWERS AND PROHIBITIONS 260

Chapter IV The Kazan Experience of Studying the Ability of Vision Outside

THE EYES 280

WHAT DID BULAT AND MISHA LEARN? 282

Daily routine: 282

Study materials: 283

General safety procedures and basic rules for performing exercises

283

Exercise

Positive psychological attitude 284

Exercise 2. Development of bioenergetic sensations 285

“Ball” 285

“Rubber band” 286

“Spring” 286

“Accordion” 286

“Ray” 287

Exercise 3. “Heaviness” 287

Exercise 4. “Lightness” 288

Exercise 5. “Heaviness — Lightness” 289

Exercise 6. Moving the “Energy ball” 289

Exercise 7. “Energy surge” 291

Exercise 8. “Energy hands” 292

Exercise 9. “Energy cocoon” 293

Exercise 10. “Sensing phantom” 294

Exercise 11. “Breathing with the biofield” 295

Exercise 12. “Bioenergetic contact” 295

Exercise 13. Controlling the “Vision outside the eyes screen” 296

Exercise 14. “Coloring the screen” 297

Exercise 15. “Table with numbers” 298

Exercise 16. “Table with colored cells” 299

Exercise 17. “Table with colored pictures” 300

Exercise 18. “Spatial imagination” 301

Exercise 19. “Route (or pathway) memory” 301

Exercise 20. “Seeing color with the hand” 303

Exercise 21. “Seeing simple signs with the hand” 304

Exercise 22. “Seeing written characters with the hand” 304

Exercise 23. “Seeing with any part of the body” 305

Exercise 24. “Seeing one’s internal organs” 306

Exercise 25. “Seeing by means of any object” 307

Exercise 26. “Changing the size and position of the image on the screen”

308

Exercise 27. “Drawing colored letters and words” 308

Exercise 28. “Text rotations” 309

Exercise 29. “Seeing with the brain in depth” 310

Exercise 30. “Moving with a blindfold” 311

Exercise 31. “Distant penetrating vision” 311

Exercise 32. “Seeing and drawing in the dark” 312

Exercise 33. “Seeing through a wall” 313

Exercise 34. “Seeing all around oneself” 314

DIFFICULTIES IN DEVELOPING VISION OUTSIDE THE EYES 316

PHENOMENOLOGY OF VISION OUTSIDE THE EYES 317

IN PLACE OF A CONCLUSION 322

BIBLIOGRAPHY 324

Preface

This book came about as the result of many years of studying the problem of vision outside the eyes. This was facilitated by collaboration with V.M. Bronnikov, B.N. Sagitov, Ya.I. Koltunov, and many other remarkable enthusiast researchers. Even in childhood, I paid attention to the surprising ability of blind people to orient themselves in their surroundings and even play chess by touch. I never thought that I would deal with the problem of vision outside the eyes, however, the mysterious abilities of a person have always attracted me; probably, I was always drawn to questions of developing the reserve capabilities of a person.

The book represents a kind of answer to skeptics who do not want or cannot accept the obvious facts of vision without eyes, but this book is also needed by those who want to seriously study this complex psychophysical phenomenon. First of all, I set myself the task of collecting reliable material about vision outside the eyes; there turned out to be quite a lot of it. Now the reader will be able to independently trace the history of the development of the problem of vision outside the eyes in Russia. A vast stratum of unstudied psychological phenomena has opened up before scientists.

I want to express my appreciation and heartfelt gratitude to all friends and acquaintances who, to one degree or another, facilitated the preparation and publication of this important book.

Chapter I

THE DISCOVERY IN HUMANS OF THE ABILITY TOSEE WITHOUT EYES

1. The Phenomenon of Vision of Sofya M-va

1.1 Doctor A.N. Khovrin about his patient - test subject

Doctor A.N. Khovrin of the psychiatric hospital of the city of Tambov described in detail, during the period from 1892 - 1894, his observations of patient Sofya M-va, who manifested the ability to see without eyes. The patient M-va, who will be discussed below, is a 32-year-old woman, the daughter of a nobleman, a teacher by profession. Here is the information from her medical history.

She was born a sickly child and from early childhood was distinguished by extreme impressionability. Already from the age of 6 -7 years, she exhibited an instability of mental mood: she was either cheerful for no reason, or suddenly became pensive, was often capricious and irritable, displayed an eccentricity of character, etc. These abnormalities appeared somehow suddenly, in attacks, and by no means corresponded to her naturally kind and gentle character. It was clear to the mother that her daughter had some strange fits of caprice and unmotivated actions, and therefore she looked indulgently upon such impulses of her daughter. They also looked indulgently afterwards at the girl’s strangeness in the institute, where she received her education. Despite her constant sickliness, M-va’s physical development, however, was not delayed. After suffering from typhus, nervousness increased

to the degree of hysteria: palpitations, general weakness, headaches and neuralgic pains in various parts of the body became a common occurrence. In the spring, nervousness increased, anemia grew, bronchitis appeared, she lost weight. Winter and autumn, on the contrary, had a beneficial effect on the girl. Despite her sickliness, M-va studied well, ranking among the top pupils in her progress; in general, learning came easily to her; she assimilated well everything that was said in the lectures. This was facilitated by one feature of her memory: she did not need to exert great effort to memorize her lessons, the pages of the book with its lines presented themselves to her so clearly during her recitations that she, as it were, saw them in front of her. On the contrary, subjects requiring abstract thinking came to her with great difficulty and exhausted her. The noted type of visual memory did not disappear with age in her.

In the 26th year of her life (1887), the illness suddenly took on a formidable character, developing into a severe form of hysterical epilepsy. It is necessary to note her heredity: the mother suffered from chronic hysterical psychosis, the father was an alcoholic.

Jumping ahead, we note that in a healthier state M-va was able to distinguish colors very well by touch, with the exception of blue and green, which she constantly confused, whereas she distinguished red from green and purple without difficulty. But with the intensification of the hysterical state, achromatopsia developed in relation to all colors, then she knew only two colors: light and dark. A common occurrence for the patient was the appearance in the field of vision of various light and colored circles, sparks before the eyes, etc.

With the help of suggestions, it was possible to induce in M-va defects or an exacerbation of memory, positive and negative hallucinations,

alter the functions of the higher sense organs, etc. But with all that, the ability to analyze the sensations arising within her and in general the capacity for self-observation during the development of the suggested ideas remained in her, by which her suggestibility differed from the suggestibility of hypnotic subjects.

1.2. Detection of an enhanced discriminatory ability in Sofya M-va

Having M-va under constant observation, the physician involuntarily found himself a witness to her rather strange but true premonitions. Having drawn attention to these facts, the physician decided to investigate: whether at the basis of these facts lay a simple deception characteristic of hysterical individuals, or something truthful. He deemed it necessary not to content himself with a mere a priori denial of the ability detected in M-va, but to trace the essence of the matter itself. For this, it is true, much labor and time had to be spent, but after all, all this, at the very least, paid off through the acquisition of skill and experience in recognizing the real and imaginary psychoneural manifestations of hysterical people. Another consideration that compelled the physician to pay attention to these facts is the following: it is undoubtedly known that hysterical individuals can indeed possess the ability to grasp such insignificant mental affective states of other persons which escape the observations of a healthy person; hence their remarks and views regarding the actions of some individuals are sometimes distinguished by extreme astuteness and truthfulness, which causes inexperienced, gullible, especially superstitious people to see in such sick individuals special personalities, endowed with the gift of divination, foresight, etc.

1.3. The ability to read closed letters

For the first time, the physician encountered such a tangled fact that involuntarily made him ponder. The matter is as follows: on the day of the observed fact, the patient was in a satisfactory condition, i.e., she was free from her constant neuralgias, her unpleasant state of mind, her usual regular hysterical fits, just as she was free from all her gloomy thoughts and forebodings; in a word, she felt well. After dinner, a letter was brought to her from the post office from one of her sisters. During the conversation, she twirled the letter in her hands for some time, intending to open and read it after the physician left. Until then calm, she suddenly became sullen, began to cry, and declared that the letter communicated bad news: her sister’s small child had died, and the sister was ill. Indeed, in the letter, the sister informed her of the child’s death and of her own illness. Of course, this fact of premonition could have been a completely random coincidence, but a coincidence that was strange in any case. To the physician’s question about why she had guessed the contents of the letter, the patient reported that upon receiving letters this happened to her very often, and in advance, without opening the envelope, she repeatedly foreknew their contents and was convinced that such a premonition must exist in many, especially when a misfortune happens to one of their loved ones. Of course, a doubt involuntarily arose as to the reality of such a sudden premonition: she could, for example, have known in advance that her sister’s child was already ill from some rumors, but, apparently, the patient’s sincere assurance that she could not even suspect anything of the kind, and then the assurances of everyone around her that no one had visited her during all that time, and that she

herself had not left the hospital anywhere, made this fact quite strange. This circumstance served as the starting point for the physician to set up experiments and observations, descriptions of which are provided below.

1.4 First Experiment

After the incident with her sister M-va’s letter, it remained to verify this fact and thereby find out: could there actually be anything truthful and worthy of attention in it. It seemed that if M-va could guess the contents of her relatives’ letters without opening the envelope, then why could she not discover something similar regarding the sealed letters of other persons? Khovrin conducted the first experiment in this direction on March 21, 1892, at 8 o’clock in the evening: he took half a sheet of postal paper, wrote a phrase on it, and having folded it in four, carefully sealed it in an ordinary postal envelope and suggested to M-va whether she would try to read the phrase written in the note. After long refusals, she, however, yielded to the doctor’s persistent demands with a conviction and a sincere statement that nothing would come of it anyway. Having the letter already in her hands, she continued to talk about extraneous things; she had to be reminded of the experiment and asked to focus, at least a little, her attention on the letter. Then she began to peer intently at the envelope, crumpling it in her hands between her fingers, as if receiving some unclear tactile sensations, which she tried to identify. After two or three minutes of concentrated probing, she stated that it seemed to her that the note contained the words: “Sofya Alexandrovna” and something else, but she felt so tired that she was unable, finally, to focus her attention any further

and refuses to participate in the experiment at the present moment. Since the words that seemed to her were indeed written in the note, this involuntarily interested the doctor, and therefore, upon leaving, he gave her a suggestion that she should try to find out what was written in the note, and tomorrow report the results of the experiment. The next morning, i.e., March 22, she sent him the envelope with the following note written on its reverse side: “Sofya Alexandrovna, you must be healthy.” This exact phrase was written in the note. The doctor carefully examined the envelope; even under a magnifying glass, he noticed no traces of opening. Looking through the envelope against the light, it was also impossible to make out a single word. That same day, upon meeting, M-va reported that in the evening, after his departure, she could not for a long time rid herself of the thought that she must read the text of the note. She directly developed a strong need to take the letter and find out what was written in it. Fortunately, there was undisturbed silence around her, and nothing prevented her from concentrating. It seemed to her that some small irregularities were felt, like letters, but she could not determine which ones, and then she as if saw all the words, which she attributed to the play of her imagination; however, she decided to write on the envelope the phrase that seemed to her. She had never done anything like this before; she herself was now interested to check whether this guessing was a random coincidence of a randomly occurring thought with reality. But at the same time, she stated that focusing her attention, as she did during the experiment, was very difficult for her, as a result of which today she feels a headache and general weakness.

This successful trial experiment involuntarily made one ponder it. The experienced doctor wanted to figure it out and clearly determine: either M-va possesses an extraordinary ability, or deception is hidden here. Taking up the verification of a controversial fact,

rejected by science, he had to be especially careful. One cannot stop at an unfounded assumption, since deception is not excluded. It was decided to give M-va tasks in well-controlled envelopes, to conduct a thorough expert examination after the guessing of the text.

1.5. The Second Experiment

The second experiment, under the strict control of a sealed envelope, again yielded a positive result. A text was written on a sheet of ordinary writing paper. The paper was folded in four in such a way that the text of the note placed in the envelope was separated from the surface by five layers of paper, so that it was impossible to see any marks against the light. The envelope was carefully sealed, and across the seals a multitude of marks were made with black ink in thick and thin strokes. It is impossible to unseal such an envelope by steaming or soaking without leaving visible traces.

It was suggested to M-va to read the text of the letter in a place convenient for her. A couple of hours later, she came to the doctor with a request to release her from the experiment, since her attempts to find out the contents were unsuccessful. After examining the letter, it was suggested to M-va to make an attempt to read the text of the letter in the presence of the doctor.

Although reluctantly, M-va began to guess. She began to convulsively shift the envelope in her hands between her fingers, sometimes crushing it heavily, so that she had to be stopped for fear that she would tear the letter. Her face took on a serious, concentrated expression; at times, shaking movements of her shoulders and deep sighs were noticeable; apparently, she was entirely absorbed in trying to catch the sensations received by her fingers.

Every word she guessed was pronounced aloud; the experiment lasted for more than an hour. She wrote the following phrase: “feldsher M-v poisoned himself with morphine out of love for his cousin.” This phrase indeed matched the text of the note located in the envelope. Thus, the doctor now had two successful trial experiments.

However, both experiments did not exclude tricks for unsealing. Magicians read letters on stage using tricks, but they refused the offer to unseal the envelope unnoticed. The experimenter’s reflections led to the testimony of M-va’s genuine ability, to the conviction that at its basis lies nothing other than an increased discriminatory capacity of the higher sense organs, i.e., the ability to unconsciously grasp such subtle external impressions that are inaccessible to perception by the sense organs of a healthy person, and that this unconsciously perceived information then appears in her consciousness in the form of fantastic images exactly matching the objects causing the real perception.

Of course, the doctor, faced with a mysterious psychic phenomenon, could not explain how the process of perception and the formation of corresponding images occurred in M-va. Constituting an internal, subjective phenomenon, this process was not accessible to direct observation by the experimenter; it could neither be seen nor touched like an objective fact; consequently, it was a process accessible only to M-va’s self-observation, and one could judge it only by her testimony about the personal sensations she experienced during the process of guessing.

At the doctor’s request, M-va described her sensations in detail in a letter. “In accordance with your wish, I will try to convey, as best I can, everything that happens to me when I am busy guessing letters. When I receive a letter with the suggestion to read it unopened, an irresistible desire to contradict first develops in me; I myself do not know why I feel unwell at this time, somewhat annoyed, then this smooths out and is replaced by the opposite state: a desire to read the letter at all costs. Sometimes I remain with this desire alone for a long time or even completely forget about the letter for a while, but this does not last long: the desire to fulfill the task resumes with renewed vigor and reaches the point where I cannot think of anything but the letter. At this time, I terribly wish to have the letter with me; without it, I can do nothing: it must always be with me. When this terrible desire develops, then I feel the need to plunge into the letter, to withdraw into it. I terribly want to be alone, so that there is no sound, no light; at this time I cannot endure the presence of strangers: they interfere with my concentration, every movement of theirs, even their breathing—everything interferes with me, irritates me. The presence of people I am accustomed to interferes with me less. I want everyone to help me withdraw into myself. During such a state, a desire arises to squeeze the letter as tightly as possible in my hands, or, rather, to have it as close to me as possible, therefore I often crumple the letter and even feel a desire to tear it. During such intense strain, I am already poorly aware of what is happening around me, and I absolutely cannot restrain myself, as if I am withdrawing into myself. I cannot express to you well what is happening to me, only something small remains in my head, a half-sleep perhaps; truly,

I cannot tell you. At this time I experience very brief moments when I see individual words as clearly as if they were written before me; sometimes these moments are more prolonged, and then I manage to grasp entire phrases, I see the size of the letters, the handwriting, and other details. Sometimes fantastic pictures begin to seem to appear to me — first unclear, fragmentary, then they take shape with such clarity that they seem real. As soon as a word or some picture has become clearly defined, my state of tension immediately weakens, I come to my senses and feel fatigue and a need for rest. In my forehead I feel a sharp pain, as if my entire forehead and crown were squeezed in a vise. The need for such deepening, as you know, develops in a single session from 2 to 5 times, sometimes it is limited to just one attack. The most tormenting state for me occurs when I am already ready to fall into my deepening, but for some reason it seems to suddenly break off. If the session is limited to such incomplete concentration, then I feel very unwell afterwards: I become capricious, irritable, and the matter often ends in a fit; I am terribly afraid of such a state, at the thought of it I am seized with horror. The most difficult thing for me in the entire process of divining is grasping the shape of words, while the remaining details of the letter: the handwriting, the color of the ink, the paper come to me more easily. In the presence of others I can rarely concentrate the way I can alone. You demand that I allow myself to demonstrate before others, but what am I to do if I cannot deepen into the letter in the presence of others, my concentration seems to break off at the very moment when I am ready to fall into oblivion. The thought that I am being watched, that people look at me with prejudice, as at a conjurer, does not leave me and constantly distracts me. However, whether anyone believes me

or not, it is all the same to me; I know that I have no need whatsoever for this ability.”

Imagine the state of a researcher who knows that men of science have written off the study of such abilities. All physicians were raised in such prejudice. Khovrin was such a skeptic himself, until he personally encountered the highly unusual fact of the reading of sealed letters. For the skeptic, it was important that other competent persons also certify the reality of the observed phenomenon. Many experiments were conducted with the participation primarily of physicians, who, even under rigorous expert examination, could detect no traces of the letters having been unsealed, and thus became convinced of the existence in M-ova of an ability for clairvoyance.

Let us present a description of the expert examination of three letters. Two such examinations were published in the journal “Questions of Philosophy” (in the protocols section of the Petersburg Society of Experimental Medicine) for the years 1892 and 1893. Curious are the preparation of the letter and the control of the envelope, described in the society’s protocols of November 3, 1893.

After thorough discussion of the question of how the experiment should be conducted and the written content concealed from the clairvoyant M-ova, the assembly unanimously settled on the following method, partly carried out within the assembly itself. All 9 members of the assembly each wrote a brief phrase of 2–3 lines on a sheet of postal paper, so that this phrase remained unknown to all members, except, of course, the one who had written it. Then each wrapped it in another clean sheet, folded it in half, and placed it in a small standard envelope. All the envelopes were placed in a hat, from which Vice-President Fischer drew one envelope at random, while all the rest were burned. The paper en-

velope with the unknown text was placed inside a linen envelope of slightly larger size. The inner envelope was glued to the outer one and fastened with four buttons. In the middle of the controlled package, the seal of the society was affixed.

To Tambov the carefully prepared dispatch was delivered in a wooden box tied with thin twine, the ends of which were sealed with a postal seal to the box itself. The physician received the package on November 9, 1892. He decided to test whether M-ova could solve the clairvoyant task — or, in contemporary terms, the extrasensory problem — through the box, without opening it and without removing the letter.

In December, M-ova sent to the society her letter with the results of her work on the sealed letter inside the sealed box. She reported that the letter was written on postal paper, that the paper was dense and, it seemed, ruled. Written in black ink, medium handwriting. The number of lines two and a half or thereabouts. She refused to provide the text for the time being, but offered the clarification: “I ask the society not to regard this as clairvoyance, but only as its first period; this apparent result may change several times, as happens in the divining of every letter.” This preliminary determination by M-ova of the indicated details, as subsequently turned out, approximately coincided with reality.

The box with the letter was returned to Petersburg, where it was thoroughly examined for evidence of opening and the integrity of the envelope. Then the package was handed over to the physician Khovrin for further experiments with M-ova. In January he handed the envelope to M-ova in person. She frequently performed the divining in his presence. During the sessions she terribly crumpled the letter in her hands between her fingers. Soon the task was solved entirely correctly; on the reverse side of the envelope

M-va wrote: “here is what I saw in the letter: I am certain that you will easily and freely read my letter, after which you will feel splendid.

Petersburg. L.G. Korchagin.

Written on thick paper without lines, three and a half lines, handwriting medium, rather beautiful.”

The task solved by M-va was immediately sent to Petersburg in the name of the honorary member of the medical society A.N. Aksakov. At a meeting of this society on April 3, 1893, the package with the envelope was subjected to expert examination. It rendered the following conclusion: the linen part of the envelope is completely intact, the fastening of the outer envelope with metal clasps is undamaged, and opening and resealing it without traces is not possible; the envelopes are glued to each other. On the basis of these data, no grounds were found for accusing M-va of attempts to unseal it. The assembly of the Petersburg medical society adopted the following resolution: “it is highly probable that the fact of clairvoyance in this case was not fabricated, and therefore it is extremely desirable that experiments with M-va be continued.”

Let us cite one more experiment by Doctor Shchelochilin, whose expert examination was distinguished by an ingenious photochemical control. The envelope with his task was rather thick, carefully sealed and stamped in the middle with a wax seal.

Having received such a package for guessing, M-va the next day brought the answer to the doctor and stated that she could not see the words, but as soon as she began to concentrate, a picture of a fire presented itself to her, as if some building were burning: either a house or something else. She sees the building only without a roof, with window frames, thick smoke, fire. She sees either a bright light, like

fire, then it is replaced by darkness. Right there she sees a fence, ladders, rapidly flickering figures of people, black objects fly about resembling birds. She worried that the picture she saw would not correspond to the text of the task because of her imagination. But for some reason this picture remains constant and nothing else appears.

Here is the expert examination of Doctor Shchelochilin. “To control the experiment of reading letters in a sealed envelope, I took a light-sensitive photographic plate. On it I wrote a phrase under yellow-red light. I placed the plate in two lightproof envelopes and then in an ordinary paper envelope, sealed with seals. If the envelope had been opened for one hundredth of a second, even in moonlight, the plate would have blackened when developed with hydroquinone. The phrase was read by M-va with the exception of two words that were unclearly written on the plate. After developing, the plate remained transparent: light had not touched it. This means the letter had not been unsealed. I think the phrase was read by M-va by feeling the words through the envelope. On the plate was written: ‘fire, a building is burning, I am terribly afraid.‘”

Expert examinations were provided not only by doctors but also by people of other professions. For example, the clerk of the postal-telegraph office Stroganov ascertained the integrity of the letter read by M-va; he expressed astonishment at the reading of the tightly packaged note. And here is the student of Tomsk University Lavrov, who in his expert examination offered an important thought: “to open the envelope, read the letter, insert it again, and forge the seal — M-va positively could not have done. One must admit that she indeed possesses some inexplicable ability to read sealed letters and to imagine very vividly (to the

degree of hallucinations) the pictures drawn in the letter with the pen by the experimenter.”

Let us compare M-va’s description of Lavrov’s sealed letter with the text of his note. She wrote on the address side of the envelope: “June 2, 1893. A large highway, as if there are trees along the edges of the road, a postal tarantas is visible, in the carriage, as if two figures are sitting: one, it seems to me, is an old man, wearing something like a greatcoat. Next to him sits a young woman, in her hands a white parasol.”

In his note the following phrase was written: “A large highway, lined with trees on both sides. In the distance horses are visible, behind them a carriage — a postal tarantas. In it sit two passengers: an old man in a greatcoat and a young woman in a light summer outfit with a milky white parasol over her head.”

1.6. The First Commission for Studying the Ability of M-va

For M-va, solving tasks in the presence of other persons initially seemed extremely difficult. She always explained this difficulty by the fact that the presence of outsiders distracts her and interferes with her. The thought that she is being observed during the experiment, that they look at her with prejudice, prevents her from fully concentrating. Her concentration seems, as it were, to be interrupted. Only after she had already successfully solved strictly controlled tasks without witnesses was it possible to persuade her to read closed tasks in the presence of others and thereby obtain convincing, demonstrative evidence of her ability. This happened somewhat of its own accord after

she had become acquainted with some of her physician colleagues interested in her ability and had grown more trusting toward them.

In June 1893, a private commission was formed for the purpose of establishing the ability of M-va to read closed letters. The experiments began on June 24, but due to unfavorable conditions the guessing dragged on until mid-August. The constant banging of the corridor doors opening, the loud sound of footsteps, the loud conversation of people passing by the room interfered with M-va’s concentration. But the task-letter in her hands was under the unflagging gaze of the observers, who could see the slightest manipulation of it. During each session, hallucinatory images appeared before her. Here are their protocol descriptions.

June 24. Everything is dark, she sees nothing except dark space, like a dark night.

June 25. Also dark. In the darkness, indistinct outlines of shadows and an undefined luminous point. The shadows then take shape into certain indistinct, funny, large and small figures; a female figure in a white veil dances with a male one.

She compares the bright point to a lantern on a dark autumn night. She cannot determine the shape of this point.

June 29. The same darkness, the same bright point and certain rapidly flickering figures.

July 3. The same darkness, something rapidly flickering: now light, now dark. Something like a forest appeared, as if trees, but not clearly, as in a fog. The darkness parts somewhat, trees emerge resembling birch, a white trunk with black speckles.

July 5. The darkness still has not disappeared, she sees objects, but cannot clearly determine their outlines. In the darkness something white, like a

cloud, something like stakes, 3-4 stakes, everything merges and produces what looks like a milk-colored cloud.

July 7. Again she sees everything in a fog, but more clearly: trees, branches. Now she sees a white space, as if everything is covered with snow, and among this, trees, bare branches; she does not see the green of leaves; she sees all this as if in moonlight.

In connection with M-va’s departure, the experiments were postponed to August.

August 11. After a brief agitation, she began intently feeling the contents of the letter with her fingers. Then suddenly she fell into a state of stupor: she became motionless, her eyes open, also motionless, fixed somewhere afar on a single point, overflowing with tears, no blinking. The pupils alternately dilate and constrict. Her entire posture presented a characteristic picture of concentrated attention. It was evident that M-va was under the influence of visual hallucinations (or, as we would define it today, she was in a state of visualization). The physician had seen such a state for the first time. In this motionless position she remained for about 5 minutes, and then the following dialogue took place.

Question. Tell me, do you see anything?

Answer. (Answers in a whisper) I see.

Q. What do you see?

A. White … like …

Q. What is it that you see?

A. Everything white … snow … sand …

Q. Look better, what is it?

A. Silence.

Q. Tell me, do you see anything else?

A. On the right side …

Q. What on the right side?

A. Trees … a few … leaves.

Q. What kind of trees?

A. I don’t know.

Q. Do you see anything else?

A. Straight ahead … here … right here …

Q. What do you see here?

A. Water … light …

Q. What kind of light?

A. Silence.

Q. Do you see anything else?

A. Silence.

August 13. After intense concentration she began to report her hallucinations: a large space … again white … but this is not snow … look, it’s like … yes … white sand, white as snow. After a 2-minute break she concentrates again: tall trees … here are three trees, how large the leaves are … Here is water … a stream is running … the water seems to be murmuring … Now everything has vanished, I see nothing.

Then M-va began to stretch and soon came to herself. “Now I clearly saw everything, as if I had been there; now I am certain that I have solved the task. But what kind of trees are these? I have never seen such trees, as in paintings, this confuses me.” Then, on the address side of the envelope containing the task, she wrote: “The following picture clearly presents itself to me: a vast expanse of sandy steppe, the sand is extraordinarily white. On the right side I clearly saw 3 tall trees with broad foliage; I have never seen such trees except in paintings. Beneath the trees, a stream; I clearly heard the murmuring of water. All of this was illuminated by a bright

light, the sky was clear, but I did not see the sun. I did not read the actual text of the letter and cannot reproduce it. Sofia M-va.”

In the expert’s note, the following phrase was written: “in the sandy steppes of the Arabian land, three proud palms grew tall, a spring between them murmured as it broke through.”

Thus, the positive results of the first experiment by the commission strengthened Khovrin’s confidence that the observed phenomenon was of a genuine character and did not submit to clever deception and falsification. This contributed to an even greater creative comprehension by the physician of his observations.

It was noticed that M—va solved some tasks by reading the genuine text, others by a hallucinatory method, i.e., instead of the genuine text she saw corresponding images, pictures. From the very beginning of the experiments, specifically from March 1892 through May 1893, the guessing of letters occurred exclusively by means of reading the genuine text. At the beginning of May 1893, Khovrin happened to read a short article on “psychometry” in a supplement to the newspaper Novoye Vremya. From it he learned that similar experiments were being conducted in America as well. Two American doctors, Buchanan and Denton, on the basis of their experiments laid the foundation for a new science, which they called “psychometry”; by this concept they meant a subtle psychic sensitivity through contact. They held that through exercise anyone could become a good psychometrist. Among the experiments of the American researchers, experiments with sealed letters had also been conducted. Only in their experiments the subjects did not read the genuine text but saw hallucinatory pictures corresponding to the verbal descriptions. This circumstance additionally inspired the Russian physician.

First, he conducted several trials. Having written various names (of an object, an animal, a tree, etc.) on a scrap of paper and folded the note several times, he would give it into her hands, ask her to gaze at some white screen or, with her eyes closed, to observe carefully whether any picture would appear in her field of vision. The trial experiments yielded highly satisfactory results: on the screen or in her field of vision with her eyes closed, hallucinatory pictures appeared that corresponded to the textual description of the note. Several rigorous experiments were then conducted. Khovrin describes the most complex of them. To exclude telepathic suggestion, he prepared the experiment in the following manner. First he wrote 5 tasks on identical sheets of heavy postal paper in his own handwriting. He placed each one inside another blank sheet and, folding it in half, sealed it in completely identical envelopes made of heavy paper. Then, from all five, he selected one envelope at random, and destroyed the rest. The packet was opaque to light, at least to the ordinary eye; it was impossible to detect any show-through. The experimenter himself did not know which particular text was contained in the remaining envelope. M—va held the packet with the task in her hands only during the guessing sessions; observations were carefully recorded by the doctor, who before the start of the experiments explained their purpose to M—va.

May 22, at 1:20 p.m. At the beginning of the session an excited state developed; having taken the letter and pressed it to her forehead, she remained motionless for 2 minutes. “I see a bright band, extraordinarily bright, as if it is a ray of light … Some large space … Again the same bright band … Something wonderful, bright, pleasant … Some clear spot appears and hides; she was beginning to feel fatigue and dizzi-

ness, and asked for a break. After a few minutes she again took up the guessing. With renewed concentration she again saw a bright space and glittering points, like tiny stars.

May 28, at 1:30 p.m. Since morning M—va had been in an anxious state; before the experiment she calmed down. She concentrated again: “I see small bright circles, they grow bigger and bigger, but pass very quickly … Now bright little stars flash quickly…” She feels fatigue and asks to postpone the experiment until evening. The session lasted 15 minutes.

May 28, at 20:30. Having pressed the envelope to her forehead and concentrated, she soon began to hallucinate: “I see very bright points … They don’t look like stars, they are some kind of flickering lights … White columns … white, like candles … Yes, it’s a large room, I see windows … Where is this light coming from? Ah, these are candles … very, very much fire and everything is flooded with light. Some black point … some people.” She declared that she was tired and could not continue the experiment. The session lasted 25 minutes.

May 30, at 13:25. She concentrated quickly: “again bright lighting, I see candles, lamps, candelabra, I don’t see any stars … People are walking, bright, very bright … A crowd, a crowd … some dark specks … the room is brightly lit … many people. A theater or something? No, not a theater. A ball or something?”

She feels fatigue and asks to postpone the experiment until evening. The session lasted 20 minutes.

May 30, at 20:40. She concentrated quickly, but for 5 minutes saw nothing, then hallucinatory pictures appeared: “I see a female figure … a lady … some kind of table … no, it’s too high for a table, a platform. Some white figure with

a long train.” She asks to stop the session. They worked for 30 minutes.

May 31, at 13:40. Before the session she was greatly agitated, cried, and after 5 minutes calmed down. Taking the letter, she sat motionless for 10 minutes with the letter pressed to her forehead: “a crowd, some kind of paved boards … now people are walking past me … passing by in pairs … One figure separated, is outlined more clearly … A lady is holding something in her hands.” She asks to stop the session, which lasted 25 minutes.

31 May at 20.40. She complains of extraordinary sensitivity of hearing, says she could hear through the entire hospital. She concentrates: “there again is a figure, holding something in its hands.” Again complains of sensitivity of hearing. “Now look, this figure, going somewhere … onto the stage … Do you hear, somewhere singing … Now this lady on the platform is gesticulating.” She feels tired. They worked for 15 minutes.

On June 1st at 21.00. In the evening before the session, M-va reported that she had had a dream: she was in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theatre, the artist Usatov was singing the aria “In the storm, in the thunder.” She concentrates intensely: “now I’m as if in a theatre … this lady is as if singing. I have one thing on my mind: ‘In the storm, in the thunder,’ I can’t make out whether this lady is singing or whether it’s in my ears? I hear singing now, as if someone is singing by my left ear. I hear some kind of noise. What are they doing there? Are they applauding? Yes, applauding, that’s right. Now then, what is this? I see nothing but darkness.” About three minutes later M-va recovered and wrote the following in her own hand on an envelope: “I saw a large, brightly lit room with candles and chandeliers. Many people and all dressed in ball attire, walking in pairs. In the hall there is a platform. One lady in a white dress separated, she has something in her hands, mounted the platform, began to gesticulate,

as if singing. Whether this lady was singing, or whether it was in my ears, I do not know. The crowd stopped, as if applauding. Sofya M-va, June 1, 1892.”

The task was solved completely correctly; here is what was written in the control letter: “a large hall, brightly lit by chandeliers and lamps, in it gentlemen and ladies in ball costumes walk about in groups. One of the ladies in a ball costume with a fan in her hands mounted the stage, everyone stopped; she begins to sing in a very pleasant voice the aria ‘In the storm, in the thunder.’ The audience applauds.”

From this experiment Khovrin ascertained that under the influence of the text of the letters, M-va could experience not only visual hallucinations, but also of another kind, such as auditory ones.

It is important to note that M-va displayed her ability not without difficulty; the guessing of each letter was accompanied by intense strain of attention with excitation of the entire nervous system. However, it was not always like that. Subsequently, when her ability had developed through exercise to a sufficient degree, she quite often began to display it comparatively easily and freely, solving tasks before witnesses in a single session. She began to guess short assignments, consisting of 2–3 words, especially easily. Such experiments succeeded much better when M-va had not prepared for them at all. Thus, by feeling she easily read the number 32 through 5 layers of paper, moreover precisely indicating the place of the writing.

Yet another convincing experiment was conducted by Doctors Speransky and Troitsky on April 27, 1894, at 21.00. Upon their visit, M-va complained of a toothache and was lying with a bandaged cheek. While Troitsky was conversing with M-va, Speransky managed to write a phrase in pencil on a slip of paper and quickly

folded the note into a small packet that fit easily in a fist. She was asked to guess what was written there. M-va took the note in her right hand, remaining lying on her back, placed both hands on her head so that the hand holding the note was visible. Although the lighting was dim, her fingers could be seen sorting through the paper packet. Peering intently at the white wall, she spoke about what she saw: “well now I see something resembling a table or a bench, no, rather a bed. Yes, it’s a bed … a large white figure is lying … I see pillows … now I see a long female figure lying on the bed with a bandaged cheek … on her back. Why, that’s me myself!” The note contained the following phrase: “Sofya Aleksandrovna is lying on the bed and looking at the ceiling.”

Let us note that M-va had to read the text not from a flat unfolded sheet, as we are all accustomed to, but from a spatially folded one. The experimenters transformed a flat text into a volumetric one, therefore M-va intuitively-logically inferred, connecting disparate words and their parts into sentences of sensible content.

A multitude of experiments strengthened Khovrin’s confidence that M-va’s ability merits scientific investigation. He had repeatedly heard objections about the reality of the facts under study; he was refused trust and accused of mysticism. By 1894 he had matured as a resolute scholar, capable of defending reliable scientific results. The strangeness of M-va’s ability lies not in the fact that her skill manifests without visible sense organs, but in the fact that she can perceive with her sense organs the finest impressions that are inaccessible to perception by our coarse sense organs. The whole question of M-va’s ability reduces to the question of the heightened discriminating

capacity of her higher sense organs. Khovrin notes that such an ability has long been known in science as a rare form of that nervous condition called “hyperesthesia.”

The discovery of an interesting and instructive phenomenon — reading sealed letters by palpation without the aid of the eyes — prompted the emergence of new experiments for the study of human abilities. Studies were conducted on the discriminative capacity of vision, touch, and taste.. The study of the sense of hearing and smell was conducted superficially. The breadth and systematic character of A. N. Khovrin’s research program are attested by the following topics:

Study of the discriminative capacity of each of the higher sense organs of M-va.
The sense of vision: experiments with suggested hallucinations on paper and with numerical symbols, discrimination of color shades with their gradual darkening, discrimination of color in opaque envelopes and of color shades of objects enclosed in white pharmacy boxes.
The discriminative capacity of the sense of touch: experiments with enhanced tactile capacity of the fingers of the hand.

1.7. The ability of M-va to distinguish objects indistinguishable to the naked eye

Experiments on M-va not only failed to explain her ability to read sealed letters, but additionally revealed mysterious human capabilities and gave rise to many new psychological questions.

Let us cite one of the experiments of Dr. Andreev, performed by him on September 2, 1892, at 20:30.

From a stack of the best white paper, 20 sheets were taken, which presented not the slightest difference to the eye from one another. One of these 20 sheets was marked on the reverse side with a barely noticeable dot, in order to have the opportunity to find it later among the others. This sheet was left on the table. Having invited M-va, it was suggested to her to see a portrait of Khovrin on this control sheet. Looking intently now at the doctor, now at the paper, after a minute and a half she declared that she clearly saw his image on the paper. Then this sheet was thoroughly, unnoticeably to M-va, mixed with the remaining 19; the entire stack was handed to her so that she would find the control sheet among the papers. Having laid out all the sheets on the table and looked closely at each of them, she pointed to one, declaring that it was on this one she saw the portrait, and she indicated the places where the head and legs were located.

Having examined the reverse side of the sheet, Dr. Andreev made sure that it was indeed the control sheet. To rule out chance, the experimenter again mixed the sheets and imperceptibly turned the stack over. M-va this time also quickly found the marked sheet, determining that the portrait was upside down. The experiment was repeated many times, and each time the guesser quickly and accurately determined the position of the portrait. But when she was asked to find the control sheet turned with its reverse side up, she could not find it and declared that she did not see any portrait on any of the sheets.

This interesting phenomenon was explained as follows. Clean paper, no matter how white it is, always has special details; a patient with visual hyperesthesia notices them and on these marks projects

the portrait. It is like a nail that secures the imaginary portrait on a white surface.

Khovrin repeated this experiment with healthy people as well; three out of 12 were also able to find the control sheets by their marks, but on the condition of preliminary exercises. It seemed that the answer had already been given and there was nothing special here.

To clarify the question of whether she truly possessed unusually developed vision, rather than healthy people, the experiment was somewhat modified. One sheet of paper was marked on the reverse side. On top of the sheet, a figure cut from plain paper was placed. The control sheet together with the figure was covered with a sheet of white tissue paper, through which the sheet with the figure showed through well. Under such conditions, it is difficult to catch any marks on a perfectly clean, white sheet. M-va was given the suggestion to distinguish this sheet from the others by the mark showing through. After a brief scrutiny, she withdrew; then the tissue paper and the figure were removed, and the marked sheet was mixed among several identical sheets. Then the stack of papers was handed to M-va. The subject successfully found the control sheet among 10 others. The doctors conducted about 25 such experiments.

The ability of a person to mentally project images onto white paper was revealed. How real the hallucinatory images suggested to M-va were imprinted on the control sheets is evident from the following experiment by Dr. Andreev. On the control sheet, a piece of paper with the large number 2367823101945 written on it was placed. M-va was given the suggestion that after looking at the numbers she would see them on the sheet and be able to find it among the others, reading the numbers in any order. After a minute-

long look at the numbers, the control sheet was mixed among 15.

The guesser quickly found the sheet and read, on a perfectly clean white sheet, the numbers seen in the note. She read them in reverse order as well, skipping one, then skipping two, and so on; each time she read just as quickly, as if she had the note in front of her. However, she could not recite the entire series of numbers by heart without the control sheet. But when she was given the control sheet again, she freely read the numbers in any order. Clearly, her memory played an insignificant role here, and therefore her ability is not related to quick and durable memorization.

If M-va could read the numbers only with the help of the control sheet, it means she needed visual sensations, signs that would be constantly before her eyes. These signs served her as unconsciously caught marks, imperceptible to the naked eye, on the surface of the control sheet, which played the role of an open book for her.

The experiment with covering the control sheet with tissue paper indicated that M-va is indeed capable of catching minor differences with the organ of vision and through obstacles. Indeed, reasoned Khovrin, how could she recognize the control sheets among others without being guided by any of its differences from the others, and how could she project the suggested hallucination onto the sheet showing through without any of its distinctive features? In any case, this could only happen when the slightest details of the sheet showed through the sheet of tissue paper, i.e., the darkened details were still caught by her organ of vision. However, was M-va truly capable of catching the showing-through of impercepti-

ble details of objects? The experimenter solves this question with new experiments.

Colored paper was covered with several layers of white paper. Through 3 layers of paper, none of the healthy subjects could distinguish color shades under incident light. M-va was asked to determine the color through 4 layers of paper, without touching the envelope with her hand. At first, for the first minute and a half, nothing worked; then M-va began to see that the envelope, as it were, began to turn pink, and finally she declared that it was a pure red or pink color. Inside the envelope, indeed, there was a piece of red paper.

The enhanced discriminatory ability of M-va’s sense of vision was able to be measured by an ingenious method. A scrap of colored paper was inserted into a thick notebook of white tissue paper. By slowly turning the top sheets until the color shade can be confidently determined, the limiting sheet can be identified. For M-va, this threshold sheet turned out to be the 27th; for other subjects, it was the 9th. It follows from this that M-va’s vision is 3 times more discerning.

Incidentally, during the experiments, an interesting fact emerged: solving the problem always went much more successfully, and the time was reduced, if she was allowed to hold the envelope in her hands.

The problem of the discriminatory ability of the sense of touch turned out to be much more complex and confusing than the study of the sense of vision. To determine the threshold tactile sensitivity, a well-known experiment was performed: on the first page of a notebook of 10 sheets of writing paper, symbols were written in black ink. The notebook was opened from the last page. It turned out that through 10 sheets she feels nothing; through 8 sheets she vaguely feels the location of the symbols; through 6 sheets she uncertainly determines in-

dividual symbols, and finally, through 4 sheets, confidently names the number 29. M-va performed the feeling exclusively with the middle finger of her right hand, occasionally making attempts to feel with other fingers.

1.8. Recognition of Color by Means of Touch

M-va possessed an extremely interesting ability to distinguish, by means of touch, without the aid of eyesight, the color shades of objects. This ability of hers, at first glance, contradicts the firmly established assertion in science that the activity of one sense cannot be replaced by the activity of another. Doctor A.N. Khovrin, with his experiments, tried to prove that the sense of touch preserves in M-va a susceptibility to certain properties of light and color rays, but this does not mean the ability to see in the same way as with the eyes.

The first experiment on distinguishing color shades by means of touch was performed by the doctor on October 17, 1892. In advance, spools of silk threads of different colors were prepared. M-va sat down on a chair, and her hands were placed under a thick blanket that covered her body from the neck to below the knees. The experimenter stood behind the subject’s back and gave her under the cover one of the spools. All those present had the opportunity to observe M-va’s movements, so that a trick or some kind of sleight of hand under such control was unthinkable. To determine the color, she could use only one sense of touch. Feeling the object given to her, M-va apparently tried to focus her attention on her tactile sensations and at the same time stared intently at some white surface, for example, a white wall, on which a specific color shade would begin to emerge

at first unclearly, and then more and more clearly. When the shade assumed a clear specific color on the screen, she then announced the color of the thread.

From this experiment, Khovrin draws the conclusion that, as it were, the tactile nerves perceived the color rays and transmitted them in some way to the retina of the eye, from where they were already projected outward. For the success of the experiment, one important circumstance was required: the color of the sample was desirably taken to be close to the spectral color.

To clarify the cause of the phenomenon, Khovrin formulates a conceptual question. What does the guesser rely on when determining by touch the color of an object: exclusively only on coarse, tactile sensations, for example, density, softness, etc., arising from the paint of the object, or was M-va able to catch the color rays reflected by objects due to the thermal and chemical properties inherent in the objects?

It seemed that this question could be resolved positively if it was proven that she was able to distinguish the color spectrum directly without contact with the object. In one experiment, rays of light that passed through colored glasses were directed onto the fingers of her hand. Keeping her hands behind her back, rubbing her fingers against each other, M-va peered at some white surface, and with intense concentration she received in her field of vision, on the screen, the color shade corresponding to the color ray. In another experiment, colored objects were enclosed in a glass shell (a test tube). With such a setup of the experiment, only the reflected rays of the colored object could be accessible to the sensation. This experiment also gave a positive result: M-va, by means of touch, was indeed able to perceive

color rays. It remained to determine whether M-va, when detecting color rays by touch, used any of their thermal and chemical properties, or did such a determination of color occur in some other way?

To solve this question, the following experiment was devised. In a wooden box, on two opposite sides, holes were made, one of them was sealed with white transparent glass, and the other was intended for placing the hand into the cavity of the box. So that the guesser could not see with her eyes the color of the objects being determined, the box was covered with a lightproof fabric. Colored test plates were inserted under the canopy into a groove to the side glass on the outside of the box. Access of light into the box was ensured by simply folding back the edge of the cover. In these experiments, M-va felt different sensations from the action of different color rays. The temperature changed, and the friction of her fingers against each other caused her sensations of stiffness, viscosity, and tightening. Simultaneously with these skin sensations, visual color ones also arose, corresponding to the colored test plates. She received more defined tactile sensations from yellow, red, and blue rays. Under the action of the yellow color, she felt warmth; rubbing her fingers together gave a sensation of softness. The blue color produced an unpleasant binding sensation in the hand; an astringent stiffness was felt in the fingers, and the feeling of warmth disappeared. The red color gave a sensation between blue and yellow. Violet and orange gave less defined sensations. The sensation from the green color was similar to blue. These experiments gave Khovrin reason to ask the following question. Does M-va not use, when determining color by touch, without the aid of vision, an unconscious detection of any

properties of color rays capable of acting in an irritating way on her tactile apparatuses of her fingers?

However, despite the reality of the discovered abilities in M-va, the fact of the transformation of tactile sensations into visual ones remained extremely puzzling for the doctor. He invents the following experiment. From a stack consisting of 7 sheets of white clean paper, one sheet was marked on the back with a barely noticeable dot. Having invited M-va, the doctor placed a control sheet in front of her and made a suggestion to her to see a five-kopeck coin on it, and she was not to touch the control sheet with her hands in any way. She was to get an idea of this sheet only through vision, and the tactile sensations from this sheet, thus, could not be known to her. When M-va stated that she clearly saw the suggested coin on the paper, the control sheet was shuffled among the six. After this, she was asked to identify the sheet among the others. During the guessing, she was not allowed to touch the sheets with her hands; they were all laid out in front of her on the table. The subject correctly identified the control sheet; a repeated experiment also gave a positive result.

Then the guesser put her hands on the table, they were covered with a thick blanket, under which the entire stack with the control sheet was placed. Now she had to be guided in the determination exclusively by touch alone. Upon feeling the third sheet, she stated that on it she clearly felt a convex circle with roughnesses on the surface and got the sensation that it was as if a coin had been placed on it. After feeling the remaining sheets, she received no tactile sensation from them. After this, the sheets were shuffled again and handed under the blanket. She again received the sensation of a coin on the

control sheet. This experiment indicated that the visual hallucination of a tactile nature suggested to M-va evoked a successive tactile hallucinatory image, fully corresponding to the initially suggested visual image.

To reveal the transformation of a tactile hallucination into a visual one, Khovrin does a reverse experiment. Having removed the old control sheet from the stack, he places a new one from a stack of six sheets. Then he arranges her hands and the sheet under the blanket; a tactile hallucination is suggested to her so that she would feel the same coin on this sheet. When the tactile hallucination had developed quite clearly, M-va stated that she felt the coin. Having shuffled the control sheet among the other five, the doctor began to show the guesser one sheet after another, not allowing her to touch the paper, so that she would determine with her vision on which of them the coin she had felt was located. On the first four sheets she saw nothing, on the fifth she clearly saw the image of a five-kopeck coin, and on the sixth sheet she also saw nothing. To verify her visual sensations, she asked to shuffle all the sheets again. Upon a second viewing, she saw her hallucination again on the same control sheet. This experiment indicated that the tactile hallucination of a visual nature suggested to M-va evoked a successive visual hallucinatory image, fully corresponding to the initially suggested tactile hallucination.

These experiments indicate in what way in M-va, in a hypnotic state, the sensation of one organ can evoke an adequate sensation of another organ.

The ability of M-va to distinguish the taste of a substance by means of touch, without using the organ of taste (the tongue), was verified by the following experiments. Externally indistinguishable solutions were prepared (transparent, colorless, odorless), but distinguishable by taste: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent, metallic, etc. The solutions were of medium concentration, but giving definite, clear, intense taste sensations. A piece of cotton or paper moistened in one of these solutions was applied to some part of the guesser, for example, on the palm, forearm, or fingers of the right hand. Upon the application of the tasting substance to the skin, the subject began to intensely focus her attention on taste sensations; a gustatory sensation gradually began to develop in her mouth, at first of an indefinite nature, and then a definite taste was gradually obtained. It is interesting to note also such a fact, when a gustatory sensation that had developed in this way sometimes did not disappear for a prolonged time. In other words, the ability to forget a taste did not work. For example, the sensation of bitter remained in her longer than all other taste sensations and even drowned out the tongue’s ability to distinguish taste.

It is important to note M-va’s ability to very finely taste plain water, which was clearly demonstrated in the experiments of Dr. Yakovlev. He took two identical glasses, poured water into them from a decanter up to half, then held one in his right palm, and the other in his left for 4-5 minutes, then asked M-va to taste the water from each glass. After tasting the water, she stated that the water in the glass touched by the right hand was unpleasant, and the taste of the water in the other glass was much more pleasant. Then the experimenter went with the glasses to another room and brought out both glasses on a tray.

The guesser needed to determine which glass the right hand had held and which the left. Having tasted the water from each glass, she definitely found an unpleasant taste in one of them, and pointed to this glass.

The increased discriminating gustatory ability of M-va is also evident from another experiment. Identical glasses were filled from the same decanter with water to a certain level. In M-va’s absence, a well-washed gold coin was placed into one of the glasses for a few minutes, then the coin was taken out of the glass with water with a silver spoon. Having invited M-va, she was offered to determine by the taste of the water the glass in which the coin had been. After tasting the water from all the glasses with concentration, she unmistakably identified the control glass. Such a situation also presented no difficulty for her, when from the control glass the water was poured into another glass and replaced with clean water; she freely found the water in which the coin had lain.

The least studied is M-va’s ability to feel the vibration of a tuning fork with the fingertips of her right hand. In addition, she claimed to hear its sound through her hand, as if hearing a ringing in the ear not from an external source, but originating from inside the ear. The sensation of sound was obtained only in the right ear; with the left, she felt nothing. One can only assume that in M-va, upon the action on her tactile organ of even weak sound vibrations, successive auditory images arose.

Khovrin also noted such a peculiarity of M-va, that her auditory perceptions were accompanied by successive hallucinatory visual images, or vice versa. She often developed auditory illusions accompanied by visual hallucinations. For example, waking up at night in a dark room, she would begin to hear clear stamping and footsteps, and at the same

time in the gap of the window she clearly saw a moving figure, which was the cause of severe fright, she would scream or, extremely agitated, run out of her room and wake the servants. The doctor believed that some insignificant rustle, perhaps from the blanket, created an auditory illusion, which, in turn, caused a clear visual hallucinatory image corresponding to this illusion.*

1.9. On the stability of the manifestation of M-va’s ability

M-va’s ability is connected to the activity of her nervous system. Psychonervous illness makes the ability unstable. Therefore, her ability was noted to be of varying quality: sometimes bright and high, another time weak, and sometimes it disappeared completely.

Let us provide a description of an experiment conducted by Khovrin on May 24, 1894, in order to identify the causes of errors in M-va. She was asked, when determining the color of an object, to voice aloud any slightest appearance of a color impression in her field of vision. The experiment consisted of 8 trials. First, the color of silk sealed in a glass test tube was determined, and then the color of an aniline solution placed in a rubber balloon. The trials were given into her hands at intervals of 2-3 minutes.

trial

Object

Visual, color sensations

Color on the screen

Color of the object

Test tube with silk

Two alternating shades of equal brightness appeared on the screen: red and bluish, then yellow

yellow

Violet

The same

Sees green color alternating with red, the red disappears, the green remains. Ultimately chooses green.

green

The same

The entire screen became covered with a red color, the color does not change.

red

The same

A blue coloration of the screen appeared, a red one joined it, the latter disappears, the former remains

blue

Rubber balloons with paint

The impression of the previous blue color still remains, gradually fades and disappears. A colorless (white) background of the screen remains.

sees no coloration other than the white screen

test tube with transparent water

The same

A yellow coloration of the screen appeared, quickly disappeared, two other colors appeared: bluish and red, both colors are replaced by lilac.

violet

yellow

The same

On the screen two alternating colorations: red and green colors, both of the same intensity. Has difficulty in choosing, chooses red.

red

green

The same

Again on the screen two alternating colorations: green and red colors, both of the same intensity. Has difficulty in choosing. Chooses red.

red

green

Table 1

A.N. Khovrin proved to be an excellent analyst; he reasoned as follows. A superficial analysis of the obtained data (see table) shows that M-va only in half of the cas-

es guessed correctly, which could call her ability into question. However, upon deep analysis, the very process of perception must be taken into account. When guessing, she stated that first one color, then another appeared in her field of vision, and she showed indecision in choosing one or the other. Why did she choose violet instead of yellow, and red instead of green (in other experiments - black instead of white and vice versa)? Such a phenomenon can be fully explained by the laws of physiological optics. For clarity, let us write out the incorrect determinations into a separate table.

Table 2

No. of trial

Determined color on the screen

Color of the object

Yellow

Violet

Yellow

Red

Green

Red

Green

Khovrin caught a pattern in M-va’s color recognition. Thus, in the last two trials, identical objects caused identical determinations, but also identical sensations. It is clear | that here the same cause produced the same consequences, i.e., the same error. Although the determination of red in both trials was erroneous, the error is not accidental. The analysis of the first two rows also reveals an order: the violet object first gave a sensation of red and blue, and then yellow; with the yellow object, the yellow color first appeared, then bluish and red, which was replaced by violet.

The doctor performed many experiments and noted that objects of the same color give the same color-

shades in perception. Sometimes the colors appeared two at a time and alternated with each other with equal intensity, or one after another, i.e., first one appeared, which then disappeared and was replaced by some other, or immediately by two alternating with each other. Sometimes only one color appeared on the screen, which remained constant.

M-va’s behavior in this regard is interesting: when several colors appeared in the field of vision, it was difficult for her to figure out the choice between them, then she closed her eyes, and in the dark field of vision only one of them appeared, but then, when she opened her eyes again, a completely different one appeared on the screen. One of these colors corresponded to the color of the object, and the other was extraneous. It turned out that the opening and closing of the eyes affected the perception of color by touch. Khovrin provides the results of the next experiment, taking into account the position of the eyes.

Table 3

No.

Dynamics of visual, color sensations

Stable color on the screen

Selected color

Color of the object

eyes closed

eyes open

First sees a reddish or rather lilac, then yellow color.

yellow

violet

yellow or orange

yellow

Sees the yellow color again, considers it a remnant of the previous one, then green and then red appear one after another

red

green

red

Sees a red color on the screen, which does not disappear.

red

green

red

sees a yellowish tint, but very pale, then purple also pale, but brighter than yellow

purple

Sees first a yellow tint, then a reddish one, both are replaced by purple

purple

yellow

purple

yellow

Sees purple, then yellow, the latter appears brighter.

yellow

purple

yellow

The screen remains colorless for a long time, no color appears.

the field of vision has a dark background

the screen is colorless

white

black

Sees an orange color, then blue or reddish-blue, the former appears brighter.

reddish-blue

orange

The obtained data indicate a regular character to the tactile perception of colors; in M-va’s field of vision, colors arise that are consistent with the laws of physiological optics. It is known that visual sensations of the colors of the spectrum are accompanied by their successive color images. Every person can detect this phenomenon through a simple experiment. If you place a small colored object on a white sheet of paper and fix your gaze on it for a few seconds (up to a minute), and then quickly shift your gaze to a white surface, you can see the shape of the same object with a different color; this other color will be successive. Each of the primary colors is accompanied by its own specific successive color.

Thus, if the object was red, then the successive image will be green, and if the object was yellow, then the successive image will be purple. The successive color of blue will be orange-yellow, etc. M-va’s errors represent precisely the phenomena of successive color images, and consequently arise according to the laws of physiological optics.

The visual color sensations that arose in M-va when palpating colored objects are visual

images, hallucinations corresponding to the real qualities of the object. Visual hallucinations, as is known, can under certain conditions be accompanied by a successive visual image. On this topic, there are works by the German physiologist Gruithuisen. According to his observations, so-called hypnotic hallucinations that have a coloration are accompanied by successive images colored in the successive color. For Gruithuisen himself, after a hypnotic hallucination in which he saw violet fluorite on glowing coals, a yellow spot on a blue background appeared in the form of a distinct successive image. Consequently, M-va’s errors cannot be considered a conjectural choice; she was replacing the primary color with the successive one.

It was said above that the ability depended on many factors, and therefore could be weakened and strengthened. In the weakened mode, the primary and successive colors appeared simultaneously with the same brightness in M-va’s field of vision. In the strengthened mode, the difficulty of choice was eliminated, and she confidently observed one color.

Thus, M-va’s errors in determining the color of objects by touch cannot serve as a refutation of her ability, but on the contrary, rather serve as proof of the existence of an enhanced discriminatory ability of the sense of touch, the manifestation of which is based on physiological laws.

M-va’s ability depended on conscious and unconscious processes, internal and external conditions. Of course, it is impossible to establish an unambiguous dependence of her phenomenal ability on the will of another person or even her own will. The doctor identifies two factors that noticeably affect

M-va’s ability: these are the degree of tension of her attention and intensive blood circulation in the perceiving organs. With the weakening of one of these conditions, the experimenter detected a decrease in the speed of discrimination. Here is a description of an experiment in which the importance of attention when reading a sealed note is traced. According to the condition of the experiment, M-va had to, without touching the folded note with her hands, using only vision, recognize what was written in it. At first, she did not focus her attention well, being distracted by conversations, and could not steadily fix her gaze on the note. But then, looking intently, she saw that the white surface of the paper had taken on a dark color, against which some white marks began to be seen. This phenomenon captivated her attention even more, and she clearly saw two digits against the dark background: on the right side 5, on the left 6, only upside down. In reality, the number 65 was written on the white paper, and in the folded note, the number was positioned upside down.

So, if her attention was distracted by something or someone, then she could not concentrate on her sensations and could not solve] the task. It was said above that in the presence of people to whom M-va was accustomed and whom she trusted, the results of the experiments were better than with people unfamiliar or unsympathetic to her. And one more important psychological factor: the fear of making a mistake also prevented her from concentrating on her sensations and was an obstacle in conducting the experiment.

The state of blood circulation of the sensing organs significantly influenced the discriminatory ability of the organ of touch. When her hands were warm, M-va herself felt a pleasant warmth, then her discriminatory ability yielded good results, but when her hands were cold, the ability dropped

to a minimum or disappeared completely. When warming her hands in warm water, sensitivity was sometimes restored again. Thus, her ability depended on the activity of the vascular and nervous systems, but this question was not studied in depth.

2. Sees Through the Ground

At the beginning of the 20th century, closer attention began to be paid to the phenomenal visual abilities of humans not only in Russia but also abroad. Here is what the Kazansky Telegraph wrote in 1903:

One young girl, Hanna Naim, living in a small village, possesses, according to a report in the newspaper Autorite, an extraordinary ability to see through opaque bodies.

At the age of nine, she told her mother that she saw a river beneath her. But her mother, calling her a silly girl, strictly forbade her from ever saying such things again, so that she would not be considered insane.

But when she turned fifteen in 1901, she proved the reality of her visions and from that time became a celebrity.

She is invited mainly to discover springs, and in this regard she performs wonders.

As the experiments conducted have shown, Hanna Naim sees through opaque layers of earth. She distinguishes them perfectly and even indicates their depth. In this way she determines the properties of the soil — rock or sand — and points to the “beds” of underground rivers hidden beneath the thickness of the earth. Likewise, she sees through people’s houses, but cannot see through metals or glass.

Chapter II — The Phenomenon of “Skin” Vision of Rosa Kuleshova

The second chapter presents the results of research by Soviet (now Russian) scientists into such a rare phenomenon in human nature as the ability to see with the hand. This phenomenal ability was possessed by an ordinary woman from Nizhny Tagil — Rosa Kuleshova. Of course, the significance of her astonishing ability paled in comparison to the epochal event of that period: the beginning of human spaceflight. At a time when the whole world was applauding the first cosmonauts of the USSR, she was being carefully studied in scientific psychoneurological laboratories. Yes, enthusiastic articles were written about her, but there were also deliberately accusatory ones. The scientists themselves argued: by which hypothesis did visual perception by hand occur in Rosa Kuleshova. Historians of science still have to study such a social aspect of the scientific process as both the sharp activation of research work and the rapid curtailment, the “forgetting,” of the problem of vision outside the eyes.

1. The Phenomenon of Skin-Optical Sensitivity

1.1. From the History of the Question

One of the first to discover, in 1962, and describe the phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova was the neuropathologist of the Nizhny Tagil city hospital, I. M. Goldberg. Let us cite the results of his work [12], the basis for which was the observation of the patient Rosa Kuleshova, who possessed a phenomenal

ability — with her eyes blindfolded, using the fingers of her hand — to read ordinary flat-printed text, determine the content of drawings, and identify the color tones of objects. His patient exhibited a pronounced skin-optical sensitivity. Cases of the manifestation of such sensitivity in science and clinical practice had been known earlier.

At the end of the 19th century, the Tambov physician A. N. Khovrin described his observations of a thirty-two-year-old female patient suffering from hystero-epilepsy. The patient was extremely suggestible. From childhood, she had exhibited eidetic memory: in class, while answering questions, the pages of a book with their lines appeared to her as clearly as if she were seeing the book in front of her.

This woman, as observations showed, possessed the ability to read text written on paper hidden inside a sealed envelope. In doing so, every measure was taken to leave no doubt that the patient could not open the envelope and remove the paper from it (a photographic plate was even inserted, which would bear a trace if the envelope were opened in the light). To determine the content of what was written, the subject had to, in the majority of cases, repeatedly feel and even crease the letter. Sometimes, during periods when the subject felt a particular predisposition toward performing the experiment, a visual representation would appear in her, little by little, sometimes over several sessions, forming into a picture corresponding to what had been written. Sometimes this person recognized what was written with extraordinary accuracy, determining both the character of the handwriting and the color of the ink. She could recognize written digits through 4–5 layers of paper, could determine the color of objects she touched, and even the color of objects enclosed in special test tubes. To rule out the possibility of induction

or suggestion, her abilities were tested by various individuals. For tactile examination, she most often used the third (middle) finger of her right hand.

It should be noted that the subject demonstrated an ability to perceive, by hand, a vibrating tuning fork, and she sensed not only the vibration but also the sound. A cotton swab moistened with liquids of various tastes and applied to her right hand elicited taste sensations in her (sweet, bitter, etc.). Both visual and other representations in the patient were extremely vivid, up to and including auditory, visual, and gustatory hallucinatory images. Thus, the patient described by A. N. Khovrin had not only skin-optical but also skin-auditory and skin-gustatory sensations.

In A. N. Khovrin’s work, mention is made of two similar cases reported by Janet and Richet in 1886–1888 to the Parisian Society of Physiologists and Psychologists. In the 1960s, Professor L. L. Vasiliev reports on a letter he received from the physicians of the Polotsk Psychiatric Hospital, B. F. Shilo and A. I. Lapitsky [1]. They describe their observations of a patient suffering from alcoholism during hypnotherapy (case history No. 186 of 1957).

“From a large stack of newspapers and magazines lying on an étagère, a newspaper was taken and handed to the patient with an instruction, without opening his eyes, to read the name of the newspaper. The patient remained silent and did not open his eyes. Then the physician, using the index finger of the patient’s right hand, made a passive movement at the newspaper’s headline, as if mentally focusing the patient’s attention on a given point in space by means of the kinesthetic sense of the hand (without the fingers touching the text). The patient correctly pronounced the name of the Belarusian newspaper Zvezda. Then, by the same method, the pa-

tient correctly read article headlines, individual sentences, and words in smaller print. He read the headlines of the newspaper Pravda with his eyes closed through a single and double sheet of clean unlined paper. After awakening, the patient recalled that he had seen the large print of the headlines as if ‘through a fog,’ while the smaller body text blurred together before his eyes. The experiment was conducted under bright illumination of the text. When illumination was reduced, reading became more difficult. It also became more difficult as the ‘paper barrier’ increased (1–2–3 sheets of paper). The possibility of the patient’s prior familiarization with the newspapers was completely excluded, since he had no access to the room where the newspapers were kept and was not informed of the nature of the experiments.”

The Czechoslovak scientist Milan Ryzl [10] conducted experiments with blind children in a hypnotic sleep state, investigating the possibility of using touch under certain conditions as a substitute for lost vision. In many cases, blind children in a hypnotic sleep correctly determined the positions of the hour and minute hands on clocks covered by a metal lid. Ryzl observed that one of the subjects correctly identified the color of threads by touch. Both of the latter descriptions show that under certain conditions, particularly in hypnotic sleep, the emergence of skin-optical sensations is possible, which opens up great prospects for their investigation. Professor A. N. Leontiev, who studied the question of the origin of sensations as an elementary form of mental life [4], was a pioneer of the concept of cutaneous photoreception.

A. N. Leontiev drew attention to the experiments of N. B. Poznanskaya, who experimentally studied the sensitivity of the skin to infrared and visible rays. Poznanskaya established that in her sub-

jects, under the influence of prolonged training, a lowering of the sensitivity thresholds of the skin was observed with respect to the effects of radiant energy. She established that, in addition to the thermal sensitivity of the skin, the appearance of sensitivity to visible rays also occurred, which was especially evident under weak irradiation; under strong irradiation, thermal (temperature) sensitivity came to the forefront.

In 1938–1940, A. N. Leontiev, together with his associates, conducted a series of experiments in which the palmar surface of the subjects’ hands was exposed to a conditioned stimulus — green light (thermal rays were absorbed by filters) — and after the exposure ended, an electric current was applied, the sensation of which served as the unconditioned stimulus. The subject was unaware of the exposure, and the intervals between exposures varied.

It turned out that even after 350–400 pairings, a motor reflex was not formed. Then, proceeding from the position of I. P. Pavlov — that for the formation of a conditioned reflex it is necessary for a neutral agent (light, in this case) to be transformed, under the influence of special conditions, into an agent discriminable by the subject and capable of eliciting an orienting response — A. N. Leontiev modified the conditions of the experiment. He informed the subjects that several seconds before the electric shock, the palmar surface would be subjected to a very weak irritation, and that timely detection of this irritation would make it possible to avoid the electric shock. Then, in the presence of a search situation, only 30–40 trials were sufficient for the ability to sense light to emerge.

Subjectively, the subjects felt a “trickling in the palm,” a “slight trembling,” “like a breeze”; sometimes the sensations possessed great effective force: “it’s as if little devils are dancing on the palm.”

A. N. Leontiev demonstrated that these vague, nonspecific, subthreshold sensations can be transformed into conscious ones only given a certain directed activity on the part of the subject — that is, internal search activity.

Leontiev attempted to differentiate photoreception into green and red light and always obtained positive results, with the reactions at the beginning of the series being determined by the thermal sensitivity to visible rays.

However, A. N. Leontiev did not provide an answer as to what this was: the emergence of a new form of sensitivity, or the result of awakening a phylogenetically ancient sensitivity inherent in the receptors of the skin, although he leaned toward the latter view. He also did not answer the question of which cutaneous receptors participate in the process of photoreception, but he emphasized the significance of tactile receptors.

Subsequent studies of skin-optical sensitivity in 1962–1963 in Rosa Kuleshova and others made it possible to answer many questions about the nature and character of this phenomenon.

1.2. The Initial Stage of Investigating the Abilities of Rosa Kuleshova

In March 1962, Rosa Kuleshova came to an outpatient appointment with the physician I. M. Goldberg. She was 22 years old at the time. During the appointment and subsequent observation, it turned out that Rosa could determine by touch the color and pattern on various fabrics, the content (text and color of illustrations) in newspapers and magazines, and also read ordinary flat-printed text with her eyes bandaged, using the third and fourth fingers of her right hand. The doctors immediately drew attention to the patient’s phenomenal abilities and observed her until September 1962 in Nizhny Tagil.

From her medical history it is known that Rosa Kuleshova was a Group II disabled person with a diagnosis of rheumatic arachnoiditis with epileptic seizures. Among the illnesses she had suffered, she noted childhood infections, rheumatic fever, and jaundice during her school years; she complained of seizures with loss of consciousness and convulsions, as well as peculiar states of unclear consciousness during which she felt compelled to go somewhere and perform certain actions. During such seizures, Rosa would sometimes leave the house, and upon coming to her senses, would discover that she was on some street or in another location quite far from home (seizures of the ambulatory automatism type). Rosa usually knew about the onset of seizures from indirect signs (the appearance of dizziness, nausea).

She considered herself ill. Rosa’s father perished at the front; her mother remarried. The girl was raised by her grandmother almost until the age of 16; she was very attached to her grandmother, who did not treat her very well. After her grandmother’s death, she went to live with her mother; her circumstances and material situation worsened. Rosa was forced to go work in a Pioneer camp (in the summer), and then worked as a nurse’s aide in a hospital; it is with this period of her life, which coincided with the onset of rheumatic fever, that Rosa connected the appearance of seizures. At first, seizures occurred 4–6 times a year, only at night during sleep, then once a month and more often, both by day and by night. In 1960–1961, there were no seizures for about a year, and then they reappeared. After troubles and negative emotions, the seizures became more frequent.

From the neurological side, minor inconsistent organic symptomatology was noted: flattening of the nasolabial

fold, deviation of the tongue, an inconsistent Babinski sign. Visual acuity and hearing were good. Color sensation was normal. The fundus of the eye was without pathology. On the electroencephalogram, typical epileptic activity was noted: sharp, slow waves, spike-shaped oscillations, dysrhythmia (D. G. Shefer).

Rosa completed seven grades and did well in school. She was an active participant in amateur arts performances, always loved appearing on stage and being the center of attention. She composed poems literally on the spot and loved to recite them; she willingly and on her own initiative demonstrated her abilities, emphasizing that if not for her illness, she would have achieved even more; she loved magic tricks and readily performed them with consistent success. Rosa’s mood was sometimes elevated, sometimes — more often after seizures, or upon sensing distrust toward her — depressed. By character she was soft but persistent, somewhat obsessive. She married and had one child.

In 1960–1961, Rosa worked for about a year as the leader of a drama circle at the society for the blind. There she became interested in Braille reading by the blind and decided to try reading ordinary text by hand. She began persistently training, imitating the blind, in reading ordinary flat-printed text with her fingers (under visual control). At first she learned to recognize large letters, then smaller ones, with her eyes closed or bandaged. No such abilities were found in any of her family members.

After prolonged, purposeful training under visual control, Rosa could flawlessly read printed text with bandaged eyes, determine the content of illustrations in magazines, the colors of fabrics, and so forth. She performed several times in amateur concerts, demonstrating her capabilities. When

seizures subsequently became more frequent, she was forced to stop working at the society for the blind. After becoming acquainted with Rosa’s abilities, the physician set the following research objectives:

to prove the authenticity of the phenomenon;
to determine the possibilities of her perception, using the fingers of her hand, of various color and graphic materials and under various conditions;
to attempt to give a physiological explanation of the phenomenon.

During observation it was found that the perceiving parts of Rosa’s body are mainly the pads of the third and fourth fingers of the terminal phalanges of the right hand. But color, in particular, can also be perceived, albeit to a lesser degree, by the pads of the remaining fingers of both hands, as well as the tip of the tongue.

Before recognition, Rosa would usually rub the pads of the third and fourth fingers of her right hand against the paper or fabric 6–8 times (the impression was that she was somehow “sharpening her fingers,” sensitizing the skin surface before palpation).

A page of a book or magazine, when reading or determining the content of illustrations, was placed on a smooth, hard surface, since a rough surface sharply worsened perception. Fabrics were pinched and crumpled with the fingers of the right hand, while small objects were palpated either on a hard surface or on the palm of the other hand; in this, the eyes were necessarily bandaged. Rosa’s facial expression became focused. Reading with the third and fourth fingers of the right hand was accompanied by rubbing and pressing with varying force against the surface under study.

Examination of pain, temperature, tactile, and vibratory sensitivity on the perceiving surfaces of the 3rd and 4th fingers showed that all these types of sensitivity were sharply heightened. By measuring the skin temperature on the pads of the third finger of both hands, it was established that the temperature of the third finger of the right hand was 2.6–2.8 degrees higher than on the corresponding finger of the left hand.

Rosa’s ability of perception by the fingers in the light was not always the same. Perception improved with a sense of trust, in silence, in a calm businesslike atmosphere, with warming of the perceiving surfaces of the fingers; and conversely, it worsened and even became impossible upon cooling or moistening of the fingers, after seizures, household chores, or during excitement due to distrust toward her or an unfriendly, noisy environment that prevented her from concentrating.

Rosa’s phenomenal abilities interested many physicians; some of them allowed for the possibility of her peeking, or of suggestion or induction on the part of the physician. To eliminate the possibility of peeking, they began applying two bandages over her eyes, screening her hand with a towel or bedsheet, and moving her hand out of the field of vision. But this did not convince the skeptics.

Then a double bag was sewn (from white fabric with a dark striped pattern), which let light through but did not allow one to see through it. This bag was placed over the head of the test subject. Here the physicians encountered a new, incomprehensible fact: Rosa’s ability to perceive completely disappeared; she could not read or identify colors under these conditions. When the bag was removed and her eyes were bandaged in the usual manner, the experiments proceeded successfully. Goldberg attempted to explain this fact by the change

in the usual conditions of perception (a change in stereotype), as well as by the fact that she sensed distrust toward herself. Subsequently, it was established that screening the head halts the process of skin-optical perception not only in Rosa Kuleshova but also in many other test subjects, including the blind.

It was necessary to seek a new experimental methodology. The same bag was taken, and dyed pieces of cardboard or skeins of thread were placed inside it and mixed. Neither Rosa nor the experimenter knew where or what was located. After this, Rosa (whose eyes were bandaged) inserted her hand into the bag, found one of the pieces of colored cardboard or a skein, named the color, and then withdrew her hand holding that item. Subsequently, colored pictures, photographs, playing cards, and other dyed hard or soft objects were placed into the bag.

At the beginning of these experiments, Rosa still had a certain percentage of errors. For instance, some types of dyed paper and color shades on threads were poorly identified. These items were set aside, and Rosa trained with them additionally; with open eyes, she ran her sensitive fingers over the objects several times; after one or two training sessions, Rosa unerringly found objects of that color in the bag. Later, this bag was replaced by a bag made of black lightproof paper used for protecting photographic film from exposure. The bag was placed on a table; the hand was inserted into it from the side up to the elbow; a certain amount of light could penetrate through the opening. Under these conditions, Rosa quite successfully determined with the fingers of her hand the colors of threads, paper, and pieces of fabric, read photographs, playing cards, colored illustrations, and printed flat text. The physician not only persistently proved to himself the reality of the phenomenon he had discovered, but also tried to understand it.

Observations and experiments were conducted under different lighting conditions: with natural and artificial light, in a dark room, and in a bag. In the first period of observation, it was established that under both natural lighting and the light of an electric bulb, Rosa could equally fluently read newspaper text using her fingers; however, she could not read type smaller than nonpareil. She well and quickly determined the content of illustrations and photographs in the magazines “Ogonek” and “Krokodil,” on cigarette boxes, and less well on matchboxes. By touch, she distinguished colors, individual letters, and numerals on postage stamps; on a small-scale map, Rosa identified the mountains, lakes, and other features marked there. She well determined the content of photographic cards with matte and glossy surfaces. The content of illustrations was better determined by her on dense, smooth paper.

On colored paper and threads, Rosa well distinguished all the main colors of the visible spectrum; brown and gray colors were perceived less well. On color reproductions, as on threads, all the chromatic colors of the spectrum were well identified; shades and halftones were distinguished by her less well. Similar results were obtained when determining color tones on pencils, watercolor paints, tapestries, and calico fabric. She determined color and pattern less well on woolen, silk, and staple fabrics. In the light, she correctly identified the colors of green leaves and rose petals.

However, determining the color of moist material, wet threads, multicolored glass, oil paintings, and cast plastic products was something Rosa could not do during that period. Nor did she determine the colors of metals.

The influence of the temperature of objects on perception was studied. It turned out that slight warming or cooling

of objects (under illumination) had no effect on perception. The magnetic field from a powerful electromagnet, into which the test subject’s hand was placed together with the examined object, also affected perception.

The accuracy of Rosa’s color sensation was studied using Rabkin’s tables [9], which are used to assess color blindness in persons who, by the nature of their work, need to recognize colored signals. These tables consist of a multitude of colored circles of different sizes, dyed with varying intensity, placed against a background of similar circles of different colors, varied in lightness and brightness. The combination of more or less monochromatic circles forms a numeral, a group of numerals, or geometric figures. With her eyes, Rosa well recognized the content of the tables; with her fingers — not all of them. In a number of tables she confused crimson and red, and poorly identified gray, brown, and light brown. The experimenters drew attention to the following phenomenon: when Rosa well identified the color of various circles and their background with her fingers, she frequently did not form an overall impression of the figure or numeral. Usually, the eye is able to isolate a holistic image of a figure or numeral by abstracting from the colored mosaic.

The results of experiments in a dark room are also interesting. Success was always significantly worse than in an illuminated room. Rosa could identify only individual large letters, sometimes individual words or the content of individual illustrations. However, on certain days she correctly identified the color of ties, handkerchiefs, shirts, and even undershirts of a number of persons (lilac, violet, blue checkered, etc.), while on other days she could determine nothing at all in conditions of darkness. In Goldberg’s opinion, the inability to recognize color in the dark was due to the fact that

Rosa had not trained under these conditions. All her exercises had previously been carried out in the light.

To exclude any influence or induction on the part of the experimenter, objects (embroidery floss, playing cards, colored pieces of cardboard) were simultaneously placed into a black paper bag and mixed within it. Neither the experimenter nor the test subject knew what was where. Rosa identified objects according to instructions. She first found the required object, named its color, and then withdrew it for verification. She well distinguished the main colors of threads. But she confused shades (violet, for example, she called lilac), and more slowly withdrew pieces of cardboard or playing cards of the specified color.

The experimenter was interested in the question — could Rosa determine the color of rays directed at her hand? For this purpose, the pads of the 3rd and 4th fingers of the right hand were illuminated in darkness by a flashlight with white, red, and green light filters. She was unable to sense the color in that case.

The physician pressed Rosa for an explanation of her ability — how exactly colors, illustrations, and text were perceived. She recounted that she sensed the color red as little crosses, blue as stripes, green as perceived smoother than yellow. But these explanations were not consistent. Often, Rosa insistently asked the experimenter himself to simply touch with the fingers of his hand and sense the difference between white paper, an illustration, and text, and between various tones in illustrations and on objects.

Thus, the first period of studying Rosa Kuleshova’s abilities (mainly contact sensitivity) was

concluded, and the test subject was presented at the psychological

laboratory

of the Nizhny Tagil Pedagogical Institute,

where, in the presence of Associate Professor M. M. Kozhevnikov, a series of control experiments was conducted. It was decided to report the results of the research at a conference of the Ural Division of the All-Union Society of Psychologists.

The conference took place at the end of September 1962 in Nizhny Tagil. Prominent psychologists from various cities of the Soviet Union participated in the conference. At this conference, I. M. Goldberg delivered a presentation entitled “On the Question of the Trainability of the Sense Organs,” with a demonstration of the Rosa Kuleshova phenomenon [2].

Rosa unerringly determined the color of objects with her fingers, read new text, and performed other tasks. After the presentation and the demonstration of experiments, a lively exchange of opinions took place regarding the nature of the phenomenon. Several hypotheses were put forward. Some believed that Rosa Kuleshova was reacting to the subtlest differences in the temperature of differently colored surfaces of objects; others spoke of sensing structural differences in the dye substance with the fingers, or of the electromagnetic nature of the phenomenon. On the day the conference ended, some of its participants came to Rosa’s home and tested her abilities under ordinary home conditions. It turned out that at home, too, her sensitivity had not diminished; the results were no worse than under conditions of public demonstration.

The first publication about Rosa’s phenomenon appeared in the newspaper “Tagilsky Rabochy” of October 9, 1962, where an article by Associate Professor of the Department of Pedagogy and Psychology at the Nizhny Tagil Pedagogical Institute, A. S. Novomeisky, entitled “Scientific Investigations by Psychologists in the Urals,” was published. This article, which reported on the investigations of Rosa Kuleshova’s phenomenon, was reprinted by a number of newspapers and magazines in the Soviet Union and abroad.

Later, one of the conference participants, the psychologist P. Ya. Galperin, in the pages of the newspaper “Izvestia” of October 24, 1962, in a note entitled “Color by Touch,” related his impressions and assumptions regarding the nature of the phenomenon.

1.3. Second stage of research. Study of the distant and penetrating sensitivity of Rosa Kuleshova

In October 1962, Rosa Kuleshova was sent for treatment and examination to the clinic of Professor D.G. Shefer (Sverdlovsk, now Yekaterinburg), where she stayed for a month and a half. Physiological studies of her abilities were conducted by associate professors S.N. Dobronravov and Ya.R. Fishelev.

On December 5, 1962, a joint meeting of the scientific societies of psychiatrists, neuropathologists, psychologists, and physiologists was held in Sverdlovsk, where the results of the clinical examination of Rosa Kuleshova and the physiological studies conducted with her in the clinic of Prof. D.G. Shefer were reported. The attending physician G.S. Kislitsyna reported the medical history. Her analysis of the electroencephalographic (EEG) data obtained from Rosa during experiments with finger reading revealed certain EEG changes. Kislitsyna noted the appearance of depressions of the alpha and beta rhythms, more pronounced in the tactile analyzer, and less in the visual one.

S.N. Dobronravov and Ya.R. Fishelev reported on the results of physiological research [3]. By repeating and deepening previous studies and systematically training the subject, they succeeded in elucidating and refining a number of data that had been insufficiently studied in the first period of research.

They confirmed that Kuleshova’s ability

to “see” with her fingers is equally manifested in daylight and artificial (electric light bulb) illumination, significantly decreases in low light, and almost disappears in the dark. The ability to recognize letters and individual words through the thickness of a celluloid film was proven, as well as the ability to determine the color of molded plastic products (after first scraping the surface). The researchers paid special attention to studying the distant perception of color rays and the possibility of perceiving an image on a screen. With her fingers, Rosa distinguished the content of filmstrip frames projected onto a frosted glass screen. In the dark, she perceived through glass the lines and a coat of arms drawn on paper with fluorescent paints (however, she could not identify them in the light).

The researchers established that Rosa could feel the color of the rays with her fingers. From a 25-watt light source, a beam of light was sent through a lens, in the path of which variously colored filters were placed. At first, Rosa vaguely felt a temperature difference during illumination (she was told the color beforehand). After training, she could already flawlessly determine at a distance, with her right hand, the colors of green, yellow, and violet rays.

In the clinic of Prof. D.G. Shefer, an experiment on color shift was conducted for the first time. The light green cover of a book in red rays seemed blue to Rosa, and she was very surprised that the cover, which she had not let out of her hands, then suddenly became light green under the light of an ordinary light bulb. It was noted that during sharp changes in illumination, Rosa exhibited phenomena resembling light and dark adaptation. S.N. Dobronravov and Ya.R. Fishelev explained the abilities of the subject

by an increased sensitivity of the receptor apparatuses, with an expansion of the boundaries of perception to the level of light sensation and the discrimination of chromatic colors. They expressed the idea of the great importance of photoreception when applying a scientifically based exercise methodology to compensate for blindness.

At this same meeting, the results of experiments conducted by I.M. Goldberg, A.S. Novomeysky, and M.M. Kozhevnikov were presented, which investigated the correspondence of skin-optical sensations to the laws of ordinary visual sensations. Their experiments established that the laws of perspective, contrast, color mixing, and illusions in skin-optical perception are the same as in ordinary vision, although they manifested in a somewhat different form.

It was found that the perceiving surface for Rosa was not only the 3rd and 4th fingers of her right hand, but also, to a lesser extent, the pads of the other fingers of the right hand, as well as the fingers of the left hand. Finally, proceeding from the fact that the sense of touch in humans is most pronounced at the fingertips and the tip of the tongue, an experiment was performed to identify color sensations with the tip of the tongue. Rosa’s eyes were blindfolded (to rule out peeking, a layer of cotton wool was also placed over her eyelids), she was given a colored dragée to feel with her fingers, and then this same dragée was felt by her with her tongue (her mouth was half-open). It took only two or three attempts for conditioned reflexes of the second kind to develop, and Rosa could flawlessly determine the four color tones of the dragée with the tip of her tongue: white, yellow, red, and green.

The experimenters paid special attention to studying the features of perception in Rosa, which the authors called penetrating. The essence of this new phenomenon was that

Rosa perceived colors and images with her fingers through translucent and opaque materials: paper, X-ray film, glass, foil, etc. By lightness, Rosa was able to differentiate four layers of carbon paper: red, yellow, green, and black, and arrange them correctly. She correctly determined: the color of medicinal powders (pink, white, brown) poured under a sheet of white paper; the color of pieces of paper placed under paper, tracing paper, or X-ray film (in the latter case, the lightness was determined); the boundary of the liquid in a flask when feeling it from the outside through glass, etc.

To exclude the effect of thermal rays, a white ray was passed through a triangular prism. Then this ray was passed through a heat-absorbing lens with water, reflected in a mirror, and directed onto a canvas screen. From the reverse side of the canvas, Rosa determined the color tones of the rainbow with her fingers. She determined the color and the type of a moving curve on an oscilloscope screen. It was noted that after turning off the light in a dark room, Rosa could for some time read black letters and sense the blue-violet tones of the spectrum. Some results of these studies were published by A. S. Novomeysky in the article “Second Sight” (the newspaper “Tagilsky Rabochy” of December 16, 1962).

Somewhat later, Rosa Kuleshova underwent another cycle of research—this time in Moscow. The research program was compiled by staff members of the Institute for Information Transmission Problems, D. G. Mirza and D. E. Bogoyavlenskaya, and Prof. F. V. Bassin from the Institute of Neurology of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. Representatives of the Institute of Biophysics of the USSR Academy of Sciences also participated in the examination. The results of the research by the

Moscow scientists were published in the newspapers “Izvestia” No. 11 for 1963, “Krasnaya Zvezda” of February 3, 1963, etc.

The published articles provided new data on the ability to distinguish without the use of vision: whether the light in the room is on or off, and the color of paper squares (white and black) with the toes. The staff of the Institute of Biophysics of the USSR Academy of Sciences published the results of their experiments in the newspaper “Izvestia” in the article “Vision in the Fingertips.”

The researchers projected an image onto a frosted glass screen. And Rosa clearly distinguished light and dark spots on it. To clarify the role of thermal radiation on perception, the scientists conducted both experiments with the exclusion of thermal rays (placing a filter absorbing infrared rays in the path of the projected image) and experiments in which, conversely, only thermal rays were left, without rays of the visible spectrum. It was concluded that the primary significance is not thermal radiation, but the perception of light by the skin of the fingers. Two differently colored rays were directed at Rosa’s fingers, and she always distinguished them. Furthermore, physicists established that there are 10 light-sensitive elements per 1 square mm of the surface of Rosa’s fingers, which, according to R. Svoren, are of the cone type with three types of light receptors: blue, red, and green; and that Rosa’s perception with her fingers is analogous to visual perception with the eyes. Subsequently, the hypothesis about light-sensitive elements was replaced by the hypothesis about light-sensitive pigments in Rosa’s fingers.

Does light sensitivity of the fingers exist in other people? Experiments with students of A. S. Novomeysky provided the answer to this question [5, 6, 10]. It turned out that the ability to distinguish color tones on paper is inherent in a rudimentary state

in all subjects; in approximately one-sixth of the students, the rudiments of skin-optical sensitivity were very good, and moreover, a number of students determined the difference in coloring even through a sheet of white paper. Experiments were also conducted to detect skin-optical sensitivity in the blind [5].

1.4. Features of skin-optical sensitivity and its difference from vision

Scientists expressed various assumptions about the nature of Rosa Kuleshova’s phenomenon. Hypotheses were put forward that Rosa feels extremely subtle temperature gradations, a different structure of the coloring substance (or its chemical composition), and that she has an extremely developed tactile sensitivity. The sensitivity of the receptor apparatuses is increased with an expansion of the boundaries of perception to light perception and the discrimination of chromatic colors, as well as the hypothesis of vision in the fingertips—the presence of special photoreceptors capable of perceiving light stimuli, and the role of pigment; Some scientists linked the subject’s abilities to telepathy, i.e., the ability to somehow catch the thoughts and feelings of the experimenter and report them. The experiments were conducted in such a way that telepathy was excluded. Firstly, the objects were mixed in a bag, and the subject took them out strictly according to the instruction. Secondly, the experimenter himself did not know where and what was located. The possibility of suggestion or induction was excluded. Thirdly, the constancy of perception, the action of certain patterns of sensations, the influence of specific conditions of the external environment (light, darkness, etc.) on the phenomenon. Thus, the telepathic hypothesis was rejected.

Experiments by a number of scientists have shown the invalidity of the thermal (infrared) hypothesis in explaining the phenomenon of skin vision. However, in the process of developing distant photoreception in Rosa, facts confirming the data of A.N. Leontiev were observed. At first, her search activity was determined by the temperature differences of color rays; only after these differences were reinforced by words—the designation of one or another color during exposure—did Rosa begin to name color tones flawlessly, and the answers began to correspond to the sensations of light rays. This, in the view of I.M. Goldberg, does not allow completely excluding the role of temperature receptors in the formation of skin-optical sensitivity.

For reading, determining the color in drawings, fabrics, and threads, Rosa needed to feel a particular object with her fingers. In contact perception, the involvement of tactile and kinesthetic receptors is indisputable. The same can be said about the ability of tactile discrimination of a color or black-and-white picture projected onto frosted glass, and the ability to perceive through glass or cellophane. Here one can point to the skin-optical illusion discovered by A.S. Novomeisky. If sheets of white and black paper are placed side by side under a sheet of glass on a table and one runs their fingers over the glass with their eyes closed, the fingers clearly feel the border between the two colors; when moving to the part of the glass lying over the black sheet of paper, the fingers seem to stick to the glass, and it is hard to move them along it. Of course, tactile sensation alone cannot distantly perceive the color tones of rays, but the absence of direct contact when feeling through glass, cellophane, or film does not allow determining the structure of the coloring substance. During the feeling process, baroreceptors are clearly involved. As for the three types of color-

perceiving “cones” in Rosa’s fingers, allegedly found by researchers from the Institute of Biophysics, these facts were not confirmed. The ability to determine the color tones of objects placed under sheets of white paper and red carbon paper, which is completely inaccessible to vision, excludes the presence of special photoreceptors.

In the spring of 1963, I.M. Goldberg proved with his experiments the possibility of perceiving color tones through metal foil, which is inaccessible to vision with the eyes. Rosa could distinguish all colors of the spectrum well through the foil. Drawings or large numbers were identified by her only after direct preliminary familiarization using her fingers; after this, all the selected drawings and numbers were flawlessly identified through the foil.

Thus, concludes Goldberg, skin-optical sensitivity is a synthetic product of the activity of all (or almost all) types of skin receptors. It is not a sixth sense, but one of the types of cutaneous reception (in this case, to inadequate stimuli), similar to vibrational sensitivity.

The skin-optical sense can manifest itself in different ways. The contact property brings it closer to ordinary tactile sensations, the distant one—to some extent resembles distant reception by means of other sense organs, and the penetrating property appears as a new quality inaccessible to other sense organs. All these forms manifest themselves on the basis of cutaneous sensations. They form the basis for the perception of signs of light and color both in Rosa Kuleshova and in other subjects. Different subjects interpret these sensations differently. The artist Boris Malyshev, who worked in the editorial office of the magazine “Science and Life”, defined yellow paper as porous

and smooth, and red as sticky [10]. Rosa often characterized her sensations using concepts that were not only tactile, but also visual, and sometimes thermal. She described color with crosses, dots, and the degree of smoothness and roughness. But for her, these indicators were often inconsistent.

According to Leontiev, the awareness of these sensations requires “internal theoretical search activity” and, accordingly, enormous active attention and tension. Therefore, Rosa Kuleshova quickly grew tired during the experiments, and her fingers sweated. Her labor was not in vain; researchers step by step clarified the relationships between the skin-optical sense (second vision) and normal vision.

Although skin vision is largely similar to vision with the eyes and obeys many laws of human visual perception (contrast, perspective, illusions, the laws of color mixing), it also differs in many ways. Firstly, it differs from perception with the eye to the same extent that the perception of a very nearsighted person differs from the perception of someone with good vision, or to what extent a person standing against the wall of a tall building and looking at the wall right in front of them can see the entire building with their eyes. He sees the wall well, can make out the tiniest details and roughness here, but cannot immediately grasp the visual perspective or its relationship with other buildings and the terrain—he has to move. Similarly, by moving, Rosa’s fingers encompass the entire text or Drawing: the image unfolds as in a picture tube, and the information is summarized and selected.

Secondly, Rosa’s “visual names” are not always analogous to the visual sensations obtained with the eyes. She was given a white dragee from the “colorful peas” candy set on her tongue. She correctly identified it with her tongue as “white.” But then

the room was illuminated with blue light, and the white dragee appears blue to the experimenter. However, in more than 50% of all trials, the color remains the same for her—“the dragee is white.” Rosa’s answers were also erroneous when perceiving yellow and green objects illuminated with red light. She called them light blue, blue, while the eyes saw them as orange, yellowish. Goldberg conducted a series of experiments with Rosa to determine the color and drawing on colored paper placed under colored glasses (light filters). The experiments revealed the ability of the hand to perceive the true color of the paper through thick colored glass 3 mm thick, i.e., for skin vision, colored glass is an obstacle to recognizing the color of the paper. Although, when perceived with the eyes, the color of the paper through the colored glass is seen differently, obeying the law of color mixing.

Thus, the skin-optical sense possesses properties inaccessible to vision with the eyes. Due to the features of penetrating perception, it is possible to determine the true color of objects (i.e., the color determined by the eye in the light) through sheets of paper, foil, and colored glass—which is completely inaccessible to the eye.

1.5. Evolution of skin-optical sensitivity in Rosa Kuleshova

Skin-optical sensations in Rosa Kuleshova developed gradually. At first, it was a drawn-out process of perception by hand and not always accurate. When determining the color of paper or printed letters, she would feel and rub the object under study with her fingers for a long time. As training progressed, the accuracy of recognition and the speed of perception increased. The skin-optical feeling arose in her only upon direct

contact with objects; such a feeling was called contact. Subsequently, she learned to recognize the color of different chromatic rays in a stream of light and to determine the color tones of colored objects at a distance - through transparent and opaque media (glass, cellophane film, paper, foil). She began to read texts written on paper with milk, salt and sugar solutions, learned to recognize playing cards through the opaque material of the card back, “saw” the color of colored paper through several sheets of white paper, etc. Gradually, distant and penetrating abilities of the skin-optical feeling appeared in her. Such phenomenal recognition skills were consolidated through regular training.

However, in the summer of 1963, skin-optical sensitivity in Rosa began to sharply deteriorate. It was noted above that an atmosphere of attention and trust improved the quality of the subject’s perception, while distracting factors, suspicion, and distrust toward her sharply worsened the abilities of skin vision and even made it impossible. The beginning of the crisis coincided with the experiments conducted on her with head shielding, which Kuleshova assessed as a manifestation of distrust toward her. From that moment on, skin-optical sensitivity began to sharply deteriorate; her recognition ability decreased: even ordinary tasks, previously performed very easily, to determine the color tones of paper often became impossible. The results in experiments on perception through opaque media deteriorated even more. Only in isolated cases, especially in the presence of a new audience for her, did the results significantly improve.

According to Doctor I.M. Goldberg, the regression of skin-optical sensitivity in Rosa Kuleshova is connected, in the

first place, with a deterioration in health. However, there is no reason to think that any dangerous experiments by scientists on the patient served as the cause of the illness. Her consciousness, apparently, was solving contradictory tasks of her personal fate. On the one hand, she is in the spotlight today, respectable people admire her successes, and on the other, attention to her is weakening day by day, tomorrow she will be forgotten by everyone, her creativity will come to an end, and no prospect is in sight. Probably, she had no one to talk to simply about life, to dream calmly, to philosophize. The doctor noted that the frequency of seizures, especially of ambulatory automatism with a twilight state of consciousness, had increased. Changes in the psyche of the personality manifested more sharply: delusional ideas of grandeur and damage. Rigidity of thinking, verbosity, an inability to distinguish the main from the insignificant. A tendency toward monotonous, stereotyped speech patterns developed.

Rosa almost stopped training, agreeing only to rare training sessions without sufficient desire and concentration of attention. The process of perception began to be replaced in her by attempts at guessing and even peeking. The deterioration of health and the cessation of training led to a regression of the skin-optical feeling in Kuleshova.

Comparing the dynamics of the manifestation of the abilities of Rosa Kuleshova and the patient Sofya M-va, described by Khovrin, one can discover commonalities in them: an alternation of periods of accurate perception with periods of weak sensations and even their absence. One thing is clear: that the skin-optical feeling depends on the well-being of the subjects.

At the same time, the study of the phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova gave an impetus to the research of skin-optical feeling in healthy

people. Scientists of Moscow, Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk, Magnitogorsk, and Ishim obtained interesting and valuable results.

1.6. An Attempt at a Physiological Explanation of the Phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova

How can the presence of skin-optical sensation in humans be explained? — asks I.M. Goldberg, putting forward his own concept. After all, A.S. Novomeisky, N.I. Sudakov, S.N. Dobronravov, and others have shown that skin-optical sensation occurs in a rudimentary state in all people, and in about one-sixth of the subjects it is expressed more or less vividly.

Moreover, this sensation is the reception of the skin to inadequate stimuli and is considered by a number of researchers to be an ancient biological mechanism. In lower animals, the skin is the organ that perceives all irritations of the surrounding world. For example, the ability of worms to perceive light stimuli with their skin is well known. It is assumed that under the continuous influence of the external environment, the sensitive cells of the skin specialized, began to respond predominantly to adequate mechanical and thermal stimuli, and at higher stages of evolution turned into sensory organs connected to the cerebral cortex. The analysis and synthesis of these sensations, carried out by the cortical ends of the analyzers, becomes extremely finely differentiated and functionally narrowed.

This differentiation and narrowing, in the course of evolution, were by no means implemented immediately. The sense organs of primitive man, defending his life in the struggle with the forces of nature and the dangers lying in wait for him at every step, presumably, provided very subtle but less differentiated sensations,

than in modern humans. The excitatory process in the cortical division of the analyzer in the distant ancestors of man, due to powerful subcortical impulses, probably spread along the cortex to other analyzers. Rudiments of such ancient sensitivity appear to be synesthesias—peculiar features of perception in which the stimulation of one analyzer causes the appearance of concomitant sensations characteristic of other sensory organs.

Synesthesias are explained by the irradiation of the excitatory process from one subcortical division of the analyzer to another, as well as by insufficient differentiation of sensations. Synesthesias occur in individuals of the artistic type — musicians, artists, poets, and others — and are expressed in the fact that the perception of certain sounds is accompanied by the vision of a particular color, shape, or picture (colored hearing), the sensation of color is accompanied by auditory sensations, etc. Synesthesias can exist between all sensory organs.

Tactile-visual synesthesias, especially vivid ones, are very rare. In life, we always encounter the highest form of synesthesia — conditioned-reflex synesthesias. Thus, by the smell of cutlets or borscht alone, we know what will be for lunch today. The olfactory sensation gives us a complex representation, previously obtained on the basis of gustatory, visual, and other sensations. The process of forming such synesthesias occurs on the basis of conditioned-reflex connections in early childhood and school age. It must be assumed that in early childhood, a person also receives the skin-optical sensation of color and light; subsequently, however, these sensations are gradually displaced by visual ones.

The mechanism of skin-optical sensation sometimes manifests itself in an adult, provided there is internal “theoretical” search activity, as a result of training. In pathological cases, when the tone of the cortex is lowered, with a combination of hysteria and certain forms of epilepsy, in hypnotic sleep, and in some mental diseases with the presence of hallucinations, subthreshold skin-optical stimuli become conscious and, in one way or another, are revealed based on the previous experience of a given individual. Only in this way, believes I.M. Goldberg, and not by the presence of visual pigment or rods and cones in the skin, can the facts obtained during the studies of Rosa Kuleshova be explained.

According to Penfield’s data, the temporal-parietal region of the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres is related to the complex mechanisms of memory and speech. This area of the cortex, located between the zones into which all types of sensations, including olfactory and visceral, are received, is an extensive neural network for all specific sensory systems.

The presence of temporal epilepsy with right-sided localization of the process in Rosa indicates the involvement of this area of the cortex. The fact that Rosa’s perception proceeded according to the highest form of synesthesia—the conditioned-reflex one—is also proven by experiments on the formation of a new form of skin sensations: the perception of gustatory stimuli by the skin.

After the first combination of the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus (2-3 drops of solutions of different tastes were dripped onto her tongue and simultaneously the palmar surface was stroked with a cotton swab moistened with the corresponding solution), one stroke with a moistened cotton swab was enough to immediately evoke * *two sensations—tactile and gustatory. Saliva was secreted

(stronger for sour, less for salty, even less for bitter and sweet), at the same time Rosa noted that the sweet was slightly sticky, with the sour she felt that the cotton swab moved with more effort, with the salty the cotton swab moved more easily, and the bitter even gave a slight pain reaction.

I.M. Goldberg in the 1960s expressed that, in addition to skin-optical sensation, in the future, probably, skin-gustatory, skin-olfactory, and even skin-auditory sensations will also be discovered.

2. On “skin vision” in humans

An experimental study of the abilities of Rosa Kuleshova during the months of October-November 1962 was conducted by Ya.R. Fishelev and S.N. Dobronravov in the neurological clinic of the Sverdlovsk Scientific Research Institute of Balneology and Physiotherapy under the guidance of Prof. D.G. Shefer.

The arguments of I.M. Golberg, A.S. Novomeysky, and others, who explained Rosa Kuleshova’s phenomenon as the result of unusual tactile and, possibly, temperature sensitivity, did not satisfy the Sverdlovsk scientists.

A hypothesis was put forward about the photoreceptor nature of this phenomenon; it was planned to find out the dominant role of tactile, temperature, or light sensitivity of the subject’s skin. What follows will provide a description of individual experiments and their conclusions.

2.1. Experimental verification of the hypothesis of unusual tactile sensitivity

First of all, the tactile sensitivity of the skin of Rosa Kuleshova’s fingers was investigated using the method of aesthesiometry and von Frey hairs. At the same time, it turned out that the tactile

sensitivity of the skin of the 3rd and 4th fingers of the right hand was higher than the normal sensitivity of the skin of the other fingers of the hands. This seemed to confirm the assumption that increased tactile sensitivity was the cause of the phenomenon under study.

It remained to be found out: which of the agents — mechanical (the pressure of the ink on the skin) or light (the effect on the skin of the light rays reflected from the text) — is essential in “skin vision”. To solve this problem, it was necessary to exclude one or the other stimulus.

When determining the significance of the light agent, the researchers drew attention to the fact that Rosa, using the skin of her fingers, reads, determines the content of drawings, and recognizes the colors of objects best in good lighting. In the experiments set up, the speed of reading texts was measured at different illumination levels and in complete darkness. With a decrease in illumination, the subject began to read more slowly, with difficulty, and in complete darkness she could not read and refused. Thus, in one of the experiments, at a text illumination of 20 lux, she read it at a speed of 175 letters per minute, at an illumination of 1 lux — at a speed of 99 letters per minute, and in complete darkness she could not read.

Such an experiment was also performed. On a mechanical typewriter, from which the ribbon had been previously removed, a few lines were typed with a strong pressure on the keys. Then the typewriter was threaded with a ribbon and a few lines of text of equal complexity were typed on the same paper. In the first case, the inscriptions were embossed but “blind” (blank); in the second, the inscriptions were clearly visible but remained sufficiently flat. When attempting to read the “blind” text, Kuleshova experienced insurmountable difficulties and could distinguish only a dot

and the letter “O”. When her fingers touched the ink-tinted printed lines, she easily read everything that was printed.

However, it followed from these experiments that for reading, the fingers needed both a light stimulus and a cutaneous-mechanical one. To exclude the cutaneous-mechanical stimulus, new experiments were set up on reading texts through transparent materials in good lighting. At first, the experiments did not yield a positive effect; some kind of dead end was reached: on the one hand, a light stimulus is necessary for reading, and on the other, reading through transparent materials at any illumination proved impossible. Probably, in the experiments with transparent materials, the main hindrance was the removal of the skin from the examined objects. In this case, the scientists reasoned, the image of the letters on the photosensitive receptors would turn out blurry, and reading became impossible. And yet, the subject should have been able to at least distinguish the colors of painted surfaces if the cutaneous-light stimulus was indeed the active agent.

The question was solved with the help of a method in which, at first, a simpler task was set before the subject, and then it was gradually complicated. Rosa Kuleshova was asked to determine, through a celluloid film, figures of various shapes cut out of black paper. At the same time, the subject pressed her fingers with great force on the film above the figures. The flexible film repeated the shape of the figure, and its relief image was obtained under the fingers. In this experiment, the active stimuli were apparently both light (black figures on a white background) and mechanical (the sensation of the relief of the figures). After the subject began to distinguish the figures through the

film, the experiment was complicated: she had to determine letters through the film. After a little training, Kuleshova was able to read words printed in large type through the film and to distinguish the colors of painted surfaces. Thus, gradually, it was possible to move from a complex stimulus (consisting of light and mechanical components) to a single light one.

However, even after this, the subject could not distinguish anything through glass for a long time, even if it was thinner and more transparent than celluloid film. Upon touching the glass, she immediately refused to recognize anything through it. It is possible that in this case, the new cutaneous-mechanical stimulus was of significance, an orienting response to it, since she had never before determined the colors of objects through glass. At the same time, the mechanical stimulation of the skin obscured the light stimulation; external inhibition arose. In this case, the researchers again had to start with some complex stimulus and then move on to a single light one. The complex stimulus was created from light and thermal components. With the help of a slide projector, images of various drawings were projected onto a small matte screen. The subject, moving her finger along the frosted glass screen, determined the location of light and dark areas, and even the content of some drawings. The light areas of the screen should have been warmer than the dark ones. A measurement taken using a semiconductor electrothermometer showed that the temperature difference between the light and dark fields was 0.2 degrees. After this, a number of experiments were performed in which the subject, through glass, distinguished in the dark the content of simple drawings made with phosphors. The phenomenon of luminescence, as is

known, differs from light-thermal radiation and is called cold glow. After these experiments, Rosa began to distinguish large letters, numbers, and the colors of painted surfaces even through thick transparent glasses.

Thus, in the experiments on the perception of text and the color of objects through transparent materials, it was established that the stimulus acting on the skin is not mechanical, but light. In other words, the hypothesis of unusual tactile sensitivity as the cause of “skin vision” turned out to be invalid. At the same time, important facts were obtained confirming the presence in the subject of an unusual sensitivity of the skin to light stimuli.

2.2. Experimental Verification of the Hypothesis of Unusual Temperature Sensitivity

The researchers tested the assumption that Rosa Kuleshova determines the color of objects based on the different temperatures of differently colored surfaces.

Experiments studying the temperature sensitivity of the skin of the hands showed that the skin of the 3rd and 4th fingers of the subject’s hands has lower sensitivity thresholds to radiant heat than the skin of the other fingers. The experiments conducted subsequently were intended to resolve the question of the significance of increased temperature sensitivity in Kuleshova’s skin-visual perceptions.

One of them consisted of illuminating the skin of the 3rd and 4th fingers of the right hand with a beam of light. In the case when a heat filter was placed in the path of the beam, the illumination behind it was 460 lx, and the thermosensor showed a temperature of 29 degrees. Then, instead of the heat filter, a light filter was placed in the path of the beam, behind which the illumination dropped to 50 lx, and the temperature rose to 29.5 degrees.

Despite the fact that in the first case the subject’s skin was heated less than in the second, she correctly identified the beam of light behind the heat filter as brighter. This experiment definitely showed that the subject judges light phenomena not by thermal attributes.

Another experiment was as follows. Using a slide projector, the right hand of the subject was illuminated alternately by beams of varying brightness. Kuleshova correctly identified the change in illumination. To the question of which of the beams was warmer, the subject answered flawlessly that “whichever is lighter, that one is warmer.” In the third experiment, two slide projectors and a heat emitter were used. Next to the slide projector with the less bright beam of light, a heat emitter was placed, which radiated heat along the path of the beam of light. The right hand of the subject was illuminated by one or the other slide projector. In one case, the hand fell into an area where the illumination was 500 lx and the temperature was 23 degrees, and in the other, 100 lx and 24 degrees. Thus, the skin of the hand was illuminated more strongly, but heated less, or vice versa, illuminated by a less bright beam of light, but heated more. As a result of the experiment, Kuleshova correctly determined that the beam of one device “shines more, but heats less,” and the other “is warmer, but not as bright.” The following conclusion follows from this experiment: the subject distinguishes between cutaneous-light and cutaneous-temperature stimuli.

The independence of the sensation of light from temperature was demonstrated by the following simple experiment. Strips of red, blue, and yellow paper were glued onto a metal plate. One end of the plate was heated. Kuleshova touched the heated and cold sections of the strips with her fingers and correctly named their colors.

From this series of experiments, Ya.R. Fishelev and S.N. Dobronravov conclude that the hypothesis of unusual temperature sensitivity as the cause of “skin vision” also turns out to be untenable.

2.3. Investigation of the Unusual Light Sensitivity of the Skin

The study of Rosa Kuleshova’s phenomenon showed that the receptor apparatus of her skin possesses sensitivity to both chromatic and achromatic colors. After a series of special training sessions devised by Ya.R. Fishelev and S.N. Dobronravov, the subject correctly identified the content of all of E.B. Rabkin’s polychromatic charts. Normal color “skin vision” was consistently found in Kuleshova.

Unlike I.M. Goldberg, who put forward the hypothesis of unusual tactile and temperature sensitivity of the skin, Ya.R. Fishelev and S.N. Dobronravov proposed a hypothesis about the unusual photosensitivity of Kuleshova’s skin, capable of reacting to ordinary and colored light rays. To prove the light hypothesis, the Sverdlovsk scientists invented an original approach. They began experiments by exposing the skin to bright rays that also possessed a significant thermal effect, and then moved on to rays of much lower brightness and with a temperature lying below the threshold of the subject’s thermal sensitivity.

In the experiments, to obtain colored rays, the light from a slide projector was passed through yellow, orange, red, blue, and green light filters. The colored and white rays were directed in the dark at the right hand of the subject. The following important fact was discovered. Upon the first aiming of the multicolored light rays at Kuleshova’s fingers, she felt their difference from one another, but could not name the colors of the rays. However, it was enough to direct the light rays onto the skin over the bone 3-4 times, naming their colors, for the subject to subsequently flawlessly determine the colors of the rays using her skin receptors.

It is known that if a colored surface is illuminated with colored rays, the color of this surface will change according to the law of color mixing. The scientists decided to find out how Rosa “sees” colored bodies illuminated by colored rays using her skin. To clarify this question, Rosa was asked to determine the color tones of E.B. Rabkin’s charts illuminated by colored rays. The subject named the color tones as the eye sees them. In a number of experiments, she could not read an inscription made with red paint under red illumination. This inscription could not be read with the eyes either, since the inscription lost its color under red light. After the white light was turned on instead of the red, Kuleshova easily read the inscription with her fingers and said that it was red in color. In these facts, the similarity of “skin vision” to ocular vision manifested itself. The similarity between them also manifests itself in the fact that both types of vision are characterized by the phenomenon of lightness contrast.

In the conducted experiments, Kuleshova first touched a gray field and a light background, and then the same gray field and a black background. At the same time, the gray field in the first case seemed to her darker than in the second. When transitioning from bright light to twilight,

as well as when transitioning from dim illumination to very bright, the subject’s skin-visual capabilities noticeably deteriorated for 20-40 seconds. This phenomenon is analogous to the light and dark adaptation of the eye.

When investigating the acuity of “skin vision,” the experimenters found out Rosa’s ability to distinguish letters of various sizes. She read texts printed in fonts of different sizes at an illumination of 150 lx. In one of the experiments, the subject read the title of the newspaper “Pravda” (letter height mm) in 4 seconds (reading speed - 90 letters per minute). She read article headlines (letter height 6 mm) at a speed of 156 letters per minute. She read texts printed in the newspaper’s standard font - 9 point (letter height from 1.58 mm to 2.58 mm) - at a speed of 170 letters per minute. For comparison, with ocular vision, a literate person reads texts printed in a 9-point font about 5 times faster. Examining the smallest letters with her fingers - petit (letter height 1 mm) - Rosa read the newspaper text with difficulty, but nevertheless.

In the course of conducting the reading experiments, the Sverdlovsk researchers noticed that the subject occasionally read without touching the letters with her fingers, but by moving her fingertips along the lower edge of the line of text being read. From this very important observation, the scientists concluded that Rosa Kuleshova reads and distinguishes the colors of objects not with the unlit areas of the skin of the fingers (which are brought into direct contact with the examined objects), but with the illuminated areas of the skin.

2.4. Discussion of the Main Test Results

Let us briefly outline the results of the studies conducted by Ya. R. Fishelev and S. N. Dobronravov, who questioned the hypothesis of increased tactile and temperature sensitivity, but proved the idea of an unusual photosensitivity of the subject’s skin.

Rosa Kuleshova, using the skin of her hand’s fingers, could read texts, determine the content of drawings and the colors of objects only when they were sufficiently illuminated.
After preliminary training of the subject, she developed the ability, using the skin of her hand’s fingers, to determine the colors of objects, the content of drawings and texts placed under transparent materials; to distinguish the colors of light rays acting on the skin; to recognize a change in the color of objects when the color of the rays illuminating these objects changes.
In a series of specially designed experiments, it was found that the studied phenomenon of “skin vision” is based on Rosa Kuleshova’s ability to perceive light stimuli with her skin.

Thus, the experimenters concluded, the “visual” analyzer, whose receptor apparatus is located in the skin of the hand’s fingers, was excited by light stimuli. This analyzer possesses light sensitivity to both achromatic and chromatic colors. The Sverdlov scientists acknowledged that the central mechanisms of the phenomenon they were studying

of “skin vision” remain insufficiently clear for the time being. In their opinion, it is undeniably certain only that the studied phenomenon is primarily the result of certain shifts occurring in the central divisions of the analyzers. The presence of such shifts is confirmed, for example, by the presence of inductive intercentral relationships, which constantly manifested in the subject in the following fact. To increase skin photosensitivity, she strived to disable vision as fully as possible with the help of a light-tight blindfold. The same is confirmed by even more important facts of the comparatively rapid improvement of the subject’s ability. These have already been discussed above.

3. How to Distinguish Color with Fingers

In 1964, N. I. Sudakov at the Magnitogorsk Pedagogical Institute conducted experiments with students and blind people to study the issues of trainability and the development of practical skills for color differentiation using the fingers of the hand. In doing so, he set himself three tasks:

**find out:**whether color differentiation skills can be developed in all people using their fingertips;
**clarify:**on the basis of what signs subjects distinguish colors during “skin vision” with their fingers;
**study:**the possibility of teaching the blind “vision” with their fingers (distinguishing color tones, the contours of geometric figures, letters).

Along the way, the researcher wanted to experimentally test two main hypotheses put forward by scientists to explain

the physiological foundations of color differentiation with fingertips: the thermal and photoreceptor hypotheses.

3.1. “Skin vision” can be developed in everyone

To solve the first task, experiments were conducted with 150 first- and second-year students (under 20 years old) of the pedagogical faculty. The experiments used a homogeneous material of only two colors (red and yellow): silk ribbons, pencils, colored glass, test tubes with paints, plastic sticks. As a rule, 30-40 students participated simultaneously in a group experiment. Let us note that initially the experimenter explained to them that they could all learn to distinguish color using the fingertips of their hand. To do this, it is necessary to “feel” the tactile characteristic of the color; when rubbing objects of red color with the fingers, significant resistance, viscosity, is always felt, whereas when moving a finger over an object painted yellow, resistance is minimal: the finger moves easily over it. Thus, students are given a positive mindset for success and a hint for the first color identification (viscous sensation - red color; finger slips - yellow).

Following the explanation, the subjects were blindfolded, and they made the first attempts to “catch” the difference in the color of objects. After obtaining successful differentiations, additional reinforcing exercises were conducted. The differentiation abilities were considered developed after the subjects correctly recognized the proposed colors by comparing them 7 or more times out of 10. The experiments were conducted over

four days and took a total of minutes each day for each group.

The results of the experiments showed that all students, after a certain number of exercises, develop the ability to distinguish the red and yellow colors of paper and pencils with their fingertips. The speed of developing differentiations turned out to be largely dependent on the characteristics of the material. Determining the color of glass and plastic sticks caused the greatest difficulties for students, requiring twice as many exercises to distinguish them than to recognize the color of paper. Out of 150 students, 41% during the time allotted for all subjects failed to learn how to determine the colors of plastic and glass objects. For these students, the differentiation ability was developed by conducting additional exercises.

The capacity for learning among students varies. If for some, 42 exercises were required to distinguish the color of paper, then for others - 63. More capable students determined the color of glass after 86 repetitions, while some needed 12. The reason for such a significant difference in learning speed has not yet been studied.

Based on the results of the first series of experiments, N. I. Sudakov suggests that, in principle, any normal person can master the ability to differentiate colors using their fingers through appropriate exercises.

3.2. Studying Color Discrimination by Force of Resistance

To clarify the question of on the basis of what features the subjects distinguish color tones, N.I. Sudakov complicated the

methodology of the experiments. The fact is that in the tactile characterization of color tones it was necessary to exclude incidental features caused by the texture of the material and the structure of the paint. For this purpose, on the proposal of Associate Professor A.S. Novomeisky, a special experimental apparatus was assembled. It consisted of a table with a series of rectangular openings (10 cm × 6 cm) cut into its top, into which frosted glass panes were inserted. Below, on a special rail, 7 epidiascopes were mounted, and different color filters were placed on their objectives. Beams of light from the epidiascopes were directed onto the frosted glass panes, and these beams became colored as they passed through the color filters. Heat filters were placed between the color filters and the frosted glass panes.

The subject, positioned on one side of the table opposite the experimenter, placed the fingers of both hands on top of the frosted glass panes and, moving them, determined the colors. Subsequently, the subjects determined the colors without moving their fingers along the frosted glass. In this case, the fingers were placed in the stream of the colored beam, and the color was determined by lightly rubbing the thumb and index finger against each other.

The subjects’ eyes were covered with special light-proof goggles. Red, yellow, blue, orange, violet, green, light blue, and white colors were projected onto the frosted glass panes, and when the epidiascope was turned off, a black color was obtained. First, the students learned to distinguish red from yellow, then gradually all the other colors were introduced for discrimination.

As the experiments showed, the apparatus made it possible to obtain different colors on a completely uniform material (frosted

glass), and the influence of extraneous features caused by the texture of the material was eliminated.

Four first-year students participated in these experiments. The general task before the subjects was the following: to learn to more or less accurately determine 3 colors (red, blue, and yellow). Each of the students conducted about 200 determinations of three colors. Then, in a control experiment of 20 presentations (of which 10 trials were absolute and 10 by comparison), the number of correct determinations was ascertained. As a result, 60–90% correct recognitions were obtained for absolute trials, and 60–70% for color comparisons.

The subjects noted that it was easier for them to determine colors by comparison. Absolute recognition of colors without comparison is a sufficiently complex task.

The experiments showed that the basis of the subjects’ ability to recognize color tones by means of their fingertips lies in the sense of the force of resistance arising as a result of the movement of the fingers over objects, and in certain other tactile characteristics (dryness, density, etc.). According to the force of resistance perceived by the subject when moving the fingers along the frosted glass, the color tones are arranged (according to preliminary data from N.I. Sudakov) in the following sequence: black, blue, dark violet, red, orange, green, light blue, yellow, white. Black offers maximum resistance, and white the minimum.

The results of N.I. Sudakov’s experiments confirmed the conclusions of A.S. Novomeisky that during the recognition of color tones, subjects do not directly experience visual representations of color. Not one of the subjects reported in their accounts that they had any visual representations of

color. However, in individual subjects, the recognition of colors by means of fingertips is accompanied by the emergence of subjective images in the form of small crosses, straight lines, points,

and so forth.

The experimenter drew attention to the fact that the skills of recognizing colors by means of the fingers are formed differently in different learners. This manifests itself literally in everything: in the number of exercises necessary for developing discriminations, in the manner of moving the fingers along the frosted glass, in the number of permissible errors, and so on.

Along with experiments aimed at developing in students the skills to distinguish color tones using the tips of their fingers, N.I. Sudakov conducted other experiments. In particular, part of the experiments was devoted to finding out whether the subjects, with their eyes closed, would be able to determine the boundaries between white and black colors, as well as the outlines of geometric figures (triangles, squares, etc.).

As soon as positive results were obtained, these experiments began to be conducted with the blind. Initially, six people participated in the experiments: two of them were born blind, two subjects had lost their vision even before the experiments, and the remaining two were visually impaired. When it turned out that all the subjects coped with the first tasks, more intensive and systematic experiments were subsequently conducted mainly with three subjects.

As educational and training materials, the following were used: sufficiently large pictures printed in books;

geometric figures depicted on sheets of paper (triangles, rectangles, squares) with side lengths of 3-4 cm, lines (vertical, horizontal, inclined) of various thicknesses, and large alphabet letters (4-6 cm).

The experiments were conducted individually for 2.5 months and, as a rule, took no more than 45-50 minutes a day. The subjects participated in the experiments with great interest and usually looked forward to the next sessions with anticipation.

The results of the experiment showed that all the subjects, without exception, learned to find the boundary of contact between white and black colors. They relatively quickly developed the skills to identify vertical, horizontal, and inclined lines. They all learned to correctly trace geometric figures (square, triangle, circle), as well as portrait frames. Three blind individuals learned to trace individual letters (N, I, P, Sh, G, L, A) and recognize them through glass.

The blind grasped transitions in shades very well, flawlessly identifying lighter and darker spots on pictures and portraits.

From this, dear readers should pay attention to the following important conclusion of the researcher. If we take into account the indicated successes of the blind and the fact that the experiments with them were conducted for only 2.5 months, one cannot help but express a rather optimistic assumption about the possibility of developing in the blind the skill of reading large flat-printed text with their fingers. Of course, a sufficiently large circle of researchers, with the mandatory participation of specialists in teaching the blind, should get involved in the development of these questions.

3.4. Testing the thermal and photoreceptor hypotheses of “skin vision”

When it turned out that Rosa Kuleshova’s ability was not a unique phenomenon, but was also inherent in other people, then elucidating the physiological basis of color discrimination using fingertips began to attract the attention of many researchers. To date, as is known, several hypotheses have been put forward. Earlier we already wrote about how S.N. Dobronravov and Ya.R. Fishelev tested two of them—the thermal and the photoreceptor hypotheses.

To test the thermal hypothesis, N.I. Sudakov conducted two series of experiments with 4 subjects who had well-developed skills in identifying red, yellow, and blue color tones.

The first series of experiments was conducted as follows. First of all, it was determined which color tone was perceived by the subject as the most “warm.” This color turned out to be red. Then, the thermal difference between yellow and blue colors was established. Then, the frosted glasses onto which the yellow and red rays were projected were cooled to varying degrees, while the glass onto which the blue ray was projected was heated. Changing the temperature of the glasses did not cause any changes in the subjects’ identification of color tones; the percentage of errors remained the same as under normal conditions.

The second series of experiments with these same subjects was conducted outdoors at a temperature of minus 13 degrees. The results of all these experiments gave reason to believe that the temperature factor is not of decisive importance in the recognition of color tones.

The second hypothesis, the photoreceptor one, as applied to Rosa Kuleshova, was formulated as follows: Rosa Kuleshova does only what a person could do if they had the retina of an eye in their fingers. It was reported in the press that the staff of the Vision Laboratory of the Institute of Biophysics found three types of receptors in Rosa Kuleshova’s fingers, identical in spectral sensitivity to those in the eye. The idea was expressed that such light-perceiving substances in skin cells are present in every person.

In order to test the photoreceptor hypothesis, experiments were conducted on the subjects’ recognition of color tones under various tactile behaviors: a) free movement of the fingers over the frosted glass; b) touching the fingers to the glass and moving them in only one direction; c) pressing the fingers to a specific spot on the glass with the possibility of changing the pressure; d) touching with the fingers while strictly fixing their position (any movements were excluded). The greatest accuracy of recognition was under the first condition, and under the last condition the subjects refused to solve the assigned task.

Based on his experiments, N.I. Sudakov concludes that supporters of the photoreceptor hypothesis make a serious error by not taking into account the role of kinesthetic and tactile sensations in people’s recognition of colors using their fingertips. The experiments showed that tactile sensations play an important role in the recognition of colors.

N.I. Sudakov believes that the photoreceptor hypothesis is applicable only for cases of recognition: upon direct contact with the object under study, through transparent media. However, in his opinion, recognition in the dark and through

opaque media cannot be explained by the photoreceptor hypothesis. He conducted experiments on color discrimination in the dark and wanted to clarify three questions:

Is color discrimination possible using the fingers in complete darkness?
Does the tactile characteristic of colors change in the dark?
Does the tactile characteristic of colors change with abrupt transitions from illumination to complete darkness?

Four female students participated in the experiments on color discrimination in the dark. Three of them distinguished the colors of paper and fabric. Two colors were given: red and yellow. Ordinary or frosted glass was placed on the sheets of colored paper. The subjects determined the colors in two ways: by rubbing their fingertips on the glass, or by rubbing their index finger and thumb in the air above the glass. The fourth subject determined the colors of liquids in the dark through the walls of vessels (test tubes). The experiments with the subjects usually began after they had spent 5-7 minutes in the dark.

It turned out that during the first two days the subjects failed to distinguish the colors more or less definitely. But over the following days, the differentiation of colors became consolidated and more stable. It is interesting to note that the percentage of correct color identifications in the dark began to approach their usual norm of correct identifications in an illuminated room. The accuracy of discriminating between the two colors in the dark was about 80%.

Thus, the first conclusion was drawn that the subjects can Distinguish colors in the dark using their fingers. The study of the tactile characteristic of colors in the dark (alternating illumination

and darkening of the room) showed that well-trained subjects do not notice any change in the characteristic of colors.

Experiments were conducted on sorting red and yellow glasses in the dark. Out of 120 trials, recognition was accurate in more than 70% of cases.

Four subjects participated in experiments to determine the color of rays through light-proof media (steel, duralumin, and rubber plates with a thickness of 1-1.2 mm). For them, determining the color of the rays did not present any noticeable difficulty. Experiments were conducted on recognizing red and blue paper enclosed in metal cassettes. Out of 646 trials, in 476 cases (more than 70%) the recognition was correct.

N.I. Sudakov’s final conclusion is as follows: the recognition of colors is carried out not due to the activity of photoreceptor nerve cells sensitive to light and color, but due to the activity of some other mechanism.

This conclusion is consistent with the results of the experiments of A.S. Novomeisky, who believes that skin-optical sensations are caused not by light waves, but by something else that depends on light irradiation but is not light.

4. The Skin-Optical Sense as a New Psychological Problem

In March-July 1963, D.K. Gilev conducted research to identify the tactile features of the skin-optical sense. The experiment involved students from various faculties (physics and mathematics, history and philology, pedagogy and methods of primary education), students of eight-month courses for the training of primary school teachers,

as well as individual teachers and staff of the Ishim Pedagogical Institute: 22 people in total. All those who showed an interest in this problem took part in the experiment.

When investigating the abilities, specially prepared colored sheets of paper were used, and the experiment itself was conducted using the method of individual training. Ten sheets of drafting paper measuring 30x42 cm were colored with colored pencils in an even layer and, moreover, in one direction. Seven of these sheets of paper were colored in the main colors of the spectrum, the remaining three in black, white, and gray colors.

The individual training experiment was carried out according to the following scheme. The subject was presented with a sheet colored in one color or another. The subject was required to examine the colored surface of this sheet using the fingers of their hands and note its tactile features. After this, the experimenter named the given color, i.e., verbally reinforced the subject’s sensations. Then the subject was given a sheet of a different color, which they familiarized themselves with in the order described above.

Subsequently, a comparison of these colors with each other was made. If the subject immediately named the colors correctly, they were required to give a justification for their answer (to list the tactile features by which they identified the given color). In the event of the subject having difficulty listing these features, the answer was considered incorrect, and then they were given another color for comparison. This was done in order to facilitate the development of color differentiation. The experimenter gave an evaluation of both the correct and incorrect answers of the subjects.

During the experiments, each subject’s eyes were blindfolded with a dark, light-proof bandage. The subjects were given

instructions that when “feeling” the sheets presented to them, they had to describe their tactile and temperature sensations, as well as the emotional tone of the sensations that could arise under the influence of the given color. The skill was consolidated gradually and daily. The colored sheets were placed on clean glass, raised on small blocks. This was done in order to improve the lighting conditions of the colored surface (light fell not only from above, but also from below). The experiments were conducted under natural lighting.

First, the subjects were presented with the main colors of the spectrum. The experiment began with developing the differentiation of the perception of red and light blue colors. The subjects initially distinguished these colors in comparison. Subsequently, the absolute recognition of each of these two colors was achieved. After the subjects had well consolidated the skill of recognizing the red and light blue colors, a yellow sheet was added for recognition. First, the subjects identified the yellow color by comparing it with the light blue and red colors, and then without comparison. Having consolidated the skill of distinguishing red. Light blue and yellow colors, the orange color was added. Then green, blue, violet. After the subjects had developed a differentiation for the chromatic colors of the spectrum, they practiced distinguishing black, white, and gray colors.

4.1. Results of the training experiment

The experiments showed that the majority of subjects begin to distinguish one color from another by comparison from the second or third exercise. 5 people out of 22 learned to distinguish all ten colors without comparison, i.e., in the form of absolute

recognition. Many subjects recognized individual colors without comparison, but others were determined by comparison.

At the basis of the differentiation of the perception of various colors by hand lie skin sensations. With the help of skin receptors, the subjects felt the tactile and thermal properties of various colors. In some cases, tactile sensations were supplemented by an emotional tone that arose under the influence of one or another color. Skin-optical differentiation of various colors is achieved as a result of the interaction of tactile and thermal sensations with the leading role of the tactile. The surface of one color is felt as rough, soft, and warm, of another color — as smooth, hard, and cold, etc. These sensations are associated with the corresponding types of colors.

The exercise on comparing the tactile and thermal characteristics of various colors made it possible to establish the colors that are easily differentiated (distinguished) and mixed (generalized) in skin-optical sensations. The subjects easily differentiated such colors as red and purple, white and black. The ease of distinguishing these colors is associated with the presence of distinct characteristic features in them. The colors yellow and light blue, orange and purple were difficult to differentiate.

D.K. Gilev, with his experiments, confirmed the position that skin-optical sensations of color deteriorate under low illumination, low temperature, etc. Thus, one of the capable subjects, over two days of rainy (cloudy) and cold weather, made many mistakes in recognizing colors. He called the blue color purple, mistook purple for blue and orange, and called orange green, black — yel-

low. Light blue and green were taken for gray, etc. In sunny weather, the difficulties and errors in determining colors disappeared.

The experiment revealed individual differences in skin-optical sensations. These differences consist in the unequal completeness of the reflection of the tactile and thermal characteristics of various colors. The skin-optical sensations of some subjects were always distinguished by the unity of tactile and thermal characteristics. Other subjects, when determining colors by hand, limited themselves to fixating on either tactile or thermal characteristics.

During the perception of some colors, an emotional tone of sensations took place. For example, when perceiving the light blue color, a female subject felt something tender, bright, and with her fingers sensed some kind of abyss. Thus, skin-optical sensations, like visual ones, evoke certain emotional states.

The discovery of skin-optical sense not only in individual phenomenal personalities, but also in many persons, put on the agenda the practical question of the possibility of developing this sense in blind and visually impaired people.

To study this problem, A.S. Novomeysky in the spring of 1963 conducted training of the blind in a circle organized at the Nizhny Tagil branch of the All-Union Society of the Blind. As the experiments showed, the optimal condition for distinguishing color by the blind was placing colored paper on organic glass placed on porcelain insulators. In these

cases, the color of the paper had the greatest effect on the skin receptors of the hand. Another important condition was training on sheets of paper identical in texture and differing from each other only in color. In such cases, differences in tactile texture were brought to a minimum and, conversely, differences in skin-optical sensations of color were maximally enhanced.

Under these training conditions, skin-optical differentiations of colors and the ability of their absolute recognition began to develop in the blind significantly faster than in the sighted.

Thus, a blind man, Vasily B. (blinded as a result of an industrial injury), during April and May 1963, learned to distinguish the signs of the seven colors of the spectrum, a number of shades and mixed colors, as well as black, white, and gray colors. He achieved the distinction of colors regardless of the texture of the paper: from glossy paper to artificial paper suede. The structure of the coloring matter also did not interfere with recognizing the color. He developed the following scale of contact and distant signs of color:

light blue - smooth and hard, cohesive, compressed in structure; at a distance, cools in the air;
yellow - slippery and smooth; soft; warms slightly in the air;
red - viscous, sticky, braking; hot in the air, burns;
green - hard and brakes a bit; clings; cools slightly in the air, unlike yellow, which warms slightly; but in general, this color in its signs is “neutral”-indefinite;

blue - brakes stronger than light blue; cold in the air;

orange - rough, but not sticky; warm, but not like red;
violet - hard color, brakes very strongly, in viscosity approaches black; freezes at a distance, but the cold is not felt as distinctly as in blue color.

Vasily B. classified the white color as part of the “smooth” group, but considered it less smooth than yellow. He defined the black color as the coarsest and roughest, even more “braking” than violet. The scale of tactile and temperature signs of color in Vasily B. turned out to be the same as in sighted people.

A visually impaired disabled person of the first group, Gennady G., oriented himself by similar signs. The third of the subjects - a visually impaired teenager Leonid S. - also mastered the differentiation of color tones of the spectrum.

During the experiments, the blind person had glasses made of black glass put on his eyes. The visually impaired had dense, light-proof bandages applied over their eyes.

5.1. Three ways of determining color in skin-optical sensation

In the process of training, three ways of determining color by blind and visually impaired individuals with the help of skin-optical sensation were revealed:

a) contact;

b) distant;

c) mixed (contact-distant).

The contact method consists of the analysis of the tactile-kinesthetic characteristics of color. In this case, the subjects learned to determine colors based on rubbing their fingers

against the colored surface of the paper. Moreover, the working organs of Vasily B. were the third and fourth fingers of the right hand, and for Gennady - the lateral surface of the thumb.

However, the use of only this method caused difficulties when uneven paper was used: ribbed, velvet, and corrugated. For example, in one of the experiments, Vasily B. was presented with 18 sheets of paper colored in different tones. Among the sheets, there were two blue and one green made of embossed, ribbed paper. Having determined all the colors on the smooth paper, the subject was unable to accurately determine the color on the ribbed paper: he called the blue colors green, and the green ones blue. But when he was allowed to raise his hand in the air, he immediately realized his mistake.

The distant method of determining color consisted of recognizing the characteristic features of color tones at a distance. The height of raising the hand above the surface of the paper was determined by the specificity of the color. Thus, Vasily B., in one of the experiments, determined color tones at a height: red - 35 cm, orange - 26 cm, yellow - 18 cm, green - 12 cm, light blue - 19 cm, blue - 32 cm.

It was noticed that the height of the color barriers in blind people, as well as in sighted people, changed in accordance with the arrangement of colors on the color wheel. The height of the color barriers decreased from red to orange, yellow, and green, and then increased from green to light blue, blue, and purple. The distant method, given sheets of sufficient size, turned out to be no less effective than the contact one. Thus, in one of the experiments, Vasily B. was asked to determine color tones without touching the paper, holding his palm in the air. 25 colored sheets were presented, colored

both in chromatic (seven colors) and achromatic (white, black, and gray) tones. The subject flawlessly determined the color of each sheet at a distance. He managed to differentiate at a distance even such colors as white and light gray, pink and purple, dark blue and light blue. Similar results were shown by subjects Gennady G. and Leonid S.

When recognizing shades using the distant method, the subjects mainly relied on thermal characteristics.

The most effective was the mixed (contact-distant) method of determining color. A total of 25-30 hours of time-distributed training was enough for all three subjects to learn to well determine the colors of the spectrum on medium-format paper sheets using this method. In the process of forming the contact-distant method of determining color, distant sensations usually performed a controlling function. First, the subject rubbed the surface of the sheet with the pads of his fingers, and then raised his palm and clarified the correctness of the determination distantly. During the final training sessions, from 60 to 75 sheets of differently colored paper were presented at the session in various sequences. The paper sheets in some cases were identical in texture, in other cases the texture was different (glossy paper, drafting, writing, embossed velvet). The dyes were also both identical and various in their type and quality (factory typographic ink, multi-colored ink, aniline dyes, varnish, watercolor paints, gouache, colored inks, etc.). Colored paper in a number of cases differed in lightness (for example, were used

four orange sheets of different lightness, five red, three light blue, three purple).

The main chromatic colors two months after the start of training using this method were determined by the subjects flawlessly. However, when consolidating the skill of determining blue and purple tones, certain difficulties had to be overcome. The blue color, when determined, was sometimes called dark light blue or light purple. This happened when distantly, by temperature, the subjects confused it with adjacent cold colors. The purple color, however, was sometimes called black, because based on contact characteristics, by viscosity, it is very similar to the latter. The achromatic colors - black, white, and gray - the subjects, after two months of training, learned to determine flawlessly.

As a result of the training, the subjects learned to accurately recognize color and by lightness. To check this, several sheets of absolutely identical texture of the same color, having different lightness, were placed in front of the subjects, and the subjects correctly arranged these sheets in a row by lightness: from the darkest to the lightest.

5.2. Dependence of the Quality of Color Recognition on Its Area

As the experiments showed, color identification significantly depends on the area of the perceived colored surface. In experiments with blind people, it was revealed that a sharp decrease in the area of the colored surface made color identification difficult; however, subsequently, the subjects adapted to the new conditions and began to correctly identify color tones.

If during the lessons the subjects correctly distinguished colors on sheets measuring 12x20 cm, then when presented with strips of colored paper measuring 1.5x7 cm, they could not determine their color. It was necessary to stack the strips of each color on top of each other in packs of six strips each, that is, to increase the color capacity, so that the awareness of skin-optical sensations became possible. Only such a noticeable increase in color capacity could compensate for the decrease in its area. At the same time, when the color capacity decreased to a single sheet, the identification of color tones again met with great difficulties, and repeated exercises became necessary again.

The area of the colored surface also significantly affects the speed of color tone identification. Thus, a 3-fold decrease in the sheet area resulted in a 1.2 to 2-fold decrease in the speed of color identification.

The area of the colored surface determines the application of the contact or distant method for identifying color tones. In the presence of larger-sized paper, the subjects successfully used the distant method of identifying color tones. However, on small-sized sheets, they predominantly used the contact method of color identification. The distant method, meanwhile, served as a means of control: first, touch was used, and only then did the subjects control the accuracy of contact identification using the distant method, determining the specificity of the effect of color at a distance. When narrow strips were used, identification was performed only by contact, since determining the color at a distance under these conditions was difficult.

5.3. The Phenomenon of Color Tone Transfer

The skin-optical sense in blind people can be considered formed when the phenomenon of transfer begins to operate: color tones are recognized flawlessly by the subject on any other paper (in terms of texture and quality of dyes), different from the original (training) one. In the experiments of A.S. Novomeisky, the transfer began to manifest itself in a clear form just a month after the start of the lessons. By this time, the first control experiment had been conducted with Vasily B. He was presented with a number of sheets of colored paper previously unknown in texture (for typewriters and impregnated with aniline dye). The subject flawlessly identified the sheets of white, light blue, yellow, blue, green, red, purple, orange, and brown colors presented to him. Two and a half months after the start of the lessons, a second control experiment was conducted to reveal the ability of transfer. This time, Vasily B. was presented with colored paper discs glued to cardboard. The subject had not encountered these discs before. All colors were identified by him correctly and quite quickly.

The phenomenon of transfer manifested itself more vividly in the partially sighted Gennady G. The fact is that one can judge the transfer also in the case when a person, having developed the ability to determine the color of paper, begins to recognize the same colors without preliminary training on other materials: fabrics, wood, plastic, etc. Of special interest is the ability to identify the color of the polished wooden surface of colored pencils.

In experiments conducted with sighted people, many subjects refused to determine the colors of the pencil surface. The blind Vasily B. also came to the conclusion that this is extremely

difficult. However, in experiments with the partially sighted Gennady G., it was possible to overcome this difficulty as well.

Another important feature of the developed skin-optical sense is the ability to correctly determine the color of paper regardless of the color of the surface on which the perceived object rests. Blind people, unlike sighted ones, very quickly mastered the ability to abstract from the color of the surface under the paper.

Vasily B. and Gennady G. were presented with sheets of colored paper isolated from the table surface: the paper rested on porcelain insulators placed under the corners of the sheet. Under these conditions, the influence of the table surface was almost completely canceled out. The experiment yielded positive results: the subjects flawlessly identified the colored sheets of paper presented to them.

In another experiment, sheets of paper were placed with their painted front side on glass, and the subjects felt the reverse, unpainted side of the sheets. In all cases, regardless of the color of the painted side pressed against the glass, the blind subjects correctly determined the color of the reverse side they were touching: white, yellowish, or gray, while the sighted students in such cases could not ignore the color influence of the painted side.

In the third experiment, colored sheets were placed on sheets of brass and iron. A metal surface usually maximally enhances skin-optical sensations. These sensations are especially enhanced when there is a contact potential difference, that is, when an iron plate lies on a copper plate, or an aluminum one lies on an iron plate, and colored paper is placed on top. In these cases, the red color

is felt by the subjects as more viscous, hot; orange as more rough and warm, etc. However, the subjects very quickly adapted to such changes and correctly identified the color tones of the paper.

In the fourth experiment, colored paper was placed on a positively charged brass plate (voltage 80 V). As a result, it turned out that the signs of color shifted in sensations towards one of the ends of the visible spectrum. Orange was identified as red, yellow as orange, green as light blue, light blue as blue, blue as purple. Purple became coarser and began to resemble black, and red increased in viscosity and began to “burn” the palm. However, the blind subjects soon adapted to the influence of the charged surface. Vasily B., in particular, learned to make a “correction for the shift” in his mind and again began to identify colors correctly.

One must think, believes A.S. Novomeisky, that training blind people to recognize the colors of paper resting on various surfaces can lead to a complete disregard for the color influence of any surface.

5.4. The Penetrating Property of the Skin-Optical Sense

The development of the skin-optical sense is also characterized by one feature that was called the penetrating property by A.S. Novomeisky. It consists in the fact that a person is able to determine color tones through a thin foreign coating (covering, barrier): paper, metal plates, etc. The penetrating property in blind people turned out to be stronger than in sighted subjects. In experiments conducted with blind and visually impaired people in 1963 in

the circle at the Nizhny Tagil department of the society of the blind, it turned out that blind people are able to recognize through metal (in the experiments a brass plate about 1 mm thick was used) many color tones. The blind subject Vasily B. showed especially good results in these experiments.

Relying mainly on temperature sensations and recognizing the signs of color through a brass plate at a distance in the air, he successfully differentiated the signs of all the main colors of the spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, blue, and violet. Thus, for example, during one of the sessions, he flawlessly determined the colors of the sheets clamped between two brass plates: 1) light blue and red; 2) red and yellow; 3) red, light blue, and green, etc. Another time, colored paper was placed on black glass, and covered on top with a brass plate. In this case, too, the blind subject recognized the colors through the metal without error. It is quite clear that it is impossible to explain all this by a random coincidence.

To study the question of the influence of a metal covering when determining color on the speed of perception by the blind, an experiment was conducted. Sheets of colored paper were placed on an iron plate placed on insulators, and then they were covered with a brass plate on top (in one series of experiments) or left open (in another series of experiments). The duration of color recognition was measured with a stopwatch.

It turned out that the metal coating slowed down the recognition of the color tone of the paper. However, the process of determination under these conditions was also carried out quite quickly. Recognition noticeably slowed down when weakly expressed or mixed tones were under the brass plate. Thus, a distinctly expressed blue color was determined through the brass in two seconds, light blue in

six seconds, light-bluish in 8, and bluish-green in 10 seconds.

The fact is interesting that when no sheet of paper was placed between the iron and the brass at all, the blind subject determined this in two seconds and said: “empty, there is nothing.”

5.5. Laws of Skin-Optical Mixing of Color Signs

In experiments with sighted people, it was found out that the skin-optical sense is characterized by certain laws, largely reminiscent of the laws of visual sensations. Undoubtedly, the most important of them are the laws of mixing of tactile-kinesthetic and temperature signs of color. The mixing of color signs was not studied sufficiently fully with sighted subjects, and the materials of the experiments have not been published in print. In experiments with the blind and visually impaired, however, the action of the laws of mixing color signs was revealed very clearly. Two types of experiments were conducted: optical and spatial mixing of color signs.

Optical mixing of color signs was achieved in the following way. A standard electric color wheel was used, which is used in experiments on color mixing when studying visual sensations. Disks of various colors were put on the wheel, which, when rotated rapidly, cause the sensation of one color. The blind subject placed their palm above and slightly to the side of the rapidly rotating circles, composed of two or three sectors of different colors. The distantly determined color signs were named by the subject out loud.

Spatial mixing of signs of color was achieved differently. Strips of two colors, measuring 1.5x20 cm, were placed next to each other on an isolated glass stand. The result was a striped surface composed of many strips; the subjects raised their palm above the surface and made slow horizontal movements with their hand, and also smoothly raised and lowered their palm over the “zebra-striped” surface. As a result, they felt the signs of not two, but one color. For vision, in this case, there was no mixing of colors: the eye clearly distinguished the individual strips. 1

In the experiments on mixing color signs, the subjects were required to determine the color accurately. This was done as follows. If the subject, as a result of mixing, for example, red and yellow colors, determined the color to be orange, then they were subsequently given an orange sheet of paper, and they compared the first impression with the second.

The experiments indicated the manifestation of three basic laws of skin-optical mixing of color signs:

The signs of complementary colors (red and bluish-green, yellow and blue) mutually neutralize each other in the process of mixing. As a result, the signs of an achromatic gray color are felt.
Mixing the signs of two non-complementary colors leads to the sensation of the signs of a new color, intermediate between them (red and yellow give orange, blue and red give violet, etc.)
The signs of the mixture are felt exactly the same as the signs of the corresponding monochromatic color are felt; for example, mixing red and yellow gives the same sensation as the sensation of one

orange color; the result of blue and yellow is felt exactly the same as one gray, etc. In the experiments on the spatial mixing of color signs, these basic laws were confirmed on more extensive material. In the experiments on the spatial mixing of complementary colors, the first and second laws of mixing color signs were clearly manifested. It is characteristic that the results of skin-optical mixing coincide with the results of mixing usually observed in the process of visual sensations by the eyes. Thus, the skin-optical sense in blind and visually impaired people relies on laws of mixing sensations, analogous in their form to the laws of color mixing in vision by the eyes.

5.6. Distant Perception of Text with the Palm

During the experiments, it was revealed that in blind people it is possible to form the ability of skin-optical perception not only of color tones, but also of whole images: letters, numbers, signs, geometric figures, etc. It turned out to be difficult to develop these abilities through contact. Therefore, A.S. Novomeysky proposed developing distant perception. Cards depicting numbers, letters, and various figures (image height 6.5 cm) were placed on a brass plate, which in turn rested on porcelain insulators. Sometimes an aluminum plate was placed on top of the brass plate. In these cases, the intensity of perception increased. They began to form the ability of skin-optical reading in a visually impaired person, Gennady G.

Already at the first session, he learned to determine digits distantly, with his palm in the air. At this same session, the subject

transitioned from recognizing individual numbers to reading multi-digit numbers at a distance with the help of the palm.. There were no errors in reading these numbers. The difficulty for him was caused not so much by the process of skin-optical reading itself, as by comprehending and keeping in memory the resulting large numbers. In subsequent sessions, the acquired skill noticeably improved.

Over the course of ten sessions, it was possible to form in the visually impaired person the skill of distant skin-optical perception of large letters and numbers, and then - of numbers and words. Thereby, the possibility was proven of learning to read at a distance with the help of the palm at least large text. Some additional experiments by A.S. Novomeysky allowed the conclusion that blind people can be taught to read at a distance and with the help of fingertips. In this case, the font sizes can be significantly reduced, and the reading process will come very close to regular reading using vision. On the other hand, the ability to perceive letters and numbers depicted in various fonts allows one to hope that during the training process the blind and visually impaired can be taught to perceive drawings, texts, and figures distantly.

When forming the skill of skin-optical reading, the positive role of the subject’s past visual experience draws attention. Relying on the visual images of numbers and letters preserved in his memory, the subject managed to correctly identify almost all the images presented to him without prior training. At the same time, deviations in the writing of a letter or number (printed or written font) did not play a significant role in the recognition process.

To read numbers and letters, the subject needed to constantly make movements with his palm in the air, as if tracing the out

lines of the image, or presenting the palm for tracing these outlines on the skin by some invisible rays. With a motionless hand position, perception became impossible. According to the subject, at first he felt a burning sensation on his palm “as if the palm was being branded”. Subsequently, during the exercises, this burning disappeared, and the subject “simply read the letter”. The palm seemed to perceive the image immediately, but there was no burning. The images were perceived, according to the subject’s reports, in actual size. The height of the palm above the image was stable: about 3-4 cm above the paper. When the palm was raised higher, the image increased in size. However, the height of the hand also depended on the size of the image.

It is characteristic that if the card with the image of a letter or number lay on a metal surface charged positively (up to 80 V), then the reading process accelerated almost twofold, and the hand was positioned above the paper somewhat higher than usual. The images were also determined by the subject through a surface coating opaque to vision. Thus, Gennady G. felt the outlines of numbers through a brass plate. Through aluminum foil, he determined the numbers relatively quickly. Through glass 0.4 cm thick, the numbers were determined with difficulty. When a thin sheet of mica was placed over the numbers, determining the numbers became very difficult: “it became very difficult to distinguish, it feels somehow dull”. When the experimenter, unnoticed by the subject, removed the plate of mica, the number was immediately recognized. Thus, it was harder to determine the numbers through transparent glass and mica than through an opaque metal plate. This testified to the fact, asserts A.S. Novomeysky, that the perception in the visually impaired person was not based on photoreception.

5.7. The Influence of a Break in Classes on the Formation of Skin-Optical Sensitivity

When forming skin-optical sensitivity in the blind and visually impaired, the influence of a break in exercises must be taken into account. The influence of a break manifests primarily in the extinction of the associative connection between the skin-optical sensations established in experience and their corresponding names of color tones. In the subjects, the conditioned connection of tactile-temperature and kinesthetic sensations with verbal designations of color most often extinguished after breaks during the first period of training. As a result, the subjects described in detail the skin sensations arising in their consciousness, but could not name the color of the paper.

Thus, for example, the blind Vasily B. once came to a class after a break of nine days. As a result, it turned out that he described the tactile-temperature characteristics of one or another colored surface well, but could no longer name the color. Even more indicative is the case that occurred with the visually impaired Gennady G. The subject, engaged in training on recognizing numbers, did not practice recognizing colors for two weeks. And then it turned out that he differentiated the skin-optical characteristics of color accurately, but forgot the names of the colors.

It should be noted that the negative influence of breaks in exercises manifests not only in the disruption of the connection between the skin-optical impression and the name of the color, but also in an increase in the duration of determination. Thus, for example, the blind Vasily B. after a seven-day break determined colors on average twice as long as the time previously required for him.

5.8. Peeking and Mental Suggestion Are Excluded

In the process of teaching the blind and visually impaired, from time to time A.S. Novomeisky set up control experiments, the purpose of which was to find out whether any extraneous signaling factors influenced the recognition of colors and numbers.

In experiments with the blind, the factor of peeking was, naturally, completely excluded. The visually impaired, however, had their eyes blindfolded with a light-tight bandage in the form of cotton glasses. To eliminate the influence of suggestion from the experimenter, a series of control experiments was conducted. First of all, a number of experiments were conducted by outside persons.

Thus, one female employee presented Gennady G. with 22 colored squares painted in eleven different colors. The subject correctly named all the colors without making a single mistake. The blind Vasily B. also correctly named the colors and even determined that the new experimenter’s kerchief was green and her coat was light pink.

When conducting such experiments, there was still no full confidence in the elimination of mental suggestion. It could turn out that the subjects were susceptible to mental suggestion from any experimenter. To finally eliminate the indicated circumstance, the following experiments were conducted.

The blind Vasily B. was presented with a pack of seven shuffled colored sheets and asked to arrange them in a row from left to right in the order of the spectrum from red to violet. Then the experimenter stepped aside and turned his back to the subject. The latter completed the task independently.

Later, the following experiment was conducted. Vasily B. was handed a pack of 60 shuffled colored sheets. The pack contained sheets of 16 different colors. The subject was asked to determine the color of each sheet as quickly as possible and to name these colors aloud, folding the sheets into a new pack. The experimenter himself sat with his back to the subject and recorded the named colors. As a result, it turned out that even with a mindset for the speed of color determination, the subject named almost all the color tones correctly. Experiments on the perception of numbers and signs also yielded a good result. The subject took cards out of the pack, determined the numbers and signs, and then named them aloud. The experimenter, sitting with his back to the subject, recorded his readings. Verification established that the subject named all the numbers and signs without error.

Thus, the assumption of mental suggestion was completely refuted by the experiments of A.S. Novomeisky.

5.9. Search-and-cognitive activity develops skin-optical sensation

When studying skin-optical sensation in blind people, a legitimate perplexity usually arises as to how to explain that for centuries the blind and visually impaired have not themselves learned to recognize colors, letters, and numbers by the skin-optical method. According to A.S. Novomeisky, this is explained mainly by two factors. Firstly, skin-optical sensations in the process of cognition are merged with tactile and temperature sensations. The blind did not know that during touch they also receive signals about color features. If they had known this, they would have long mastered the skin-optical channel of cognition.

Secondly, these sensations occurred in blind people at a subconscious level. Color features remained uninterpreted and could not be reproduced later. Even earlier, while studying visual memory, A.S. Novomeisky established that in a human, upon perceiving the color tone of objects, they are very often reflected at the level of unconscious sensations that are not retained in memory [5]. For their awareness, the presence of a special recognition task is necessary; purposeful search activity is necessary. In his time, A.N. Leontiev emphasized the importance of a search situation in developing hand reactions to light stimuli [4]. It seems that the secret to mastering skin-optical sensation is based primarily on creating such a search situation during exercises.

Another important question is whether it is possible to develop skin-optical sensation in people blind from birth? Naturally, in this case, reliance on past visual experience is excluded. But even now there is data indicating the possibility of developing skin-optical sensation in people blind from birth. In particular, trial experiments conducted by A.S. Novomeisky with two people blind from birth and several who lost their sight in early childhood point to this. These people learned to determine at least two colors: red and light blue.

5.10. Conclusions

1. Skin-optical sensation can be developed in blind and visually impaired people. Thereby, the possibility of sensory cognition of such properties of objects as colors and graphic forms, which were previously accessible only to a sighted person, opens up for them.

The blind and visually impaired learn to quickly and accurately recognize the features of very many color tones. The process of reading, at least of large flat-print text, is also accessible to them.

Skin-optical sensations in the blind and visually impaired, just as in sighted people, subjectively appear in consciousness as tactile-kinesthetic and temperature sensations. Objectively, however, they reflect not mechanical and thermal influences, but signals of an electromagnetic order. Skin-optical sensation in blind people is also based on the mechanism of reflection of stimuli inadequate for skin reception.
Skin-optical sensations in the blind and visually impaired are characterized by the same qualities as in a sighted person (the scale of skin-optical features of color), and are subject to the very same general laws (laws of mixing color features, dependence on the position of the color tone in the spectrum, degree of illumination and area of the color surface, color capacity, etc.). However, in the blind and visually impaired, these features typical of skin-optical sensation are expressed more vividly.
There are three ways for blind people to determine spectrum colors: contact, distant, and contact-distant. The latter method is the most effective. Using this method, the blind and visually impaired relatively quickly (within seconds) recognize the features of a particular color.

At the same time, it is important that blind people learn to ignore the textural features of a colored surface and indirectly realize the features of color tone, lightness, and saturation. As for the perception of letters, numbers, and signs, the productivity of distant perception of graphic forms with the palm has been proven.

5. To form skin-optical sensation in the blind, it is important to observe optimal exercise conditions: systematic training distributed over time, the use of an insulating glass stand, and the use, at the first stage, of colored paper identical in texture.

a. Skills and abilities in the field of color recognition are formed in blind people faster if they are first introduced to the scale of tactile and temperature features of spectrum colors. At the same time, it is important to consider individual characteristics in the sensations of color features. Finally, during training, one must accustom them to recognize colors not only by comparison, but also separately, based on absolute recognition.

6. In recognizing color and in the process of reading, reliance on the past visual experience of the subjects plays a major role. However, if this experience is absent (in those blind from birth), one can rely solely on knowledge of the tactile-kinesthetic and temperature features of color. Preliminary knowledge about the configuration of letters and numbers can be acquired by

touching their outlines cut out of cardboard or wood.

7. An important property of the formed skin-optical sensation is the ability of transfer, which consists in the fact that blind subjects begin to recognize the same colors on various materials: paper, fabrics, wood, plastic, glass, etc. This ability must be formed as early as possible by transitioning to the recognition of the color of paper of various qualities.

8. An important property of the formed skin-optical sensation is the ability of transfer, which consists in the fact that blind subjects begin to recognize the same colors on various materials: paper, fabrics, wood, plastic, glass, etc. This ability must be formed as early as possible by transitioning to the recognition of the color of paper of various qualities.

9. Skin-optical sensations weaken with a decrease in the area of the perceived colored paper. Meanwhile, one must learn to determine the color of paper of any size. Subjects should be trained to recognize colors on narrow single strips of paper. Only after this will they be able to determine the color in drawings and on postcards.

10. In the blind and visually impaired, during training, the ability to ignore the influence of the color of the surface on which the perceived material is placed is formed. This ability makes it possible to train blind people to recognize color tones

not only with the help of an insulating stand, but also under any conditions.

A characteristic feature of skin-optical sensation in the blind and visually impaired is a vividly expressed penetrating property: the ability to determine color and shape through a metallic coating. It seems that exercises in determining color through metal plates can be one of the methods helping to abstract from the influence of the paper texture and the structure of the dye, and thereby allows one to feel the specific features of the color itself.
When forming the skill of perceiving letters and numbers, the task is to teach reading small text at a sufficiently high speed. To implement this task, it is necessary to try to accustom the blind to perceive letters at a distance with their fingertips. This will allow reducing the sizes of letters and numbers. The reading speed can be increased by applying various combinations of metal bases with the imposition of a certain electrical potential on them.
Skin-optical sensation develops gradually. Significant intervals between exercises reduce the achieved successes to nothing. However, when the initial stage of the formation of skin-optical sensations and perceptions is completed, breaks no longer have a negative effect. It must be kept in mind that it is very important to consolidate the connection between the skin-optical sensations of color features and the conventional names of the colors themselves.

6. On the Physical Nature of the Skin-Optical Sense

The ability of the human body to distinguish colors and contours of figures without the participation of eyesight has been known for a long time. The literature describes a whole number of cases where certain people could distinguish the colors of painted surfaces by touching them with their fingers, as well as determine the outlines of geometric figures and even read ordinary flat-printed text with their fingertips. However, no serious attempts to investigate the physical nature of this phenomenon were undertaken until the 1960s, when the unusually heightened ability of Rosa Kuleshova to such sensations aroused increased interest among a number of researchers in this question. Judging by the data published in the press, several series of experiments in this direction were conducted by various specialists (psychologists, biologists, physicists) with the participation of R. Kuleshova. As a result of these experiments, hypotheses were put forward that, to some extent, explain the nature of this phenomenon.

By the staff of the Nizhny Tagil Pedagogical Institute, N.N. Kolesnikov, Yu.M. Filimonov, and V.N. Belousov, the following hypothesis was put forward in the 1960s to explain the physical nature of the skin-optical sense [12]. Since the ability to sense light with the skin is inherent not only in humans but also in many animals (a number of worms, snakes, etc.), it is natural to assume that the origin and development of this ability occurred simultaneously with the emergence and development of complex life forms on Earth. The development of life is closely connected with the main source of energy—solar radiation. The transparency of the atmosphere surrounding the Earth to visible light

and certain bands of the infrared spectrum is the most important factor that determined the existence of life on Earth.

The radiation of the sun, which has an apparent temperature of 6500 degrees (on the Kelvin scale), is concentrated in the wavelength region of about 0.5 μm, and this section of the spectrum, known as the “visible spectrum,” received its name due to the fact that the eye developed in such a way that its maximum sensitivity falls exactly on this wavelength.

As shown by the studies of Adel, Slipher, Barker, Elliot, MacNiece, and others, there are individual bands (windows) of almost 100% transmission in the infrared part of the spectrum [7, p. 437].

It is natural to assume that precisely those regions of the spectrum for which the Earth’s atmosphere has the greatest transparency played a decisive role in the process of the origin and development of life on Earth. In this sense, the region in the infrared range from 3.4 to 4.2 μm draws attention, which is the least distant from the visible part of the spectrum and whose intensity is therefore still comparatively high.

One of the possible ways of orientation for primary living beings in the environment could be a change in the polarization of their surface cover under the action of various factors, in particular, under the action of electromagnetic oscillations. Based on the assumption that this property of the primary carriers of life during evolution was not only preserved but also developed, the mechanism of the skin-optical sense can be represented as follows.

According to the researchers, under the action of a radiating

object (drawing, color of a painted surface) on the skin, the

corresponding area of it changes its polarization. Since

the skin cover is a complex cellular structure, and the cells include various protein molecules that react to different radiations of the spectrum, then, apparently, the polarization of the skin area also forms a mosaic pattern, which changes under the action of radiation. It is possible that this mosaic pattern, to some extent, resembles the domain structure of ferroelectrics [8], although the nature of its formation may be different. At the same time, the type and degree of change in polarization as a result of appropriate training can be refracted in consciousness as the perception of the color and shape of an object. This change in polarization can be associated with the phenomenon of the internal photoelectric effect (photoconductivity).

In order to confirm the hypothesis put forward by the scientists, it would be of interest to test the action of various factors capable of changing polarization, as well as the influence of the spectral composition of the radiation emanating from the object on the acuity of skin-optical perception. Below are the results of experiments in which, in particular, the influence of an electrostatic field applied to the subject’s hand was investigated, as the strongest factor changing polarization, and the possibility of the subject perceiving the infrared region of the spectrum was tested.

6.1. Experimental conditions and measurements

For recognition, a set of 10 cards was used, depicting the following letters and signs: Н, О, Р, S, +, Ш, С, И, square, triangle. The elements of the set had a size of 5x8 cm and were written in black ink on white Whatman paper. Before each test, the set was thoroughly shuffled,

so that the order of the elements was random, repetitions were allowed. Based on the assumption that the greatest sensitivity of the skin cover falls on those regions of the spectrum for which the Earth’s atmosphere is most transparent, an experiment was set up that allows, to some extent, evaluating the influence of one of such regions of the spectrum in the infrared region from 3.4 to 4.2 μm.

The evaluation of the subject’s success in recognizing letters and geometric figures under various conditions was carried out as follows: the time interval between the beginning of the recognition of the figure and the subject’s answer was measured with a stopwatch. At the same time, it was naturally considered that the better the conditions of perception, the smaller the average time for recognizing the elements of the mentioned set. The average recognition time of an element in a given experiment is understood as the arithmetic mean of the recognition time in ten tests. In addition to the average time, to compare the results of various experiments, a relative recognition speed was introduced. The relative recognition speed in a given experiment is understood as the ratio of the average recognition time at an illumination of the perceived object of 100 lx and disconnected electrodes on the working hand to the average recognition time in the given experiment.

Thin flexible wires with electrodes were attached to the subject’s hand, by means of which it was possible to apply a potential of any polarity in various combinations. The electrodes were attached to the back of the palm and were located at the vertices of an isosceles triangle, facing with its base towards the fingers and its vertex towards the wrist.

It should be noted that attaching various kinds of sensors to the subject’s hand requires some caution. By introducing electrodes and methods of their attachment to the hand, extraneous tensions were created. The recognition of figures became sharply more difficult. The subject said that the electrodes attached to his hand interfered with him. By changing the electrodes and the methods of their attachment to the hand, it was achieved that the subject showed on average identical results when recognizing with a free hand and a hand loaded with electrodes.

It was noticed that the average time for recognizing the figures of the set during repeated tests under identical conditions decreased, approaching a certain relatively stable value, deviations from which were so small that they could not change the qualitative results of subsequent tests. In connection with this, each experiment was preceded by preliminary training of the subject under the conditions of each specific experiment. The specified measures were taken with the aim of eliminating the influence of the “learnability” factor on the average recognition time of the set elements under various conditions.

The subject, with a blindfold carefully applied over his eyes, identified the elements of the set under different illumination and various potentials applied to the working hand. The measurement of illumination was carried out by an LN-3 luxmeter in the immediate vicinity of the perceived object. In addition, in some experiments, an additional source of directed infrared radiation was used, representing one of the models of an absolute black body heated to a temperature of 500 degrees. In this case, shielding of the subject’s working hand was provided, so that the flux of infrared radiation fell only on the recognized object at a grazing angle of 25-30 degrees. Various potentials

were drawn from a VSA-5 rectifier. The subject stood on an insulating bench.

6.2. Results of the experiments conducted with the participation of A. Avdeev

The totality of all results indicates that the application of an electrostatic field of various configurations to the subject’s receiving hand:

Changed the average recognition time within the limits of 10-97 sec and the relative recognition speed within rather wide limits (0.28-2.7).
A decrease in illumination, all other conditions being equal, reduces the relative recognition speed.
Additional infrared illumination, the maximum intensity of which lies in the range of 3.4-4.2 µm, sharply increases the relative recognition speed.
The following circumstance draws attention: at an illumination of both 100 lux and 10 lux (in the absence of infrared illumination), connecting all electrodes to the positive terminal of the rectifier increased the relative recognition speed, while connecting all electrodes to the negative terminal of the rectifier decreased it. At an illumination of 10 lux (with additional infrared illumination), the effect of the corresponding potentials on the relative recognition speed was opposite, i.e., the positive terminal decreased it, and the negative terminal increased it.

5. The shortest recognition time was obtained at an illumination of 10 lux with the use of infrared illumination, the maximum intensity of which lies in the range from 3.4 to 4.2 µm, and when connecting all electrodes to the negative terminal of the rectifier. Thus, infrared illumination can compensate for insufficient illumination.

6.3. Experiments conducted with the participation of Rosa Kuleshova

Experiment 1. On a brass plate 1 mm thick, on top, strips of paper were glued, each containing one) line of ordinary flat-print typographic text. The strips had dimensions of 160x4 mm and were spaced 3 mm apart. These strips were combined into eight groups, representing short excerpts from several children’s stories, in no way connected to each other. Various potentials taken from a battery of series-connected accumulators, the midpoint of which was grounded, were applied to the plate. Provision was made for grounding the plate and completely disconnecting it. The subject and the plate were carefully insulated from the ground.

At the request of the experimenters, Rosa Kuleshova read the spaced texts in such a way that her eyes were blindfolded with a dense bandage, and her fingers were constantly in contact with the metal; at the same time, the time interval for reading the excerpt was measured with a stopwatch. The reading speed was determined from the known number of characters in a given group. A comparison of the results when reading spaced and continuous texts on a disconnected plate showed that the spacing of the lines had almost no effect on the

reading speed. Each test under different electrostatic conditions of the plate was repeated twice.

Conclusions:

The test results show that a change in the electrostatic state of the plate affected the relative reading speed (from 0.76 to 1.2).
A positive potential worsened perception, a negative one improved it. The result obtained was opposite compared to the results of A. Avdeev’s experiment. This difference is due to the fact that in the experiments with Avdeev, the potential was applied from the back of the hand, and in the experiments with Kuleshova, from the inside. The enhancement or weakening of perception, despite the difference in the sign of the applied potential, corresponded in these experiments to electrostatic fields of the same orientation, which was in agreement with the assumption about the role of skin polarization in the phenomenon of skin-optical sensitivity.

Thefact that the direction of the electrostatic field near the sensing area of the skin, and not the sign of the applied potential, has a decisive influence on the change in perception conditions, indicates that if the sign of the potential does affect the process of transmitting irritation. Then this influence is not determining in this case.

Experiment 2. Rosa Kuleshova demonstrated her ability (blindfolded) to determine the colors of painted surfaces through a 1 mm thick brass plate, touching it with her fingers. In more than twenty trials, she did not make a single mistake in determining various colors under these conditions. According to the conditions of the experiment, the plate fit tightly against the painted sur-

face. If these conditions were changed so that an air gap remained between the brass plate and the painted surface (even when pressing the plate with fingers), she could not determine the color. She also failed to do this after some training.

Experiment 3. Rosa Kuleshova was blindfolded and offered for reading several texts written with a solution of sugar (salt, milk) on thick white paper. The texts were written in such a; way that the ordinary eye did not perceive them in diffused light. The subject read the excerpts without touching them, from a distance of 1.5-2 cm.

She perceived an excerpt of text written with milk poorly: she could read only individual letters. The texts written with solutions of sugar and salt were read accurately.

Experiment 4. Rosa Kuleshova, tightly blindfolded, recognized letters of the alphabet written in black ink on thick white paper. The size of the letters was 5x8 cm. The paper with the letters was placed on a brass plate face down. Recognizing letters under such conditions with the eye was impossible under any illumination. The subject, however, by touching the sheet of paper with her fingers, flawlessly identified the letters. Within the framework of the experiments conducted, N.N. Kolesnikov, Yu.M. Filimonov, V.N. Belousov expressed the opinion that all physical factors leading to a change in polarization can cause sensation: electromagnetic radiation, in particular luminescent, an electric field arising as a result of the external photoelectric effect or the contact» potential difference on the surface of the perceived object, and others. It is possible that these factors leading to a change in polarization complement each other, but one of them may noticeably prevail over the others. For example, the phenomenon of

luminescent radiation can explain the reading of texts written with solutions of salt and sugar.

The hypothesis proposed by these researchers about the mechanism of skin-optical sensitivity will receive direct confirmation if an electric field is detected that changes under the influence of electromagnetic radiation and other factors in the immediate vicinity of the sensing area of the skin. It goes without saying that when conducting such an experiment, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of fields arising under the influence of extraneous factors, for example, the external photoelectric effect.

7. Critical analysis of works on skin-optical sense prior to 1965

The psychological phenomenon discovered in 1892, associated with the ability of Sofya M-va to read sealed letters, was called variously: guessing, clairvoyance, hyperesthesia (supersensation, supersense), a new sense, etc.

Seventy years later, in 1962, the phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova was discovered, who demonstrated the ability to see with the fingers of her hand. This ability was called “skin vision,” and was then designated by the term “skin-optical sensitivity.”

In 1965, a collection of scientific articles “Problems of Skin-Optical Sensitivity” was published, highlighting experimental studies of skin-optical sensitivity conducted by Ural researchers. The collection provides a brief review and analysis of publications; let us cite them.

Research in the field of skin-optical sensitivity has begun recently. There is not yet a unified point of view on the nature of this phenomenon. Some authors (S.N. Dobronravov, Ya.R. Fishelev)

believe that “skin vision” has a photoreceptor nature and is a reflection of visible light rays by the skin. Other authors (N.I. Sudakov, A.S. Novomeisky) associate the skin-optical sense with the action on the skin of invisible rays penetrating even through opaque media.

There is an attempt (N.I. Kolesnikov, Yu.M. Filimonov, V.N. Belousov) to explain the process of the emergence of skin-optical sensations by the polarization of the skin under the influence of various physical factors. One of the authors (D.K. Gilev) considers the process of contact color recognition as a result of the mechanical and thermal influence of inhomogeneous coloring on the receptors of the skin of the hand. Finally, an assumption has been expressed (M.M. Kozhevnikov) that skin-optical sensations are the result of the reflection not of the color tones of objects, but of some other electromagnetic properties of the surface, closely related to its color characteristics, but which are not color.

There is no unified point of view among the authors on the issue of the physiological mechanisms of skin-optical sensitivity either. Most researchers (I.M. Goldberg, A.S. Novomeisky, N.I. Sudakov, D.K. Gilev) believe that in the process of skin-optical perception, the receptors of tactile and temperature sensitivity function. In their opinion, the participation of visual centers in such perception is not mandatory. Other researchers (S.N. Dobronravov, Ya.R. Fishelev) consider “skin vision” as an analogue of ordinary ocular vision. Individual authors (N.I. Kolesnikov, Yu.M. Filimonov, V.N. Belousov) assume that sensory information in these cases is the result of polarization of the skin at the molecular level.

There are significant differences in the experimental materials as well. D.K. Gilev, S.N. Dobronravov, and Ya.R. Fishelev analyze the process of recognizing color and shape with the fingers of the hand under conditions of visible light and without the use of any opaque media covering the stimulus. On the contrary, other researchers (M.M. Kozhevnikov, A.S. Novomeisky, N.I. Sudakov, I.M. Goldberg, N.I. Kolesnikov, Yu.M. Filimonov, V.N. Belousov) pay considerable attention to the issue of recognizing color features through opaque media and in conditions of darkness.

The results of these exploratory studies can be useful both for setting up further experiments and for developing a more or less complete theory of “skin vision.”

The collected material may be of considerable interest to a wide range of scientists dealing with the problems of sensory cognition. In particular, it provides initial positions for a more systematic, purposeful, and comprehensive study of the very problem of skin-optical sensitivity.

In practical terms, it is of interest to persons of various specialties, especially for psychologists and educators working with the blind.

7.1. The State of the Problem of Skin-Optical Sensitivity

Associate Professor of the Nizhny Tagil Pedagogical Institute, M. M. Kozhevnikov, in his analytical article “The Problem of Skin-Optical Sensitivity” [12], describes the state of this question as follows.

The discovery of a pronounced capacity for “skin vision” in Rosa Kuleshova immediately attracted the close attention of a broad circle of researchers both in our country and abroad. Psychological science was confronted with a series of new and, in a certain sense, exceptional phenomena that demanded objective investigation and scientific explanation.

In a short time, a large and complex problem of skin-optical sensitivity emerged in science.

This problem, in the broad scientific sense in which it is now posed, is new and original. Everything that was known in this field until recently amounted to the discovery and more or less detailed description of isolated phenomena that appeared occasionally.

None of these phenomena served at the time as a starting point for posing and scientifically investigating the problem of skin-optical sensitivity.

Only in the 1930s did I. N. Nikitsky, Kh. Yu. Kolodnaya, T. S. Shakhnazaryan, and N. B. Poznanskaya, as well as A. N. Leontyev [4], make an attempt at a scientific experimental investigation of skin-optical sensitivity — and even then in the narrow, specialized context of studying the possibility of developing a conditioned reflex to light stimuli acting not on the eye but on the skin of the hand.

The emergence of this problem in a broad scientific sense in our time is not accidental. It has been prepared thanks to the development of theoretical scientific thought, the needs of human cognitive and practical activity, and the increased capabilities of scientific experimentation.

The phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova attracted the close attention of researchers and served as the impetus for posing and inten

sive development of the problem of skin-optical sensitivity, in particular, by virtue of the fact that it clearly revealed the borderline character of this sensitivity, building a bridge between vision and touch.

The novelty and complexity of the problem of skin-optical sensitivity, the short duration of its scientific investigation, preclude any claims to an exhaustive treatment of it.

Many sides and aspects of this problem are not only unresearched but have not even been posed. They will be uncovered in the process of further investigations.

But even the research material at our disposal allows us to say that we face a major scientific problem of great theoretical and practical significance.

7.2. General Properties of Skin-Optical Sensitivity

The problem of skin-optical sensitivity as a special scientific problem was posed and subjected to broad experimental investigation primarily by Ural researchers. The initiators of these studies were Nizhny Tagil scientists: the neurologist I. M. Goldberg and the psychologist, Associate Professor A. S. Novomeysky. Somewhat later, Sverdlovsk physiologists S. N. Dobronravov and Ya. R. Fishelev joined the research, and then Moscow scientists. The problem began to be intensively developed by psychologists in Nizhny Tagil, Magnitogorsk, Sverdlovsk, and Ishim.

The investigation of skin-optical sensitivity by 1965 was already being carried out in various directions: the

prevalence of skin-optical sensitivity among people was being studied, the general character and specific features of this sensitivity were being elucidated, the optimal conditions for its manifestation were being determined, and psychophysical patterns were being revealed. In these investigations, a significant body of factual material had been accumulated, enabling appropriate generalizations.

More weakly represented are studies of the physical nature of skin-optical sensitivity, and the sources and mechanisms of its determination. The studies contain no material whatsoever that would reveal the central mechanisms of skin-optical sensitivity, or the individual and age-related characteristics of its manifestation in people. Little attention has been devoted to finding the most rational methods and techniques for training and developing this sensitivity in people.

As a result of experimental studies covering a wide circle of subjects, a whole series of scientifically reliable data characterizing skin-optical sensitivity has been obtained.

First and foremost, it has been established that skin-optical sensitivity manifests not only in certain unique individuals but is inherent, to one degree or another, in many people. In some it manifests in a relatively developed form; in others — in a rudimentary one. The blind, the congenitally blind, and the visually impaired are no exception in this regard. According to data from A. S. Novomeysky, those who have lost their vision and the visually impaired display a somewhat heightened sensitivity of the skin to light and color.

In many of its qualities, skin-optical sensitivity resembles ordinary vision with the eyes: it reflects all optical qualities of objects — light, color — and obeys the laws of

color mixing; it experiences the Purkinje effect and displays stable constancy, optical perspective, and optical illusions.

In a number of other significant qualities, however, skin-optical sensitivity differs fundamentally from vision. By means of skin-optical sensitivity, all sufficiently well-trained subjects perceive colors, large flat-printed letters, and the outlines of geometric figures through opaque electrically conducting media: aluminum foil, sheets of iron, brass, and other materials. When the metallic coverings and the subjects themselves are grounded, skin-optical sensations are significantly impeded or cease entirely [6].

Unlike vision, skin-optical sensitivity possesses a “penetrating” property: it directly reflects optical qualities in three-dimensional space and yields a “volumetric” image. Subjects with developed sensitivity distinguished the colors of four colored carbon papers stacked together, the color of a background through white paper, identified colors and read large graphic signs inside an envelope, and so forth. (By the conditional term “penetrating” property is meant the ability of a person to recognize colors and graphic forms through opaque media.)

I. M. Goldberg, A. S. Novomeysky, and D. K. Gilev established through special experiments that skin-optical perceptions of color yield a highly subjective image, completely unfamiliar to the subjects and qualitatively distinct from the visual one. All subjects characterize this image by features of viscosity, roughness, attraction, repulsion, and warmth, which gave the researchers grounds to call the image not visual but cutaneous-

muscular. By itself, this image tells the person perceiving it nothing; it becomes a subjective signal of the objective quality of color for that person only when it is linked to the verbal naming of the perceived color.

The fact that skin-optical sensation, in well-trained subjects, can manifest in complete darkness — established in experiments — also distinguishes it from vision.

Other significant features are characteristic of skin-optical sensation as well. All researchers note that skin-optical perceptions can be accomplished in two ways: contact and distant. In the contact method, subjects rub the perceived colored surfaces with their fingertips, varying the degree of pressure and detecting cutaneous-muscular sensations of one color or another. Distant perception is accomplished by the surface of the entire palm.

An indispensable condition of skin-optical perceptions in both methods is three-dimensional orienting (searching) movement of the perceiving hand. N. I. Sudakov [12] demonstrated in special experiments that complete fixation of the muscles of the perceiving hand makes perception and discrimination of colors by the hand impossible.

A. S. Novomeysky [6], who extensively investigated distant sensitivity, notes certain quantitative regularities characteristic of it. It has been established that under the same conditions (illumination, saturation of color tone, lightness), the maximum distance at which a color is perceived distantly is, for a given subject, a strictly constant value, different for different color tones.

The author called this constant value the “color barrier,” which, depending on the color and the individual character

istics of the subjects, fluctuates within the range of 20 to 80 cm. It was also found that distant perception of colors by the hand is, in many subjects, more effective than contact perception.

Finally, it should be noted that by 1965 an astonishing phenomenon was accidentally discovered in experiments, one requiring special investigation and scientific explanation: shielding the upper part of the head (above the eyes) with paper terminates the flow of skin-optical information in a number of subjects and makes perception and discrimination of colors by the hands impossible.

All these features and properties of skin-optical sensitivity lead one to think that we are dealing with a new and complex phenomenon of the transmission and decoding of information, which must be thoroughly investigated by objective methods, scientifically explained, and put to the service of humanity.

7.3. Hypotheses of skin-optical sensitivity

A necessary condition of any scientific research is the formulation and testing of hypotheses. Beginning in 1962, in the course of investigating skin-optical sensitivity, various authors advanced and tested several different hypotheses. I. M. Goldberg and A. S. Novomeisky from the very beginning of the research assumed that the perception and discrimination of colors by fingers through contact (the distant method had not yet been discovered at that time) was based on the reception of the finest physical structure of the coloring substance (structural hypothesis).

Soon experiments established the possibility of perceiving colors with the hands at a distance — distantly, as well as through

various transparent media (glass, plastic), which completely eliminated the influence of the physical structure of the coloring substance on the cutaneous perception of colors.

N. I. Sudakov, projecting various colors with an episcope onto one and the same frosted glass screen, established that the subjects perceived colors with the hand on the frosted screen more successfully than directly on one or another material (paper, fabric). In a number of experiments it was noted that the physical texture of the perceived material constitutes a certain hindrance for the perception of colors with the hands.

Thus, the structural hypothesis turned out to be completely untenable and was abandoned by all authors.

Along with others, to explain Rosa Kuleshova’s skin-optical sensitivity, a thermal hypothesis was advanced. It was assumed that rays selectively reflected from colored surfaces exert a thermal effect on the perceiving hand, exciting the temperature receptors of the skin, which serves as the signal for the perception of color tones.

A number of researchers conducted a special test of this thermal hypothesis. N. I. Sudakov [12], heating the frosted glass, on which various colors were projected by an episcope, to varying degrees, did not discover any changes in the cutaneous perception of colors by the subjects.

Ya. R. Fishelev and S. N. Dobronravov [12] passed color rays through a thick layer of water that absorbed thermal rays, and also did not detect any disruptions in the cutaneous perception of colors by the subjects.

On the basis of these experiments, the authors came to the conclusion that temperature sensations do not play a significant role in the perception of colors with the hands and cannot be recognized as the primary mech

anism of skin-optical reception. Evidently, this conclusion is correct. The thermal hypothesis does not reflect the essence of skin-optical sensitivity.

However, it is not excluded that under natural conditions of perception, temperature sensations are included to one degree or another in skin-optical sensitivity and participate in the formation of the subjective skin-optical image. This is confirmed by the fact that many subjects, when characterizing the subjective image, also indicate the thermal qualities of colors — “warm,” “cold,” and others.

The most widespread and defended by a number of authors is the photoreceptor hypothesis [3] – [5], [8]. From the standpoint of this hypothesis, skin-optical sensitivity is considered as an analogue of vision, atavistically represented in cutaneous sensitivity.

Adhering to this hypothesis, the Moscow scientists who studied Rosa Kuleshova discovered on the tips of her fingers something resembling visual receptors and even attempted to count their number.

The Sverdlovsk researchers S. N. Dobronravov and Ya. R. Fishelev, in confirmation of the photoreceptor hypothesis, conducted a series of special experiments. The authors came to the conclusion that in the skin-optical sense, the primary and operative factor is only the optical one, and that this sense by its nature is nothing other than residual “vision” with the fingers.

Above we noted that skin-optical sensitivity, in a number of its properties, is close to visual sensitivity (it obeys the laws of color mixing, contrast, and exhibits

optical illusions, etc.). It would seem that the photoreceptor hypothesis is closest to the truth.

Upon careful analysis of the experimental material, it turns out that this is far from the case. Skin-optical sensitivity possesses such properties as are fundamentally distinct from the properties of vision.

Deep penetrating ability, perception of color in three-dimensional space, the possibility of color sensation in complete darkness and through opaque media — all this does not permit the skin-optical sense to be considered a simple analogue of vision.

In the experiments of the Nizhny Tagil researchers

N. I. Kolesnikova, Yu. M. Filimonova, V. N. Belousova [12], Rosa Kuleshova “read” with her fingers sympathetic inscriptions made on white paper with milk, a sugar solution, colorless salt, without touching them, at a distance of 1.5–2 cm, which under ordinary conditions of perception is inaccessible to the eye.

Thus, in experimental investigations, significant material has been accumulated that contradicts the photoreceptor hypothesis and calls it into question.

The experiments of S. N. Dobronravov and Ya. R. Fishelev, in the course of which Rosa Kuleshova read typewritten embossed and flat-printed texts with her hands, do not in themselves prove the optical nature of “skin vision.” They indicate only that the sensation of colors with the fingers is not the result of touch.

It seems to us that the photoreceptor hypothesis is as unsuitable for explaining the nature of the skin-optical sense as the others examined above — the structural and thermal ones. L. L. Vasiliev expressed the conjecture that

the capacity for color sensation with the fingers is connected with telepathic phenomena — the transmission of information by means of suggestion at a distance: the researchers involuntarily and subconsciously orient the subjects in the perception of colors with the hands.

Specially designed experiments by A. S. Novomeisky, I. M. Goldberg, and other authors, in which the experimenter moved a considerable distance away and himself did not know the course of the subjects’ actions, the selection by the subjects of assigned colored cards mixed in opaque bags, as well as the high percentage of correct answers by the subjects observed in all experiments, leave no hope for the validity of the telepathic hypothesis.

The Nizhny Tagil physicists N. I. Kolesnikov, Yu. M. Filimonov, and V. N. Belousov were the first to attempt an experimental investigation of the physical nature of the skin-optical sense. The researchers established that the application of electrical potentials to the perceiving hand, as well as the illumination of perceived objects with infrared rays, significantly influences the speed and accuracy of perception of colors with the hands. Analysis of the research materials allowed the authors to advance the electromagnetic hypothesis of the skin-optical sense.

The essence of this hypothesis can be presented as follows. A colored object, irradiated by certain types of electromagnetic energy excited by exposure, causes or alters the existing polarization of the molecules of the perceiving surfaces of the skin, which serves as the source of stimulation of the corresponding cutaneous receptors; as a result, a distinctive subjective image of the reflected color is formed.

This assumption is not without scientific grounds. It allows for a satisfactory explanation of a whole series of features of skin-optical sensitivity that contradict all other hypotheses considered above. In particular, from the standpoint of the electromagnetic hypothesis, it is easy to explain the deep penetrability of skin-optical sensitivity into the body of an object, the possibility of perceiving colors with the hand through metal plates about 1 mm thick, the sharp reduction of the effect upon grounding these plates, and the facts of perception of colors with the hands in darkness.

The electromagnetic hypothesis would be fundamentally confirmed if it were possible to detect an electric field in the immediate vicinity of the perceiving surface of the skin, which has so far not been possible to establish in experiments. Thus, the above-examined electromagnetic working hypothesis also cannot claim to provide an exhaustive explanation of the nature and essence of the complex phenomena of transmission and reception of information conventionally termed the skin-optical sense. Further persistent efforts are needed.

The problem of skin-optical sensitivity poses a number of theoretical questions, without the resolution of which further experimental development of the problem will be impeded.

The first of these is the question of the scientific validity of posing the problem itself in the broad manner that A. N. Leontiev [4] undertook. Analyzing experiments on the development of a conditioned reflex to the illumination of the skin of the palms, he regards cutaneous photosensitivity as an atavistic phenomenon, not exceeding the bounds of subsensory orienting reactions, which cannot have significance for a person’s conscious orientation in the surrounding world. The whole matter reduces to the

perception by the skin of the hand of light as an inadequate stimulus by virtue of the residual optical sensitivity of the skin, once developed in distant ancestors.

I. M. Goldberg, S. N. Dobronravov, and others adhere to the same atavistic point of view. But it does not follow from this that the skin-optical sense is a regressing phenomenon, hypertrophied in certain individuals. Consequently, like any atavism, this sense cannot play a significant role in the vital activity of the human being. The problem is immediately reduced to the investigation of a paradoxical but particular phenomenon. It is not surprising, therefore, that A. N. Leontiev himself and his associates, in studying the photosensitivity of the skin, limited themselves merely to establishing the possibility of developing a conditioned reflex to the illumination of the skin of the hand, and even then only under the condition of organizing the subject’s special search activity.

Certain theoretical considerations and experimental data permit the question of the skin-optical sense to be posed in a broader scientific context. It is known that in the course of the evolution of living organisms, the initially general, undifferentiated sensitivity increasingly became subdivided and differentiated into special types, which allowed higher organisms to perfect their analytic-synthetic activity and to orient themselves more fully and accurately in the surrounding world.

From this point of view, the skin-optical sense, apparently, can be considered a specialized type of sensitivity, progressively developing in the human being.

In favor of the probability of such an assumption speaks also the prac

tice of the human being, which presents ever new, higher

requirements both for the quantity and especially for the quality of infor

mation obtained by the human being from surrounding reality. Skin-optical sensitivity, in all probability, precisely represents an emerging new channel of information.

The experimental data obtained indicate that the capacity for cutaneous sensations of light and color is manifested, to one degree or another of development, in the majority of people, and that this capacity develops rapidly with practice. This contradicts the concept of atavism, which in all cases is a rare, exceptional phenomenon, representing a gift of nature, a manifestation of the genotype rather than the phenotype.

Thus, the capacity of a human being to sense colors with the hand cannot be reduced to a simple manifestation of the atavism of skin-optical sensitivity of ancient ancestors.

What, then, is the true nature and essence of the skin-optical sense in the form in which it manifests itself in modern people?

It was shown above that, in a number of essential properties, the skin-optical sense fundamentally differs from vision and therefore cannot be considered as an analogue of vision, as is assumed by the conventional name “skin-optical sense” given to it by researchers. Still less can it be an analogue of any of the other senses of the human being.

It appears to us that there are serious grounds for considering the skin-optical sense as a special, progressively developing type of human sensitivity, one that has significant cognitive importance for the human being. But since this is a new, qualitatively distinctive type of sensitivity, it must reflect in human consciousness some distinctive quality of the objective world that is adequate to it.

M. M. Kozhevnikov notes that all researchers up to 1965 associated the skin-optical sense with the perception, by means of the hand, of only light and color. But then the skin-optical sense is an analogue of vision; there is nothing new in it. The assumption that the skin-optical sense reflects light and color is, in our opinion, one of the conscientious scientific delusions, conditioned by the novelty and complexity of the phenomenon.

7.4. What Does the Skin-Optical Sense Reflect?

By linking the skin-optical sense to light and color, researchers do not take into account certain experimental facts obtained by them. The sensation of light and color can arise only as a result of the direct action upon the visual receptors of photons of radiant energy reflected from an object.

But photons cannot penetrate through opaque media, and in cases of the manifestation of skin-optical sensitivity through opaque media, we are dealing not with photons, but with some new stimuli that are carriers of a different quality of objects.

One cannot ignore another important result of the research either. As all subjects without exception testify, the subjective image arising during skin-optical sensations is so unusual, new, that in itself in the subject’s consciousness it is not subject to interpretation. It not only does not directly designate the optical properties of the perceived object, but does not even evoke visual representations from past cognitive experience. There is no direct connection between this image and visual representations.

This connection is established conventionally through a word: the subject perceiving color with their hand is given the name of the color, through which they associate the forming new image with the visual representation of the color. It is noteworthy that the subjects, as some researchers testify, reluctantly speak of the skin-optical image as visual. Finally, the subjects themselves characterize the skin-optical image with such features: dots, strokes, viscosity, attraction, repulsion, and others, which have nothing in common with the optical properties of objects. It seems to us highly probable that the skin-optical sense reflects not optical, but some other, still unrecognized properties of objects, apparently connected with optical properties. One can only guess about the nature and essence of this property. It still has to be discovered and studied.

As is known from physics, every object reflects a part of the radiant energy incident upon it in the form of photons, due to which the eye perceives the color tone, its saturation, and the lightness of the object. Another part of the radiant energy is absorbed by the object. Under the influence of the absorbed energy, certain changes occur in the substance. In particular, electrons, having absorbed the energy of photons, transition from a stable level to a higher, but less stable energy level, so to speak, become excited.

Excited electrons tend to transition to their normal stable state. In this process, energy equivalent to the energy of the absorbed photons is released. The energy released by it in this way partially exists in some other forms, and not in the form of photons, because in the latter case our

eye would be dealing with a common light flux, and the visual perception of objects would be impossible.

A part of the released energy is radiated by the object in the form of heat. But a part of this same energy is retained in the object and causes the appearance of some new energetic quality of the object. Such a new quality might be an electromagnetic (of a non-optical range) or electrostatic field of the irradiated object, which causes skin-optical sensations. It is possible that the electromagnetic or electrostatic field persists in the object more or less for a long time after its irradiation, which allows the skin-optical sense to perceive it in complete darkness.

Consequently, in the visual and skin-optical sense we are dealing with fundamentally different types of sensitivity. Vision perceives the part of the spectrum reflected from the object, while the skin-optical sense - the part of the spectrum absorbed by the object and transformed. Since the absorbed part of the spectrum is in a known sense the antipode of the reflected part of the spectrum, the skin-optical sense is not an analog of vision. It has not an optical, but a different, electromagnetic, nature.

The name “skin-optical sense”, introduced into circulation by A.S. Novomeisky and adopted by the majority of researchers, apparently does not reflect the essence of the new type of sensitivity and, according to M.M. Kozhevnikov, should be replaced by the name **“skin-electromagnetic sense”**or “electrostatic sense”.

The reflection spectrum and the absorption spectrum are so organically connected with each other that one can judge the other from one of them. Therefore, in practice, the skin-electromagnetic sense,

connected primarily with the phenomena of light absorption, can be used to recognize the optical qualities of an object. This is the root of the error of researchers who translate the indications of the skin-electrostatic or skin-electromagnetic sense into optical language and speak of a skin-optical sense that allows one to perceive the colors of objects with the hands.

This translation is not devoid of meaning in practical terms: with the help of the hand, one can indeed conventionally perceive the optical properties of an object, which can be significant in a person’s cognitive activity.

Thus, it is not excluded that in the so-called skin-optical sense we are dealing with a new type of skin sensitivity. But this assumes the presence in the skin of special receptors, and in the central nervous system - of a special analyzer, which analyzes and synthesizes the electromagnetic influences of the irradiated object.

I.M. Goldberg [12] considers the skin-optical image as the result of the integral sensitivity of all available skin receptors. But such a point of view cannot provide any satisfactory explanation for the distant manifestation of the skin-optical sense. Of all the skin receptors known to us, only temperature receptors can be distantly excited. Meanwhile, the temperature factor in skin-optical sensitivity, as was shown above, does not play a significant role.

Some authors assume the presence in the skin of the hand of receptors analogous to the cones and rods of the eyes. The possibility, widely represented in experiments, of perceiving col-

ors with the hand through opaque, in particular, metallic media completely refutes such an assumption.

Probably, in the skin of the hand, one must look for specific receptors that finely react to the slightest changes in the electrostatic (electromagnetic) field.

If such a specific skin receptor exists, then it must have its own afferent neural pathway and its own cortical representation. M.M. Kozhevnikov suggests that a new skin-electromagnetic analyzer must be thoroughly searched for. The current state of experimental technology allows this to be done.

7.5. On the Significance of the Electromagnetic Sense

M. M. Kozhevnikov, back in the 1960s, expressed that the problem of skin-electromagnetic sensitivity undoubtedly has great scientific-theoretical and practical significance. In theoretical terms, the discovery of a new type of skin sensitivity enriches the tenets of the theory of knowledge. In particular, the cognition of a new quality of objects, reflected by the new type of skin sensitivity, testifies to the inexhaustibility of the properties of matter (the world), and to the expansion and deepening, under the influence of practice, of the sphere of human cognition.

Studies of skin electromagnetic sensitivity convincingly show that some specific quality of objects, through a new information channel, provides us with a new sensation that reflects new aspects of reality.

Cybernetics and information theory will find the richest material in the new sense. The electromagnetic sense, expressed in precise physical units, will be highly amenable to quanti-

tative measurement, coding, and technical modeling. In the field of psychology, the study of the skin electromagnetic sense will represent a significant contribution to the theory and practice of sensory cognition; it testifies to the expansion of the boundaries of the human psyche, and to the ever-increasing penetration of consciousness into various aspects of existence.

The practical significance of studying the skin electromagnetic sense is invaluable. The possibility of practically recognizing color qualities by means of this sensitivity will probably eventually allow a person to use their hands to orient themselves in the optical properties of materials under conditions of closed “blind” labor, which will undoubtedly contribute to the facilitation and improvement of the quality and productivity of labor.

In typhlopedagogy, the skin electromagnetic sense creates the prerequisites for fundamentally new, more effective methods of teaching people with absent or insufficient vision, opening up before them, albeit in a mediated form, the world of optical properties and phenomena unknown to them.

It is undoubted that as research continues, the field of practical application of the skin electromagnetic sense will constantly expand.

The problem of skin electromagnetic sensitivity has already moved beyond the realm of isolated searches and accidental discoveries. The main features of this problem have been determined; now a systematic and comprehensive study of it is necessary.

There are a number of questions to be resolved that research has not yet reached. First of all, it is necessary to investigate that new quality of objects which determines the electromagnetic sense. There are many indications that this quality has an electromagnetic nature of a non-optical range.

The detection of this new quality by physical methods would be the solution to the fundamental question. The study of the stimulus of the electromagnetic sense can and must proceed from the standpoint of psychophysiology. It is necessary to experimentally test the effect on the skin of the hand of electromagnetic oscillations in the short and ultra-short ranges, determining the possibility of recognizing by hand the configuration of the source of these oscillations.

It would also be useful to verify the possibility of distinguishing electric fields by hand through homogeneous metallic media. In particular, one should test the “reading” by hand of electro-spark photographs, printed circuits with an electric current passing through them.

An equally important unexplored question is the study of the analyzer of the electromagnetic sense itself. It can be said with a high degree of confidence that researchers will be dealing with a new, specific analyzer. The study of the electrical activity of the cerebral cortex during the electromagnetic sense using the method of encephalography will make it possible to determine the location of the analyzer’s nucleus. Most likely, the nucleus is located in the parietal region of the cortex, in the area of localization of skin sensitivity, or in the immediate vicinity of it.

The study of the stimulus and the analyzer of the skin electromagnetic sense creates prerequisites for solving many other important questions of this fundamental problem. In particular, it will be possible to thoroughly investigate the thresholds of electromagnetic sensitivity and their individual fluctuations.

Without waiting for the solution to these complex questions, it is already possible to carry out broad studies of individual and age-related differences in the field of electromagnetic sensitiv-

ity, and to determine the possibilities of its development in people through special exercises.

8. Slander Against the Abilities of Rosa Kuleshova

Science serves the people, and therefore requires mutual support from the state. Of course, in science there are opportunists who create “fakes” for the sake of career, and such people must be exposed, criticized, etc. However, instead of help, certain champions of the common good, “fighters for the purity of science,” disinformers “in the name of science,” instead of enlightenment provide distorted knowledge, and therefore cause enormous spiritual harm to society. One of them will be discussed below. Journalist O. Moroz published an article about Rosa Kuleshova.

(Moroz O.P. Reading with Hands… // In the Name of Science. — M.: Politizdat, 1989. — P. 128–141.)

Here we offer the esteemed reader an astonishing literary document containing the unrestrained skepticism of writer-journalist Oleg Moroz, who “proved,” with the help of “a commission of various specialists,” the deception of Rosa Kuleshova, i.e., the absence of the phenomenon named after her. Unfortunately, such incompetent experts, speaking in the name of science, misinform the public through their publications, and therefore cause harm not only to science but to all spiritual culture. Everyone is given the opportunity to analyze the course of thought and reveal the contradictions of the skeptic himself, to identify the problems in the development of the ability of “skin vision,” to find irregularities in the conducted experiments.

So, here is what Oleg Pavlovich Moroz writes.

Several years ago, the editorial office of the “Literaturnaya Gazeta” received a letter:

“Lately, one has been hearing quite often about mysterious phenomena of the human psyche. Lectures and public demonstrations are dedicated to them. In particular, there is much talk about skin vision — about the fact that some people are able to distinguish colors, images, etc., with their fingers. But after all, if such facts exist, they should become the basis for broad scientific generalizations. Meanwhile, nothing of the sort is known either to me or to those with whom I have happened to speak. V. Forafonov. Moscow.”

Indeed, since certain previously unknown facts have been established, it is legitimate to enter into a discussion about their scientific interpretation. The reader’s concern for science is commendable. But here is the question: has the fact of “skin vision” been reliably established? If one is to judge by the newspaper publications that appeared quite often in those years, skin vision manifested most vividly (and, it seems, for the first time) in a resident of Nizhny Tagil, Rosa Kuleshova. We invited her to the editorial office.

The few days during which she was our guest proved to be hectic. The guest’s behavior was uncontrollable. She fluttered through the editorial floors in the euphoria of fame and universal attention, demonstrating her abilities everywhere. Here and there, she could be seen in a crowd of employees with Zener cards or postcards in her hands. Turning away, she unerringly named the figures on the cards and described the images on the postcards. In the editorial cafeteria, Kuleshova could jump up to an employee standing in line and, without any request from them, say what color their … article of clothing, hidden by outerwear, was. She burst into the editor-in-chief’s office, threw some book on the floor, kicked off a shoe, and began to read the text, running her foot over it…

Afterward, these days were long recalled in the editorial office.

We decided to conduct with Kuleshova the same experiment as with the “telepaths.” With her, however, reaching an agreement turned out to be incomparably more difficult. She had trouble understanding what was wanted of her, chattered nonstop, and offered to demonstrate fantastic things.

We, however, were set on keeping things small. We took a sheet of plywood a meter and a half wide and the same in height, made a hole in it for a hand, and attached to it a sleeve of black opaque material, similar to the way it is done in darkrooms. This sheet was placed in front of Kuleshova; she would insert her hand into the sleeve and feel objects of various colors—pencils and buttons—which were given to her. The sleeve fit tightly around the arm, and the plywood blocked the field of vision; peeping was impossible. [In actual fact, R. Kuleshova was offered a complex experiment for which she was not prepared.—R.I.]

It was agreed in advance to consider an experiment successful if Kuleshova named the color correctly in more than half the cases: half of the correct answers could be attributed to mere chance.

Several series of such experiments were conducted. The best result: seven correct answers out of eighteen.

Then the task was made more difficult. Kuleshova was given postcards with reproductions of paintings, similar to those she had described, without looking, in the editorial corridors and offices. Result—zero. About Derain’s “Portrait of a Girl in Black” she said: “Looks like flowers”; about Van Dyck’s “Self-Portrait”—“Various flowers”; about Gauguin’s “Women on the Seashore”—simply “Flowers”… About some postcards she said nothing at all.

Then the plywood sheet was removed and a simple bandage of the kind she usually used in her dem—

appearances before the public. Everything was transformed. In all cases, the answers given were precise and detailed: the colors of objects were indicated correctly, the details of pictures on postcards were meticulously described, and text was read fluently.

The subject, who had been somewhat downcast, perked up again and once more set about pestering the experimenters with her unrestrained temperament. This was a control experiment. It was clear that the blindfold did not at all guard against peeking. [Was it really so difficult to check the blindfold before the experiment? — R.I.]

Finally, it was decided to repeat the experiments that the newspapers had written about and from which Kuleshova’s fame had originated. Experiments with multicolored rays.

From a device resembling a child’s diascope, a ray of a single color is emitted. The person brings their hand to the eyepiece and determines the color of the ray by touch. The newspapers reported that in one experiment Kuleshova “out of seventeen proposed colors, identified all seventeen correctly.” The other experiments were nearly as successful. Only one was rated as comparatively unsuccessful — when out of sixty-four attempts she gave the correct answer in fifty-four cases.

Before proceeding to the experiment, we inspect the device. Click … Click … Click … The clicks of the switch when setting different colors are not identical; they differ slightly. An attentive ear can detect this …

To eliminate the possibility of eavesdropping, we ask them to bring another identical device. Now the experimenters will click the switches of both devices simultaneously, but moving them to different positions. An opaque covering is thrown over Kuleshova’s head. Into the working device is inserted—

are plates of four colors. Four colors — that is Kuleshova’s choice. The experiment begins.

According to the draw, yellow should be turned on first. Two simultaneous clicks are heard. “Blue,” says Kuleshova. Yellow is turned on again. “Blue,” comes the answer. Now it is actually blue. “Blue.” Correct. The second time, blue. “Yellow.” Green. She sees “Red”…

Two correct answers out of ten.

□ Phew, I can’t. It’s hot, — the subject wipes her face with a handkerchief.

D It’s so stuffy in here!

—

It really is stuffy. The weather outside is warm. And then there’s the black cover, the heat from the apparatus.

—

Maybe we should use three colors instead of four? — says someone, taking pity on Kuleshova.

In the experiment with three colors, Kuleshova gave eight correct answers out of twenty. That is somewhat better, but still nothing to write home about. Generally speaking, all of this falls within the range of random guesses. Or barely exceeds their number.

And now the conditions of the experiment are made easier: instead of a cover — a blindfold over the eyes; no second, masking click is made. One hundred percent correct guessing. Enough to write an ecstatic article with abandon.

“… At present, no skin-optical sensitivity has been detected in R.A. Kuleshova,” stated the conclusion of the commission of Literaturnaya Gazeta, which included five authoritative scientists of various specialties. “But does ‘skin vision’ exist at all?… The sheer number of ‘successful’ experiments, the number of publications in itself is not convincing. What is needed is a careful analysis of the conditions of the experiments and their results.”

The editorial office of “Literaturnaya Gazeta” is located in Moscow on Tsvetnoy Boulevard, right across from the old circus. We asked Kuleshova to stay one more day, and already without any experimental rigor, to show what she could do. We invited well-known illusionists from the circus, among them Emil Kio. They watched carefully. Toward the end, Kio said that, in his opinion, everything shown belonged to the circus genre.

It goes without saying that it was no difficulty for Rosa Kuleshova to fool unsophisticated people. Which she did. People still recall this to this day. Muscovite I.F. Korneyev sent a letter to the editorial office in which he recounted his chance encounter with Kuleshova. Judging by everything, this encounter took place shortly after the experiment of “Literaturnaya Gazeta,” in which Kuleshova’s abilities were being tested. Or even during the period when it was being conducted, between two meetings of the test subject with the commission and specialists. I.F. Korneyev served at that time in the police (he is now retired).

“Once, together with my colleague from the MVD, Colonel A.I. Titov,” writes I.F. Korneyev, “I found myself in the utility room of the warehouse of one of the departments of TsUM. About 15 minutes after we arrived there, a woman entered there as well — or more precisely, ran in — apparently 32–35 years old, below average height, dressed in an old brown spring coat. Cursing up and down certain academicians and professors with whom she had allegedly just

met, the woman, noticing our perplexed glance, introduced herself:

Rosa Kuleshova. It is about me that they are writing in the newspapers. And now I have had a final falling out with the scientists, — she continued. — I prove to them and show them what I can do, but they keep repeating one thing — this cannot be. But tomorrow I will prove my case, and if they do not understand — I will go back home to the Urals, I will join a circus and show what I am capable of.

So you do not believe me either, — she said, turning to us. — Then blindfold my eyes.

I asked to take a sweater from the shelf (it turned out to be green) and in the presence of eight to ten women and my colleague, they tightly wrapped the sleeves around her head, and I lowered the rest of the sweater down to her waist. Thus, something like a sack ended up on her head. Then the most interesting part began. I took out my service identification and held it under Kuleshova’s outstretched hand. Moving her hand about, she briskly read what was written, unerringly naming my rank, position, and all other entries. Then the sweater was untied.

Well, militia, so you do not believe me either? Then blindfold me again.

I blindfolded her eyes again. To the astonishment of those present, Rosa read all the entries in A.I

this screen also did not help, at least not for us. She was not peeping, but she read, read, and kept saying:

—You, I see, are just like those academicians … What can you expect from the police — they don’t believe anyone.

Then, as a farewell, she showed several tricks, improvised some little verses about the Soviet police, and left, promising to come here tomorrow and tell about a repeat meeting with the scientists.

Left without her, we discussed what we had seen for a long time, asking each other: could this Rosa have fooled all of us? To check, we took turns blindfolding each other with that same cardigan, but each of us had nothing but complete darkness before our eyes.

Agreeing that Kuleshova did, after all, “see” with her hands, we went our separate ways. Afterward, each of us told many people for a long time about what we had seen, asserting before listeners “the phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova.”

I. F. Korneev described Rosa Kuleshova with amazing accuracy. How like her this is — this eccentricity, this cursing of unbelieving scientists, this eternal readiness to demonstrate her abilities to anyone and everyone, these little verses about the police

The most curious thing, however: I. F. Korneev does not notice how he contradicts himself, his confident “she was not peeping.” The phrase: “You, I see, are just like those academicians … What can you expect from the police — they don’t believe anyone” — Kuleshova says precisely at the moment when I. F. Korneev is trying to place a screen between her eyes and the text being read. That means she can see the screen, at least. It is another matter that it does not bother her; she knows how to cope with such interference. [I. F. Korneev does not at all dispro-

subjects himself, but simply wants to understand this phenomenon —

R.I.]

Recently, one journalist reproached Literaturnaya Gazeta for not having approached the “phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova” objectively. Supposedly, today scientists have scientifically substantiated this phenomenon.

Well, first of all, what is the lack of objectivity? We conducted an experiment and published its results — everything as it was. Second, what have scientists substantiated today? They substantiated the fundamental possibility of distinguishing by hand black from white, light from dark, discerning geometric figures (Zener cards), large letters…

In the laboratory of the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, which is headed by Eduard Emmanuilovich Godik, there is a videotape recording of one of the experiments explaining the essence of the phenomenon. On the display screen, against a white background, some blurry spot is visible. But then a hand approaches it, and the outlines of letters become discernible. The hand moves closer, and the inscription becomes clearly visible: the masthead of the newspaper Pravda. The hand moves further, and the word again turns into an indistinguishable spot.

The explanation is simple: the hand emits thermal rays, which are reflected from the paper over which the hand moves; from a white surface, understandably, they are reflected differently than from the black ink of the letters. The reflected rays are received by the sensors of the instrument — a thermal imager. Their sensitivity is no higher than the sensitivity of the hand — hence the conclusion is drawn that the hand, too, can “see” the same thing that the thermal imager “sees.”

True, there is still much that is unclear here. It is unclear whether temperature sensations can combine into an image, how complex the images that can be perceived in this way… But all of these are uncertainties of an entirely different kind than those that arose in former times during discussions about “skin vision.” Back then there was nothing but fog, juggling of pseudo-scientific terms.

To guess what image you have at hand, taking into account a barely perceptible difference in temperatures, is roughly the same as determining by touch the image on a bas-relief. Although the former is, apparently, more difficult. Different people have different abilities to “see” by touch. It is well known that the blind possess this ability to a high degree. Probably, the ability to detect a difference in temperatures, to draw conclusions on the basis of this feature, to infer what follows from this difference, likewise varies from one person to another.

Thus, the fundamental possibility of perception by means of thermal location has now been “scientifically substantiated.” But no one ever proved that it was precisely this possibility that was realized in Rosa Kuleshova. What was reliably proved instead — in particular, in the experiment conducted by Literaturnaya Gazeta — was that she peeked through the blindfold, as conjurers have done since time immemorial. So much for the “phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova”! [This unjust and unfounded conclusion by the journalist dealt a tangible blowto the emerging new scientific direction inthe study of the reserve capabilities of man.— R.I.].

Why then break lances, if it turns out after all that “skin vision” is possible in principle? It was worth breaking them. In the first place, I repeat, only the possibility of this kind of perception has been proven. It remains unclear, however, whether it is realized in prac-

ality. And if it is realized — within what limits. Secondly, about “skin vision,” as well as about other similar phenomena, so much nonsense has been spoken. People supposedly possessing it were almost elevated to sainthood …

Even now this trail drags behind it. It will drag on for a long time. Recently, Doklady Akademii Nauk rejected an article by Gulyaev and Godik, which presented results on thermal location. Arguments: given the unhealthy interest … cherishing the good name of the journal …

The morbid interest in “skin vision” is indistinguishable from interest in telepathy, telekinesis, and other such things. Incidentally, quite recently, during a discussion at a certain gathering of works by physicists devoted to thermal location, when the conversation again touched upon Rosa Kuleshova, one of the participants in the discussion unexpectedly declared: “She, of course, did not possess ‘skin vision.’ Everything she did, she did thanks to telepathy.” More than anything, this interest is fueled by the thirst to take these “phenomena” beyond the framework of science. But at the same time — to speak in the name of science. The thirst to establish some other science that would include mysticism as well.

So that, in the end, the appropriation of “phenomena” by ordinary (the only!) science — is a blow against mysticism.

Not long ago I received a letter from Sverdlovsk. It described how the “phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova” was born (a very important circumstance, since usually all these “phenomena” fall on the public’s head like ripe apples, rarely does anyone know where they “originated from”).

“By profession I am a neuropathologist,” the letter said. “For many years I headed the neuropathology department of the 1st City Hospital of Nizhny Tagil. I knew Rosa Kuleshova from the age of 14 as a patient (arachnoiditis of the brain with epileptic seizures and hysterical character traits). She was already fascinated by tricks at that age and sometimes showed them to me. But my professional interests were confined mainly to gravely ill patients. Besides… I had never thought much of parapsychology.

But then a retired military physician, I.M. Goldberg, joined our staff, who, on the contrary, was very drawn to parapsychological problems. One day Rosa Kuleshova came to his office and demonstrated that with a blindfold over her eyes she could read and identify the colors of objects. He became fired up and presented Rosa Kuleshova at a medical staff meeting. The sensation knew no bounds!

This sensation then went in two directions: external — with the help of the psychology department of the Nizhny Tagil Pedagogical Institute, throughout the entire Soviet Union and even beyond its borders — and internal: Klara Fyodorovna Selishcheva, a surgeon at our hospital (currently living in the city of Dniprodzerzhynsk, Dnipropetrovsk region), very quickly reproduced Rosa’s wonders with a blindfold over her eyes, with the difference that she stated outright: she could see everything perfectly through the tiny gaps near the inner corners of her eyes. Having carefully isolated Rosa Kuleshova’s eyes, she stripped her of all her ‘miraculous’ properties. Rosa Kuleshova also lost her ‘magical’ qualities during other experiments we conducted with reliable isolation of the eyes from the hands. Thus, in Nizhny Tagil, we completely debunked the ‘phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova.’ Our conclusions fully coincide with the conclusions of Literaturnaya Gazeta, who had tested Rosa Kuleshova.

The purpose of this letter to you is to confirm, so to speak, “from the place of birth,” the scientific invalidity of “the Rosa Kuleshova phenomenon,” or rather, simply the absence in her of the so-called “skin-optical” sense.

With respect, A.S. Rubakha.” [The cited letter demonstrates an example of a state of war within science. — R.I.]

As we can see, already at the moment of the “phenomenon’s” birth there were sensible people who soberly sorted everything out and explained everything in thorough detail. Thanks to them.

All the same, this did not prevent the little bird from fluttering out of the nest and beginning to flutter about the wide world (for which we must be grateful to Comrade Goldberg and the psychologists from the Nizhny Tagil Pedagogical Institute).

The fact that Kuleshova was peeking was established a countless number of times, but the thirst for a miracle was so great that they closed their eyes to it.

It is precisely this circumstance that we must keep in mind: sooner or later the sober scientific approach will, of course, prevail; however, temporary success in clashes of “local significance” not infrequently involves the opposite approach as well: it happens time and again that rigorous scientific data are simply disregarded — the layperson has their own “science,” their own view of the world; they see in it what they want to see, and not what is actually there.

In 1997, V. M. Mizrahi made a presentation at the International Congress “Inter-ENIO-97”, in which he highlighted the results of

his research work on skin-optical perception in the blind. Let us provide brief excerpts from his report.

In 1962, the poorly studied phenomenon of skin vision appeared in the Soviet Union. As a result of prolonged, purposeful training, a young girl from Nizhny Tagil—Rosa Kuleshova—could, blindfolded, recognize the colors of paper and fabrics, and read handwritten and printed texts with the fingers of her right hand.

This phenomenon became the starting point for the creation of the Ural scientific school. In 1963, the domestic researcher A. S. Novomeisky discovered skin-optical sensitivity in experiments with 80 students of the Nizhny Tagil Pedagogical Institute. Every sixth person among these students could, after two months of training, detect by touch the color tones of paper through the sensation of viscosity, roughness, and slip. Color tones could also be recognized at a distance from the colored paper, i.e., distantly. Each color caused in the subject the sensation of an invisible barrier at a certain distance from the colored paper. In the course of further experiments, temperature sensations arose in the subjects’ hands: from weak to strong heat or cold, depending on the color of the detected surface.

Individual subjects in these experiments could read large flat-printed text by the thermal contour on the palm.

Similar experiments in various aspects were conducted in many countries around the world in the 1960s–1980s; however, up to the present time, the problem identified here has not been fundamentally solved either in the fundamental or in the applied directions.

In the 1990s, V. M. Mizrah made discoveries that allowed him to finally resolve the psychophysiological problems of skin-optical perception of color by both contact and distant methods. As a result of many years of research, he discovered the sensations of softness and hardness of color and their reflective properties in all color tones individually. The sensation of color discovered by A. S. Novomeisky carried information only about the lightness or darkness of the color tone, i.e., they were only achromatic characteristics of color. The sensations of softness and hardness in all color tones discovered by V. M. Mizrahi turned out to be chromatic characteristics of color, i.e., they carried information about chromaticity and were specific features of color in skin-optical reflection.

Further research conducted by V. M. Mizrahi showed that complete information about color is transmitted only by two features—the previously known sensations of slip or drag, together with the newly found sensations of softness or hardness of color. The final cycle of research showed that each subject, when perceiving a colored sheet, experiences two sensations simultaneously—slip (or drag) together with softness (or hardness).

Only two sensations, achromatic and chromatic, merged together, carry complete information about the color tone and are, in their essence, a qualitatively new stage in the cognition of color—its perception.

The training conducted on this fundamental basis made it possible to approach the error-free determination of color by blind children during a training experiment. This allowed raising the applied aspect of the studies described above to a qualitatively new level.

Based on many years of experiments, a new, complete, and accurate “Novomeisky-Mizrahi” classification was created, with the help of which blind children are currently trained in color recognition at the Kharkiv Gymnasium for the Blind. These studies were conducted on a specific basis upon the request of the State Committee of Ukraine for Science and Technology, and their results were published in the abstract collection of the State Committee.

For example, in the 1990s, V. M. Mizrahi taught a blind boy with residual vision, Rostislav Kolos, to recognize colors using the distant method. This boy possessed a phenomenal ability to “see with his hands,” recognizing colors on an “internal visual screen” just as we, sighted people, see with our eyes on a color television screen.

In the experiment, it turned out that Rostislav could see inside himself, on the “screen,” not only the color over which he held his hand, but also words composed of plastic letters, various images of animals, and colored calendars. For several years, this phenomenon remained phenomenal.

Preliminary experiments on blinded children showed that it is possible to reflexively develop in the blind the ability to see color with their hands on an “internal visual screen.” However, initially, these experiments were not effective enough. Subsequently, V. M. Mizrahi applied well-known and his own developments in contact color recognition for distant color perception. Subsequent studies showed that blind children who could see before or currently have residual vision (even a small percentage of normal) can learn to see with their hands or face

colored objects or images on the “internal visual screen.”

For example, a blind boy, Spartak Naumov (age 10), having residual vision, learned to read 4 mm-sized words with the index finger of his right hand. The completely blind Oleg Korotaev trained to “see” geometric shapes with his face. After that, he began to apply his abilities in practice. On a street in the city of Kharkiv, he saw on his “internal visual screen” the colors of passing cars and a blue stripe on a white bus. Upon arriving in the city of Odesa, he saw, in a similar way, the path he was trying to reach.

10. The Disputes about Skin Vision Continue

Among the opponents of the concept of skin vision are O.P. Moroz, V.M. Kandyba, and others. The attitude of journalist Oleg Moroz to this issue has already been written about above; now we will present the arguments of psychologist Viktor Kandyba (The Magic of the Universe and Human Capabilities. St. Petersburg, 1998).

W. James was right when he stated that the limits of human consciousness are unknown, and its possibilities are an unexplored territory that we have yet to master.

It is known that in a state of hypnosis, a person’s abilities can significantly increase. He can lift a large weight, see and hear much better than usual. This occurs as a result of the fact that suggestion allows him to fully concentrate on the performance of the assigned task. Hypnosis makes it possible to sometimes achieve such sensory abilities as occur in genuine hyperesthesia (i.e., supersensitivity).

Touch in hypersensitivity is of enormous importance. There are people who, having touched a card from a deck of ordinary playing cards, are able to accurately name it. The tactile sensitivity of the blind is well known to many people. Professor Fontaine describes blind women who were able to distinguish the colors of wool, sensing with their fingers the different influence of dyes on the threads. Professor Willie reports of a patient with hysterical epilepsy who, by touch and in complete darkness, could also flawlessly determine the color of a woolen thread.

In J. Romans’s book “Vision Without Eyes”, para-optical perception, or so-called skin vision, is discussed. Romans asserts that such vision allows one to see colors and letters from a distance. Moreover, according to his claims, para-optical perception of color is possible even under the weakest illumination. Previously, Khovrin, who observed it in a hysteric, also wrote about a similar phenomenon.

Undoubtedly, these fantastic results of the experiments by Romans and Khovrin are explained by sensory signals that the researchers failed to eliminate. Thus, the book “Vision Without Eyes” is a perfect illustration of a complete unawareness of the existence of such a psychological subtlety as unconscious sensory signals.

Now “muscle reading” has become a profession that brings considerable income to some people. Usually, not only the interpretation of ideomotor movements is used here, but also such factors as changes in breathing, skin flushing, changes in areas of tension and relaxation, facial expressions, etc.

The possibilities of developing hearing can be demonstrated by the example of the blind, who are able to perceive noises

and sounds inaccessible to people with normal vision. The ability to feel objects and obstacles, fully explainable from the standpoint of normal psychology, nevertheless gave rise to the myth of the “sixth sense.” In many cases, both in the distant past and in our days, the blind enjoyed special respect, which was caused by attributing a mystical quality to them. The latter allegedly manifested themselves in the form of an ability to feel not only their immediate surroundings, but also to perceive information about distant objects relating to the past, present, or future.

However, it should be emphasized that by no means all blind people can sense obstacles in advance. Among those who possess this ability, it is present to varying degrees. A person encountering the observation of the phenomenon of perception of objects located at a significant distance for the first time undoubtedly experiences a feeling of deep amazement.

The claim that the blind “see” with their skin is false. Their ability is explained primarily by well-developed hearing. Concomitant factors are the interpretation of changes in temperature, wind direction and force, as well as a heightened sense of smell and susceptibility to vibrations. Willie compares the abilities of the blind to the property inherent in a bat, which is able to navigate in the dark by means of hearing. As with a bat, the perception of objects in the blind disappears under a hermetic obturation [blockage, closure — R.I.] of the auditory canals. One of the main reasons generating belief in a sixth sense is the fact that all sensations received through hearing are localized in the blind in the area of the forehead. Kunz pointed out that most of them unconsciously turn their forehead toward the object, the location

of which they want to determine. This interesting phenomenon is explained by the fact that the forehead is located practically in the center between the ears, which are the true organs of sensory perception.

11. About Schoolchildren Who … Read with Their Ears

If for the Western scientist bioenergetic phenomena are something alien, the Eastern scientist in this regard has millennia-old traditions with deeply elaborated systems of concepts and training methodologies that allow one to influence both oneself and external objects.

Several years ago, reports appeared in the Chinese press about schoolchildren who … “read with their ears.” The experimenters would hold up to the subject’s ear a piece of paper with a written character, and the school-age child would name it. The more gifted and sensitive children could read with any part of the body (how can one not recall Rosa Kuleshova here!).

The experimenters were prominent scientists from the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and major scientific centers. Later, some specialists who had not themselves conducted experiments issued sharp “scientific” criticism of the work being done. The mass identification of gifted children that had begun was curtailed. However, experiments in the field of bioenergetics did not cease. They are still being conducted today. And most intensively — in Shanghai (see Khantseverov F.R. Eniology. — Taganrog, 1995. — P. 25).

The psychotherapist L. M. Liberman raises the timely question of rehabilitating the blind using well-known psychological methods developed by domestic scientists in the 1960s; he shares his experience, reflects, and proposes the creation of a new science — senology [Liberman L. M. Why is training in alternative vision not used in rehabilitation programs for the blind? // Consciousness and Physical Reality. — Moscow: Folium. — Vol. 6, No. 4, 2001].

In studying the history of the question of alternative vision, we encountered an interesting feature: for as long as humanity has existed, it has been equally familiar with a special mode of perception — alternative seeing. And this is not merely a rosy dream, a myth about the super-abilities of humans, although amid the abundance of information there exist both deliberate and unintentional falsifications, myths, and misconceptions on this topic, but the facts confirming such human capabilities cannot be denied.

In scientific works of the 1960s devoted to “skin-optical vision,” facts are reported about the unconditional possibility of teaching sighted and blind people one of the forms of alternative perception — “skin-optical vision.” However, despite the evident possibility of such training, it is not applied today in any state institution in the country.

It would seem that the possibilities of perception without the aid of eyes have been demonstrated convincingly and repeatedly by specialists, including among the blind, yet to this day not a single state program has adopted such or

similar training! Why? It would seem that any additional possibility in the education of the blind, allowing them at least somehow to compensate for the primary defect — the impossibility of distant, contact-free perception of an object’s form and color without the participation of the eye — is difficult to overestimate. And the data obtained by researchers indicate that such training is possible for a wide circle of people, not only for phenomenal individuals. Nevertheless, such training is not being conducted — why?

Why is such an undoubtedly useful method of development and adaptation for the blind not being utilized?

A. S. Novomeisky, who carefully studied skin-optical vision, worked with the blind, and obtained good results, asked himself this same question 40 years ago: “In studying skin-optical sensitivity in sightless people, a legitimate perplexity usually arises: how can one explain that over the course of centuries the blind and visually impaired themselves have not learned to recognize colors, letters, and digits by the skin-optical route?” — and he answered it thus: “First, skin-optical sensations in the process of cognition are fused with tactile and thermal sensations. The blind did not know that during touch they receive signals about color attributes. Had this been known to them, they would long ago have mastered the skin-optical channel of cognition. Second, these sensations occurred in the sightless at a subconscious level. The attributes of color remained uninterpreted and could not be reproduced subsequently.”

According to L. M. Liberman, regarding this non-use of an undoubtedly valuable and vitally necessary method of rehabilitation, besides the above explanation by Novomeisky, there are several further fundamental reasons and misconceptions. The chief

misconception, first and foremost, is the erroneous expectation of a miracle from such training, and not simply a miracle, but a miracle of rapid restoration of sight, i.e., healing.

Furthermore, as we suppose, there exist a number of other significant reasons that impede the spread of training in alternative vision. One of them is the orientation toward a quick result rather than a long-term developmental process.

It is expected that as a result of some course of treatment, vision will appear or existing vision will improve. In this case, the student does not assume that what is meant here is not the treatment of vision in the literal sense, but the development of perceptual capacities, i.e., a prolonged developmental process. Although the first skills may manifest after only a few lessons, these successes are equivalent to learning the first letters of the alphabet, when the main task is learning to read fluently. Such an incorrect stance can lead to disappointment in the method, since after one or several months of lessons the student shows no progress in direct object vision.

Undoubtedly, we are speaking of an unusual perception that appears to be a wondrous ability; however, in all cases a very interesting psychological feature of the misconception is observed: the wondrous prospect of special perception assumes and combines in the patient’s consciousness with the erroneous belief (misconception) about a miraculous instantaneous or, at the very least, sufficiently rapid healing, and, above all, the appearance of ordinary ocular vision. Therefore, the next important factor impeding the spread of this knowledge among the blind is the incorrect orientation of blind and visually impaired stu-

dents toward obtaining, as the outcome of the lessons, the attributes of ordinary vision or an improvement of what they already have.

Whereas what is being discussed, first and foremost, is the development of sensations of the most diverse forms. These sensations vary depending on the training methodology and the mastery of their mental transformation (of the sensations) into visual images of varying vividness, depending on the availability of visual experience, the capacities of imagination, the capacities for concentration, and other individual properties of the psyche.

If the goal of the lessons is not correctly explained to the student from the very beginning, disappointment sets in. This is precisely the main cause leading to apathy, as a result of which any new attempts to develop alternative perception using new methodologies are rejected outright, in order to protect oneself from the expected repeated severe disappointment. Therefore, the next reason for the non-proliferation of this knowledge is the desire of the blind person to live by the principle of “change nothing — if only things don’t get worse,” the emergence in them of a syndrome of passivity, adaptation, and an established dynamic stereotype of life under conditions of non-perception. In this state, any change associated with purposeful, prolonged work on developing new perceptual capacities, especially without clear guarantees from an honest teacher, is perceived as additional stress, which blind people try to avoid by all means. This stress increases significantly in a person who has already made similar attempts at training but was not properly oriented beforehand, and expected, for example, the appearance of object vision or a quick result.

No one would undertake to teach a child higher mathematics in the first grade — this would require 8–10 years, and this is perceived as natural, just as no one would expect the performance of a complex musical piece from someone just beginning to learn to play a musical instrument. A musical education requires years of daily, many-hour labor at the instrument, and this too is perceived as natural. But in the case of training in alternative perception, which is undoubtedly no easier than learning to play a musical instrument, the majority of those wishing to study expect a miracle of rapid healing instead of daily, painstaking labor.

As in any developmental subject, in the training of alternative perception, acquired skills that are not constantly reinforced decline or are lost entirely. In his work, A. S. Novomeisky noted: “The effect of an interruption is felt, first and foremost, in the fading of the associative link between the skin-optical sensations consolidated in experience and the corresponding names of color tones.

Skin-optical sensitivity develops gradually. Significant intervals between exercises have a destructive effect on its formation. However, once the initial stage of forming skin-optical sensations and perception is completed, interruptions no longer have a negative effect.”

L. M. Liberman is convinced that effective training must be built on a regular, systematic foundation. Important factors impeding the spread of this knowledge are:

□ the absence of a unified training methodology that is understandable, easily accessible in comprehension and mastery, and a systematic training program designed for a multi-year regular

educational process. The absence of programs designed for a continuous training process (rather than cycles of training of varying degrees of intensity and duration);

□ the proposed concepts for explaining the mechanism of perception without eyes are in the majority of cases associated with mystical and therefore frightening interpretations. There is a lack of any clear scientific explanation of the mechanism of this capability;

□ the discrepancy between the proposed forms of training and the perceptual capacities of patients and their relatives. The training is perceived as an appeal to incomprehensible and therefore supernatural and consequently evil forces, which contradicts the will of God;

□ the frightening incomprehensibility and unusualness of the training process, as well as of the very possibility of “seeing” without eyes, gives rise to apprehensions and fears of harmful consequences.

It is precisely in this connection that the following reason for the non-proliferation of alternative vision among the blind follows:

— the desire to receive and the impossibility of obtaining clear guarantees of the harmlessness of such training, not only during the training period, but also 10–20 years after it. With any honest approach, the impossibility of clear guarantees is evident, especially in so inexact a science as medicine.

After all, after a long period of time, any inexplicable health disorder can always be linked to the previous unusual training. And from this the following reason follows:

the syndrome of unconscious “tension and negative attraction,” present in the training process among many parents

and students, in connection with the above-listed factors. This syndrome manifests itself in that, as a result of distrust and unconscious tension in anticipation of dangerous influences of the training process, any deviation in the student’s health during or after the lessons can be linked to the “harmful consequences of intense brain work.”

It is known that a person most often, in any negative events that happen to him, seeks first and foremost causes of an inexplicable nature, which he cannot explain and with which he has not previously come into contact. In this case, he seeks the cause of illness not in factors already known to him, but in new ones, incomprehensible to him. Thus, in the Middle Ages, tens of thousands of innocent “witches and sorcerers” ended up at the stake.

There exist other reasons as well:

— the information about alternative vision that a blind person receives is most often associated with sensational reports in the press and is therefore perceived as an extraordinary phenomenon;

— the unreadiness of science and society to explain and accept this human capacity as such, let alone one developed artificially; the absolute absence in public consciousness of a thinking stereotype that would allow for the very possibility of perception without eyes;

the reluctance of the blind or their relatives to step beyond traditional views due to the acceptance of blindness as an inevitability of fate or karma.

Thus, there exists a vicious circle: the absence of an accessible and understandable methodology and, most importantly, correct orientations regarding the tasks and goals of training, leads to disappointment in attempts to develop alternative perception, and this disappointment causes a state of apathy and passivity in the blind and

their loved ones, who respond only to deliberately commercial, sensational advertising promises of rapid restoration of sight (for example, through operations by Filipino healers).

Let us separately dwell on one more reason why new knowledge is not spreading. Having a relatively low level of cosmic consciousness, humanity on Earth is not ready to receive this knowledge on a mass scale and on a regular basis. Until people have learned to live in a world without borders, to live without killing one another and other living beings, any knowledge in this area will immediately be directed toward armament, and the power of this weapon will be incomparably greater than the power of nuclear weapons, for it will act instantaneously and globally. Were we to master such capabilities now, the degree of threat of humanity’s self-destruction would be very high.

For the assimilation of this knowledge, not only a high development of science and technology is needed, but an even higher development of morality, spirituality, and humanism in humanity. In the mastery of these qualities (not in isolated instances, but on a mass scale), we too are only at the very beginning of the path.

To bring this moment closer, we too can — even if for now only at an elementary level — convey this knowledge at least to those most in need of it, in particular, to sick children.

Existing state programs in special institutions for the blind develop the child in a comprehensive way: mathematics develops logical thinking, the Russian language — literacy, modeling and drawing — tactile sensations, music — hearing, physical education — agility, strength, motor activity, etc., and together these subjects develop the blind child’s adaptation to the surrounding environment, help him better per-

ceive the world. But the development of each of the patient’s abilities is also achieved through general development.

If mathematics is gymnastics for the mind, physical education is gymnastics for the body, and music lessons are gymnastics for spiritual feelings and hearing, then why is there no gymnastics of sensations and feelings, especially for a blind child?

On the basis of his experimental data, L. M. Liberman speaks of the possibility of training sensory-visual perception in children even with congenital total blindness.

Let us provide examples.

Child D. K., 11 years old, diagnosed with bilateral complete atrophy of the optic nerve, i.e., with complete congenital blindness, without light perception. After a brief course of training, while wearing two light-proof masks, out of six presentations of four types of colored paper sheets (red, yellow, white, blue), he was able to correctly name all six. At the same time, having never seen these colors, he experienced great difficulty in explaining why he named the colors correctly; he determined them by a combination of very subtle, specific sensations: he perceived white as “smooth and cold, like snow,” yellow as “a tree leaf,” red as a “warm leaf,” blue as “dark.”

Child G. S., 11 years old, with acquired total blindness without light perception, after two lessons, in identifying three colors in a random order of presentation, was able to correctly name 8 out of 11 attempts.

Girl T. M., 14 years old, with total congenital blindness without light perception, out of 11 attempts to identify two contrasting colors, red and white, in random presentation, while wearing a mask, was able to correctly name the colors in all cases. At the same

time, she determined the difference in color by contrast, perceiving red as dark and white as light.

It is characteristic that all the children have entries in their medical records: “Treatment is hopeless!”

L. M. Liberman admits that he certainly cannot speak of the restoration of object ocular vision in these children, but as a form of development and assistance in the rehabilitation of children, the development of such additional perceptual capacities with regular, systematic training could help them better adapt to the surrounding world.

To this day, in the existing educational system for the blind, there is no instructional discipline that would develop children’s sensory capacities in a targeted way! There is no subject that would allow compensation for the chief defect of the blind — the impossibility of distant perception of the properties and qualities of objects without touching them, without hearing their movements. And based solely on those (ultra-weak, subthreshold) sensations that always arise during the perception of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world.

This discipline could become “Senology” — a new science about the development of human sensory capacities, rehabilitation, and the study of the mechanisms of receiving and transmitting sensory information. This science will inevitably appear, based on humanity’s age-old striving to develop its sensory capacities and the desire to quickly obtain more and higher-quality information.

In practical application, this could be a rehabilitative-developmental subject teaching blind and visually impaired people to master the skills of distant perception of the external and internal attributes of objects and phenomena, as well as

people with normal vision who wish to develop this capacity.

Gradually, moving from one grade to the next, alongside regular instruction, step by step, from simple skill to more complex ones, the student could master one sensory sensation after another according to the principle “function gives rise to skill.” Naturally, some would learn faster, others more slowly, and still others could achieve unusual heights of perception by virtue of natural talent, and in all cases the enormous potential capacities of children would not remain forever buried under the weight of ordinary everyday problems, but would have the chance to receive their development, could become a help to them and to all of us in cognizing the external and internal worlds.

L. M. Liberman is convinced that the skill of sensory perception must be developed and maintained on the basis of regular, simple, and accessible lessons in schools for the blind. As long as there exists no state-organized program for introducing this discipline as an official subject, one that would be progressively developing and accessible for every age and every grade of a school for the blind, all episodic lessons, even those achieving high differentiation skills, will remain merely demonstrative performances of a provocative [scandalous — R. I.] nature.

13. Abroad, People Also See … With Their Skin

The topic of vision outside the eyes is becoming more and more popular every day. In the magazine “UFO” (dated June 17, 2002), Maria Privalova provides information about human phenomena who possess “skin vision.”

In the 1960s of the last, twentieth century, the young American Margaret Fuss was a very famous personality in her homeland. She repeatedly appeared on television screens in the popular program “Entertaining People.” Crowds of medical experts followed her, trying somehow to explain the inexplicable—Margaret’s ability to see, read, play, walk, and run with her eyes blindfolded.

Until the age of 14, Margaret Fuss lived in a small town in the state of Virginia. Her father worked for a railway company. Margaret’s father recounted that he quite often had the opportunity to observe his little daughter playing blindman’s bluff with her friends. Even then, he was struck by her amazing ability to navigate the area with her eyes blindfolded, successfully avoiding collisions with large objects, such as trees. When asked how she managed it, Margaret declared that she simply saw everything. Her father did not believe her; he even thought that his daughter was peeking from under the blindfold. Then he blindfolded her himself, but Margaret continued to see everything around her, which terribly intrigued her father.

In January 1960, Mr. Fuss demonstrated his daughter’s unusual abilities before a commission of medical experts, declaring at the same time that Margaret’s abilities had developed and strengthened thanks to a peculiar training. The girl completely trusted her father and followed his instructions. Blindfolding her eyes, he convinced his daughter that she would be able to see even the smallest objects through the blindfold. After three weeks, the girl had already learned to distinguish a thimble, a piece of refined sugar, a needle. And then—even more. She even began to read a newspaper!

However, there was a slight hitch with reading. The girl could in no way manage to focus her inner vision on the lines

of text. Then the father decided to resort to a trick—he said that the lines were obscured by smoke, which simply needed to be “blown away.” Margaret did exactly that. To the father’s greatest amazement, just a couple of days later, the daughter was able to read him the lead article from a local newspaper.

At first, the medical commission treated Mr. Fuss’s statement with distrust. It even doubted the expediency of an examination. After all, who was this Fuss? A simple railwayman, very far removed from medicine, who assured them that he had taught his little daughter to read and distinguish colors without resorting to the help of eyes. Was such a thing possible? But still, professional interest prevailed—the doctors asked Fuss to confirm his statement about his daughter’s unusual abilities during a medical examination, moreover under the conditions proposed by the doctors themselves.

On that memorable day, 14-year-old Margaret Fuss entered the office, where 25 medical experts were waiting for her. The doctors looked with curiosity and distrust at what seemed to them a perfectly normal, healthy girl. First they asked her various questions, then moved on to experiments. Moreover, the doctors blindfolded Margaret themselves—first with a gauze-like bandage, then with thick fabric in several layers, and finally with special electrical tape, which was applied over the bandage to completely eliminate the possibility of peeking. Margaret passed all the tests with flying colors! She read excerpts from books taken at random, read articles from newspapers and magazines, played checkers, flawlessly indicated the colors of bright advertising publications, and accurately named all the objects that the doctors “showed” her.

The longer the experiment lasted, the more the experts grew perplexed. Finally, after four hours, they were

forced to admit—yes, Margaret saw everything, although by all laws she should not have seen anything! This was akin to mysticism. Although one psychiatrist present at the experiments timidly surmised: perhaps the girl is capable of seeing in such a way thanks to some new, unstudied region of the brain?

The phenomenon of Margaret Fuss—the ability to see with blindfolded eyes—was never fully explained by specialists. Just like another phenomenon—the ability to see with the skin.

Approximately in those same sixties of the last century, a sensational report came from Scotland. A four-year-old blind boy was delivered to the clinic of Dr. Karl König. The child’s tragedy also lay in the fact that he spoke poorly, was physically weak, and generally lagged in development behind his peers. The doctors decided on an unusual experiment. Trying to determine whether in the future the boy would be able to at least distinguish light and shadow, they curtained the child’s bed, in which he spent practically all his time, on four sides with white sheets, so that no extraneous light would penetrate into this enclosed space. Then they directed the bright light of a searchlight at the sheets. The light changed colors—it could become blue, red, yellow. The operating time of the searchlight changed as well. Thanks to such daily light manipulations, the doctors became convinced that the boy first began to react to the intensity of the light, then—to some colors. The longer the experiment lasted, the stranger it may seem, the better the child’s well-being became. Gradually, he grew stronger, learned to speak well, sing, and recite poems. Surprisingly, the skin of the little patient also became completely different—pink, supple, and smooth. But the sensation lay in something else. A couple of months later, the boy was already able to

distinguish the objects that the doctors showed him in the light of the searchlight. And six months later, he practically flawlessly determined everything that was brought up to him at a distance of up to two meters. Besides that, he already navigated space perfectly, could walk around the ward, the corridors of the clinic without outside help, strolled independently in the inner courtyard, and even tried to play football. The doctors were shocked—how could a blind child adapt so quickly, adjust to surrounding life? What organ was replacing his sightless eyes for him? Observation of the child, or rather, of the successes he achieved every day, convinced the specialists—the boy sees with his skin! By the way, over time, “skin” vision allowed him to become a practically full-fledged human being. The “sighted” blind man even wrote a book in which he told about his fate.

It is worth mentioning another phenomenon of unusual vision. About thirty years ago, they spoke of the blind young Hindu Ved Mehta not only in his native Calcutta but also on another continent—in America, where he came to study at a prestigious college. Fate treated him cruelly—at the age of three, Ved Mehta fell ill with meningitis and went blind. The boy’s parents were in despair. But soon they became convinced—blindness, strangely enough, did not hinder their son at all. He walked freely, played with his peers, and when he grew up, rode a bicycle along the crowded streets of Calcutta. Having left to study in the USA, he constantly conflicted with the college administration, which demanded that he, like all blind people, walk with a white cane. He had to prove daily that he was in no need of guardianship. By the way, the most weighty argument was his multi-day hiking trip through the northern states, in which he managed without outside help. Well, and when he independently traveled across

all of America, even the most die-hard skeptics were forced to admit—Ved Mehta was not blind at all, he simply saw in some unusual way. How? The human phenomenon himself claimed that he supposedly saw with his whole face, or rather, with the skin of his face. But he cannot explain how he manages to do it!

Chapter III The Personal Biocomputer — An Innate Organ of the Human Being

1. Clairvoyants from “KORTAS”

Science is slowly approaching the disclosure of the mystery of vision, perception, and thinking, which within the ecological complex shape the human being. There exist attempts to explain, by means of the concept of energy-information exchange in nature, such questions as telepathy (transmission of thought over a distance), retroscopy (seeing the past), proscopy (seeing the future), and others. We still understand little of the mechanism of vision, and yet the question of how a person sees with closed eyes (or through opaque objects) is altogether baffling. Unexpectedly, enthusiasts have emerged who study and practice the ability of a human being to survey objects of interest to him by this method, with any precision and at any distance.

I first became acquainted with them at the Zigel Readings on ufology in November 1994, held at the “Meridian” Palace of Culture in Moscow. At that time, the director of the “KORTAS” center, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Bronnikov, accompanied his report with a demonstration that stunned all the conference participants present—

-monstration of the children’s abilities. Onto the stage came adolescents who appeared to be under 12 years old, with blindfolded eyes, in dark opaque masks, and they began reading aloud magazines and books handed up from the audience. It was hard to believe that such a thing was possible. Some skeptics immediately set about checking the blindfolds, hoping to find gaps and expose the “charlatans,” while others feverishly sought the essence of this “trick.” During the break, the meeting participants surrounded V. Bronnikov and his staff. Everyone wanted to know everything at once. Since their center is open to visitors, all those who wished were invited for a detailed familiarization with the methodologies of this unique school; parents were encouraged to come with their children.

My second meeting with the director of the “KORTAS” center took place at a well-known Moscow scientific-philosophical seminar on the foundations and construction of knowledge, organized by Corresponding Member of MAI (International Academy of Informatization) Yury Petrovich Trusov. Here Vyacheslav Bronnikov spoke in greater detail about himself and the activities of his unique school. First, about the name. The word “kortas” comes from the Druidic language and means tree. They came from Feodosia to Moscow at the invitation of interested organizations. A Daoist methodology of teacher working with student is applied, and the most primitive method of attaining wisdom is described in the book by Lu K’uan Yü, “Daoist Yoga, Alchemy and Immortality” (ORIS Publishing House, St. Petersburg, 1993). Vyacheslav Mikhailovich himself noticed his extraordinary abilities back in his school days, decided to comprehend the secret of the universe through Eastern religious teachings, studied under a Tibetan monk, and in secular life holds an education as a sculptor-artist. He modestly notes that their methodology and practical results

surprise people, children manifest phenomenal abilities faster than adults, but the first, main goal is to teach a child not to be ill. Having received basic patterns, the child further develops them independently. There is hope that with sufficient spiritual mentorship, a new generation will grow up capable of changing the environment for the better. If in traditional psychology thinking is linked to consciousness and subconsciousness, then here the presence of a significant disturbing factor is taken into account — a superconscious force in the human being. Thus, the ability to use three interconnected non-hierarchical energy-informational structures qualitatively enhances thinking, understanding, and seeing, and from this, accordingly, a perspective opens up for continuing the life of our civilization with the best strategies.

The whole world is gripped by technical computerization, but this does not raise consciousness. Computer illiteracy is less dangerous than spiritual ignorance. For many years, psychologists in many countries studied the role of the unconscious (sleep, intuition, extrasensory perception). In 1979, for the first time in the USSR, the Tbilisi Conference on the Problem of the Unconscious took place, and 4 volumes of proceedings of this international scientific forum were published. After the reform of glasnost in our country, access opened to the scientific works of foreign colleagues who had begun deciphering the human biocomputer, based on fundamentally different concepts of visual perception than the receptor concept of sensations. For example, J. Gibson in his book The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (Moscow: Progress, 1988) writes that the organ of vision is not the eye but the system “eye–head–body,” and asserts that the material basis of the visual process consists of orienting-

investigatory movements (from miniature eye movements to locomotion). But another author, John Lilly (Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer. -Kyiv: Sofia, 1994), believes that a person consciously or unconsciously performs bioprogramming themselves and can connect to the metabiocomputer. I became convinced that this is not mysticism by visiting the KORTAS center.

This was my third desired meeting with the mysterious organization, one of whose premises was located in a kindergarten building. Not everything here is equipped with the latest technology yet, but there is a children’s gymnasium and a spacious room for visitors. *I *arrived a little earlier than the scheduled meeting. Work was already in full swing here: a director-cameraman was filming episodes from the school’s life with a video camera. Here is one of the scenes in which I immediately take part. Bronnikov draws a rectangular grid of 25 cells with chalk on the school blackboard. Two kids are blindfolded, then the teacher fills the cells with two-digit numbers and asks his pupils to mentally turn on their internal computers. The kids fall silent and, after a short pause, say that they are ready to work. The leader arbitrarily selects a cell; pointing his hand at the cell, he asks them to name the number. Between the kids, there is a kind of competition-game going on. They name the exact digit and move on to recognizing the number in another cell, naming the digit again. I have the feeling as if I am among aliens, simply fantastic. Everything happens without deception, I do not hear whispering or any other

Now they are asked to calculate mentally the sum of the numbers written in any two or three cells. Again, correct answers. Finally, the teacher asks them to name the entire table of numbers. Occasionally the students make mistakes. Then the teacher recommends looking more carefully at the screen of their inner television and correcting the error. Why does the biocomputer make mistakes? The answer to this question will become clearer as this phenomenon is studied.

And here is yet another intellectual game children play with their memory and inner vision. Vova sits with his back to the blackboard, blindfolded, while Andrey stands by the board in the role of host. I was asked to draw a table on the board with ordinary chalk and fill the resulting cells with any digits. The host commands his friend: “Write down the numbers of the top row, from left to right!” Each time Andrey calls out a number and says: “Write!” A second later, Vova’s voice is heard: “Written.” In this way, the entire table of numbers is read and memorized on the screen of Vova’s biocomputer. The exercise ends with a check of memory quality — Andrey asks Vova to name any row, column, or diagonal of the number table. After this session of the control-visionary exercise is completed, the boys swap roles. My astonishment is boundless. And yet, over the course of prolonged observation of the schoolchildren’s unusual game, the sharpness of my perception of this sensation faded, and a sense of the prosaic began to emerge, along with an acute desire to find an explanation for this phenomenon.

For us, the guests of the center, they showed video recordings about the school’s work on developing observation skills through opaque objects, sports activities with closed eyes (obstacle course running, football, volleyball, chess). A perplexing question arises about the possible and real danger to oneself and to

of those surrounding them with one or another unique ability. What if super-aggressive people suddenly appear? For example, in martial arts, people are particularly frightened by monsters who have learned to crush everyone they dislike with astral karate. The head of the center calmly explains and alleviates the anxiety. For the emergence and development of the clairvoyance effect in every person, purposeful self-organization and self-maintenance of this quality by the majority of the population are necessary. No notorious danger arises here; on the contrary, a new ability is born in a person, and new horizons of knowledge and understanding of the world open up to them.

We were shown the ability of children to play active games with their eyes closed. Two were invited, one experienced and the other a beginner. The players’ eyes were blindfolded, and each was asked to find chips of the corresponding color on the floor and place them in their corner. Before the search began, the players were spun around several times. The behavior of the experienced “sighted” player and the “unsighted” beginner was clearly visible: the former rather quickly cleared the chips of their color from the floor, while the latter bumped into objects, posts, and a rope hanging from the ceiling. It looked funny and amazing. A practical idea immediately came to mind about the possibility of using inner vision when moving in the dark. Presumably, feline vision works on the same principle as that of the children playing “blind man’s buff.”

What kind of work will people with such abilities do? This is a serious topic for a separate conversation. Bronnikov says that he prepares students for future medical practice, based on rapid and complete diagnosis of patients, with information obtained on the screen of the inner biocomputer. A prescription will be promptly issued and an optimal course

treatment based on the individual condition of the patient. The leader’s plans may seem fantastic only at first glance, however it is not gods who make pots, and a specialist in bioenergoinformatics would say that the only difficulty in solving this problem is overcoming the factor of time. We have yet to witness amazing scientific discoveries, there is no doubt about that.

During Vyacheslav Bronnikov’s account, I unexpectedly recalled one vivid incident from my youth. At the time, at the age of about 14, on a summer moonlit night I was running with friends across a meadow and, overcome by a sudden drowsiness, I closed my eyes, although I kept running. At a certain moment I opened my eyes again. A thought reached my consciousness, and I began to wonder how I could see with squeezed-shut eyes. I asked my friends about this riddle, but none of them could answer me then. I decided to remember the physico-psychological situation and ask adult people at the first convenient opportunity. It turned out that I forgot the phenomenon that had happened to me for more than thirty years. What came back to me was the clarity of visual perception, which I can compare to the clarity of an image when viewing through a night-vision device.

If we briefly describe the focus of activity of the “KORTAS” center, it is the development of such natural abilities as phenomenal memory, the ability to see with closed eyes through opaque objects, reading books with closed eyes, the ability to sense biofields, managing one’s own bodily energy for the purpose of protection from adverse influences, basic skills of biocomputer diagnostics, healing oneself and providing help to others. Bronnikov emphasizes that in his training methods neither hypnosis nor suggestion is used,

and the acquired and developed abilities are not lost over time. The ability to concentrate a large potential of bioenergy requires of a person knowledge of safety techniques when using this type of energy, so as not to destroy oneself or those nearby.

Although the “KORTAS” center accepts persons for study without age restrictions, Bronnikov gives preference to children. This is not a whim of the director, but simply the necessity of planting the seeds of a new consciousness in the developing organism of a child, which gains strength and experience as it grows. There are cases of spontaneous opening of internal vision. One woman of advanced age came to his center, put a mask over her eyes for the first time in her life, and gasped, seeing the surrounding objects with her eyes closed far better than with ordinary vision.

And the director of the aforementioned seminar on the foundations and construction of knowledge, Yu. P. Trusov, told of his own observations of the spontaneous emergence of clairvoyance, when the ability to see through walls and even observe the Universe appeared. This happened in his twenty-fifth year of life. After graduating from the Chemistry Department of Moscow State University, the young researcher directed his scientific gaze to the chemical structure of matter and its transformations. He began to see clearly with the naked eye the nucleus and electrons; the nucleus remained a black point, although, as Yuri Petrovich asserts, he could have examined the structure of this point with his inner vision, had he specifically concentrated. There was no need; out of naivety he assumed that all people possessed such a developed ability. Atoms were clearly visible, and molecules all the more so. He distinctly saw the interpenetration of atoms into one another. To his surprise, he discovered that the world turned out to be woven from vibrations, but in his youth such a fact pro-

…simply noted for himself and did not continue studying it. His clairvoyance ability disappeared as soon as famine struck the family.

From what age can a person be taught clairvoyance? Bronnikov believes that when a person can provide elementary self-care, understands the teacher’s words, and can speak—that is, children approximately seven years of age are in fact ready for admission to their school. The sons of the “KORTAS” center’s staff members study under home conditions far more effectively than their peers in a general-education school. Knowledge is presented in holistic form, and individual subjects are recorded in a biocomputer library organized by each student in their own memory. It is never too late to learn, and so interested people come to Bronnikov’s school: from schoolchildren to a renowned professor.

And yet, will clairvoyant people not turn out to be some sort of super-developed supermen with capabilities far outstripping the abilities of their contemporaries, inaccessible to understanding or posing a threat to humanity? Our question did not catch the experienced leader off guard. Human nature naturally evolves along with the surrounding world; new ethical problems of a differentiated society arise. It is necessary to seek solutions; it is dangerous and criminal to turn a blind eye to the facts of the living human being’s development. Their own children serve as proof. The most ordinary boys pass school subjects by external examination, attend music school, and go to a figure-skating sports club. The methodology of their school is developing and is available for application in any sphere of activity. By the way, the Tatar Republican Committee for the Study of

phenomena of nature and human ecology, the Moscow Society of Disabled Persons outlined a number of cooperation programs with the “KORTAS” center.

Do the staff members themselves possess phenomenal abilities to the full extent, like their children? The chief physician of the center, Alexander Leonidovich Korkin, explains that any ability is the result of tireless and painstaking labor. And not only that. It is known that with age the functional characteristics of the human organism change; alongside the sensory perception of the perceived world, logical-thinking abilities and psychosexual characteristics develop. For the sake of developing certain individual qualities, one must consciously refrain from working on improving phenomenal achievements, and moreover each age has its own forms of genius. If one knows the mechanism of the phenomenon of internal vision, which can be not only ray-like or planar, butalso circular and even spherical, then it becomes understandable why children easily “read with their back” — they engage spherical biocomputer vision.

How long must one study at this unusual school in order to acquire the ability, for example, to see through objects, and on what competitive basis is admission to the school carried out? The leading staff member of the center, Vasily Arkadyevich Galinsky, also clarifies this question. In two months of training, a child not only acquires the skill of working with a “brain” computer, but also restores health and improves visual and auditory parameters. There are examples where children improved their vision after two sessions, and one boy who could hear with a hearing aid at a distance of up to 40 centimeters, after the first session, began to hear without the device at two and a half meters immediately. The selection of students for their school is carried out not on a competitive

basis, and anyone who wishes is accepted, the only limitation being the capacity of the classroom.

V. Bronnikov delivered an introductory lecture for us, the tireless guest-listeners, on understanding the phenomenon of clairvoyance, on the application of that Eastern Daoist technique whereby knowledge is transmitted from brain to brain, from teacher to student. Referring to the well-known specialist in anomalous phenomena Yu. A. Fomin, who in his book Reality of the Incredible (Sverdlovsk: Start, 1991) demonstrates the evolution of the emergence of people of the new age, and speaks of the birth of children with new abilities.

According to Bronnikov’s theory, a human being has 9 modes of vision, but even traditional science does not know about them. Internal vision is only one of them. It is assumed that the future physician, instead of today’s technical equipment, will apply the ability to diagnose, to see on the screen of their internal biocomputer the medical-functional map of the patient. A person will master thought, develop their 7 types of senses (besides the known five — hearing, smell, touch, taste, vision — Bronnikov adds the sense of intellect and the sense of awareness). For fantasies and creative predictions, a broad scope opens up, if one knows that today children can examine with their eyes closed, after training at the “KORTAS” school, atoms and biological cells. Completely new sciences and professions will appear.

Is it possible to independently develop one’s abilities of clairvoyance? Some obsessive individuals begin to practice on their own, without consultation with specialists, developing their internal vision. Tragic cases are known. For example, the writer N. V. Gogol probably perished under similar circumstances. Others end up in psychiatric hospitals. At the “KORTAS” school, accord-

stantly monitored is the information-psychological state of the student, the adequacy of what is perceived is evaluated, and sequential training is provided with an individually dosaged informational load.

One may note that children wearing masks raise their heads, as if wanting to peek through the gaps under the mask. It turns out that a person’s internal “visual screen” is simply located in the upper part of the back of the head, and children, out of habit, want to look in the usual familiar way.

One of the listeners asked whether children can see the texts of the pages of an unopened book? Bronnikov answered that at the initial stage, training in seeing objects by their external radiation takes place. Perceiving books from within requires a different methodology. Training in 9 ways of vision is conducted over a period conventionally divided into three stages, during which time the future specialist improves psychologically, spiritually, and intellectually. By the way, the phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova, who could read with her hands, has still not been explained to this day by academic science. Moreover, her miraculous gift was investigated in many scientific centers and is not called into question by the majority of even the most vehement opponents of mysticism. At the “KORTAS” center, this would not surprise anyone, for they not only explain the phenomenon of distant perception, but also practically try themselves even in the theatrical field. When the children performed at the circus with a genre for which no name has yet been invented, not one of the performers could repeat what the trained children easily performed with blindfolded eyes. It is obvious that such a performance is connected neither to a trick or an illusion, but mostly relates to an original genre, when, for example, the abilities of rapid calculation and memorization of enormous numbers are demonstrated.

Many decades, and perhaps even hundreds of years, the question of transmitting thought over a distance has stirred human consciousness. “Can your students read the thoughts of others, and do you teach them telepathy?” asked one of those present. The leader replied that teaching the reading of thoughts is not part of the children’s immediate task; telepathy can be considered as a particular aspect of clairvoyance. Since children have a very wide range of sensitivity, they are defenseless, and so they need first and foremost to know safety techniques when working with bioenergetic bursts. For children, the main thing is to learn not to fall ill, so as to study and work productively.

And yet, how does the switching on and operation of the internal biocomputer occur? The renowned writer-artist-initiate Evgeny Berezikov, in his book “Essays on the Unknown” (Moscow: Physical Culture and Sport, 1991), describes in detail and vividly this living process: “To connect to the channel, I had to close my eyes and wait until a luminous pulsating point appeared. It flares up brighter, and a blue screen appears, which gradually expands. After that, I squeezed my eyelids tighter, and the glow became brighter, and the screen grew larger with each second. The glow of the screen constantly changes: at first it is bright white, then it transitions to a light blue, then the next color layer opens…” The children explain it more briefly: “You need to concentrate. A point appears, then a line, and then a white screen. Black text is seen, and you can read.”

Bronnikov warns that in the existing literature there is much disinformation (that is, distorted, fabricated, mys tical and similar kinds of knowledge). If they say that white ma gic is good, that is, good, and black magic is bad, then he

closer in spirit to the concepts of Daoist philosophy, according to which white magic is the magic of the teacher, and black — the magic of the student. In this concept the first transmits knowledge, the second — receives knowledge from the mentor. Now new knowledge conflicts with the worldview pictures of the recent past, a logical disorderliness is discovered in minds. Therefore here knowledge is given “from the basics,” analogously to how the mastery of language begins with learning the alphabet. The better-prepared study the patterns of practical observation and forecasting.

Here is an example of disinformation. Once, children were watching on television a performance by a well-known extrasensory. He, in complete seriousness, assured that his astral body separates from the physical one and flies off somewhere. The kids found this amusing; they know perfectly well that the reference is to pictures on the biocomputer screen, the children themselves often watch colored cartoons on the inner “television.” Bronnikov believes that in this form of meditation a person does not fly off anywhere, but receives information from a certain space through an appropriate contact.

By the way, according to his theory, a human being in an rudimentary state possesses 218 types of energy, which need to be realized and developed. At the basis of everything lies information. Whoever possesses information possesses energies and is capable of changing the surrounding environment of himself. For persuasiveness, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich, rolling up the left sleeve of his shirt, with enthusiasm shows a bulging muscle at the bend of his elbow. He says that back in middle school during boring lessons he developed muscles in himself by means of thought. I could not resist the urge to feel the hard bump on his arm. Bronnikov came to the important conclusion that a person can develop any quality, any ability in himself, if one uses the principle: where thought goes — there energy goes, where energy goes —

blood there! You want to grow, for example, new teeth for yourself — and that too is possible. Cerebral palsy, after persistent effort, is also remediable. Many people know how to develop the physical body; few know how to develop consciousness; about the development of the phenomenal abilities of superconsciousness — only a handful know.

And yet the results of the “KORTAS” center are evident, although much remains unclear. From what characteristic moment can we count the beginning of the Bronnikov phenomenon? He candidly recounted: “Since childhood I possessed the faculty of proscopy, which arose spontaneously and disappeared. No one around me spoke about it; perhaps it was a rare phenomenon, it was not specifically recorded in consciousness, and therefore was quickly forgotten and denied.” Indeed, for some reason we wish to forget events that coincided with our prior awareness. And here there is an untapped expanse of research work for psychologists and philosophers.

While I was preparing this material about the “KORTAS” center for the magazine “Nature and Man” (also known as “Light”), a short article by Sergei Leskov, “Clairvoyants from Feodosia Are Trying to Conquer Moscow,” appeared in the newspaper “Izvestiya” (dated January 11, 1995). It is clear that Vyacheslav Bronnikov has discovered a fundamental direction at the intersection of many sciences of man, is attempting to provide a new philosophical picture of the world, is tirelessly engaged in creative search, and thereby wins the hearts of colleagues. We still know little about the remarkable people who face difficulties in our tumultuous time, yet strive toward progress. There is hope and confidence that this direction of activity of the “KORTAS” center will strengthen and develop, and we will learn even more about them and about ourselves.

2. Meetings of Vyacheslav Bronnikov in Kazan

As part of the collaboration between the “KORTAS” center and the Tatar Republican Committee for the Study of Nature Phenomena and Human Ecology, in February 1995, creative and educational meeting-seminars on the topic “Theory and Practice of Clairvoyance in the Bioenergetic Perception and Understanding of the World” were organized in Kazan. For this event, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Bronnikov and one of his best students, Volodya Bronnikov, arrived from Moscow by train. To my pleasure, the dear guests agreed to stay at our apartment. The visitors had not even put down their things when one of the Kazan psychics, Mansur Khusnutdinov, immediately began asking Volodya questions with unconcealed interest. Right there, Vyacheslav Bronnikov’s son took out a black blindfold, put it over his eyes, and read a written text. After that, the psychic took the blindfold in his hands, examined it from all sides, pulled it over his own eyes, and said that he had no doubt about the absence of deception; he was shocked by what he had seen, but he did not know how to explain this amazing phenomenon.

The seminar program was planned for four days and included:

An introductory lecture by V.M. Bronnikov.
A demonstration of the phenomenon of clairvoyance (reading books with closed eyes, memory capabilities, human diagnostics, etc.).

Answers to questions.

Interesting meetings took place at the “Khimik” Palace of Culture, the Kazan State University (UNIKS), the House of Scientists, the Institute for Advanced Medical Studies, and the museum named after the Tatar composer Salikh Saidashev.

Republican newspapers wrote about this extraordinary event, it was discussed on the radio, and shown on television. Here is just one of the publications by the young journalist Alexei Bogachev in the newspaper “Youth of Tatarstan” (March 17-23, 1995).

“Recently, Kazan was visited by clairvoyants from the ‘KORTAS’ Center under the leadership of Vyacheslav Bronnikov. Our newspaper has already written about them, and now we had the opportunity to see the unique kids with our own eyes. They were invited to us by the Republican Committee for the Study of Nature Phenomena and Human Ecology.

Despite a great interest in all kinds of unusual phenomena, not so many people wishing to look at Bronnikov’s wards gathered at UNIKS, which gave one of the organizers a reason to recall Hegel, who gave lectures even for a single listener. The prices for admission tickets were quite reasonable, so the lack of a full house could only be explained by insufficient public awareness. Indeed, there was practically no advertising visible in the city.

According to Vyacheslav Bronnikov, the purpose of coming to Kazan was to demonstrate the results of his two-year work with the kids, which was based on the techniques of Taoist yoga.

As the founder of ‘KORTAS’ reported, the great secret of nature—the human brain—in everyday life is used only by 10 percent. And the practice of yogis, aimed at the development of consciousness and reflex activity, is exactly what allows one to stir up the ‘disconnected’ brain cells and promotes the development of abilities that are the potential inclinations of our brain but seem supernatural to an ordinary person.

Teaching a child to see with closed eyes, read written text with their hands, see with their back what is written on a board, and many other things—all this, it turns out, can be achieved in just… 2-3 months. With adults, however, it is more difficult, because they no longer need to be taught, but rather retrained. Bronnikov compared them to a used automobile.

His skills, acquired at the ‘KORTAS’ center, were demonstrated to the people of Kazan by Bronnikov’s 11-year-old son, Volodya. An ordinary-looking little boy, having put a black blindfold over his eyes, read an excerpt from a newspaper article chosen by the audience, and accurately reproduced a figure drawn with chalk on a board by one of the spectators. Then he found (still without taking off the blindfold) a hidden book.

Bronnikov proposed to demonstrate his son’s phenomenal memory in the following way. On a board divided into 25 cells, a spectator wrote down twenty-five two-digit numbers. The father quickly read them to his son—and the latter repeated them in the exact same sequence.

When asked how he managed to do this, Volodya explained everything in a childishly simple way:

— There is a screen inside me. I divided it into 25 little cells, into which I then entered the numbers.

After that, he began to determine the biofield of those present. During the experiment, it turned out that your humble servant has an average field of 60 centimeters above the head and 6 meters around the body (which caused a sigh of relief, because, according to Volodya, this is the norm). But what about those whom the young experimenter found to have, say, only 70 centimeters of a passive field? …

There were also some curiosities. One of the spectators [a sports doctor at UNIKS — R.I.] wrapped several objects in a robe and

asked to name them. However, Bronnikov-the-father stated in response that although it is possible in principle to teach such things to kids, he does not engage in such tricks with his students. Developing these skills is quite dangerous, since the criminal world might become interested in them.

How should one treat everything seen and heard? Materialists will call all this charlatanism. But the master of magic from the settlement of Karier near Kazan, on the contrary, accused Bronnikov of excessive materialism. In his magisterial opinion, the demonstrated methodology, although it does indeed allow for the development of some clairvoyant abilities, does not touch upon the spiritual foundations of a person.

As it seemed to me, there is a rational grain in such a statement. Naturally, the head of ‘KORTAS’ did not wish to see it. Who tried to convince the listeners that his method develops in students not only seven senses of perception and nine ways of thinking, but also opens the path to self-improvement, awakening in them abilities for clairvoyance and healing. However, his assertion that this method can cure any diseases, including oncological ones, seemed too presumptuous.

The brief visit to Kazan ended for the representatives of ‘KORTAS’ with them agreeing with our republican committee for the study of nature phenomena and human ecology on further cooperation.”

I want to note an important symbolic fact of all the meetings of Bronnikov’s group with the Kazan intellectual community: this is their heightened interest and benevolence. For example, the warm, cordial meeting at the Salikh Saidashev House-Museum was memorable, where those present included: prominent scientists U.K. Akhmerov, N.U. Akhmerov, O.A. Chernova, S.D. Ostrovka; the director of the State Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan — G.S. Mukhanov; the director of the S. Saidashev Museum — D.Z. Sainova-Akhmerova; and many other wonderful people of our city. Everyone was delighted by the ability of Volodya Bronnikov; he easily read the specified text in a magazine, and even the words from the small letters on Olga Chernova’s business card.

3. Live X-Ray

In the magazine “Wonders and Adventures” (No. 2, 1997), an article by Vera Nikitina about Kuleshova appeared, but not about Rosa, rather about Svetlana, who, since childhood, discovered a phenomenal ability to see (not with her eyes) her own internal organs. So, let’s get acquainted:

Svetlana Kuleshova is only 21 years old. She has possessed the gift of clairvoyance since the age of fifteen. Six years ago she met Vanga. “The girl has a future,” said the Bulgarian fortune teller. And, as always, she was not mistaken.

Svetlana felt the ability for clairvoyance at the age of twelve—after her baptism. The girl suddenly began to see her internal organs, and she was not frightened—she thought that this happened to everyone. Sveta’s mother, however, was stunned: she knew neither how to react to such visions, nor how

to be with her daughter further. However, something told her that everything would eventually become reasonable, be explained, and settle down. And furthermore, a mother’s heart had a premonition—everything in their life would now be different.

3.1. “JUST A CLAIRVOYANT…”

At the age of fifteen, Sveta got her first teachers—Leonid Lvovich Shakhnovsky and Valery Ivanovich Golubovsky—psychics from the Kyiv Center for Environmental Protection and Social Adaptation of the Person, to whom the restless mother showed her girl. They helped develop her extraordinary abilities, opening her eyes to unusual “supernatural” phenomena. She took everything for granted and very soon surpassed her mentors in many ways.

Studies to verify Svetlana’s effect on human and animal blood cells were conducted in the laboratory of the Interdepartmental Center for Clinical Immunology of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. The conclusion is staggering. In particular, an increase in the spontaneous proliferative activity of lymphocytes was revealed, with a stimulation index of 3.4 for humans; for animals—5.9. An increase in the activity of natural killer cells destroying foreign cells was determined: in humans from 14.5 to 24.5 percent, in animals from 2 to 7.4 percent. In addition, an increase in phagocytosis rates and an enhancement of the bactericidal properties of macrophages were noted, that is, the destructive or neutralizing effect of healthy cells on foreign ones, as well as the suppression of proliferation (the reproduction and appearance of new tumor cells), and the stimulation of fibroblast proliferation—the release of a substance involved in the body’s own healing.

It is indeed difficult to believe in the power of such a young and fragile girl at first glance. There is nothing of the “witchy” sort in her appearance, nor in her gaze, nor in her manners, nor in her reasoning. A charming, open face, green eyes from under a light bang… and a substantial card index of cured and diagnosed patients over almost five years of “unconventional” practice.

Having graduated from medical school and international courses for psychics, Svetlana began working at the Kyiv branch of the Center for Environmental Protection and Social Adaptation of the Person “Nadezhda” in her native Novomoskovsk, Tula Region. This city was subjected to severe contamination during the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster and today daily receives huge doses of chemical emissions from the phenol plant, the largest in Europe chemical plant for the production of mineral fertilizers, as well as Novomoskovskbythim, which became known worldwide for its products that, under the trademark of the American company “Procter & Gamble”, wash “not just cleanly, but … perfectly cleanly”.

Svetlana works together with her mother—who also, as it turned out, is a good bioenergy therapist. They are most successful in treating diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, skin diseases, and osteochondrosis. They refrain from treating mental and infectious diseases for now.

Previously, Nadezhda Sergeevna had only read about this kind of healing in books. And recently she herself completed courses for psychics, since, much to her surprise, bioenergetic abilities were detected in her during the study of her daughter’s gift. Only Svetlana was not surprised. She speaks about her “extrasensory” pedigree like this:

— Personally, I do not consider myself a psychic at all. Just a clairvoyant… There is such a Russian concept, isn’t there? In general, I love everything that has its roots in our history. My grandmother, for example, was called a seeress half-jokingly, half-seriously. Isn’t that a beautiful word? What to call mom—I don’t even know, but she has very good abilities. She gave birth to me late—the doctors had already lost hope. Now she “trembles” over me all her life. The two of us are, in fact, almost always together—and it’s not a burden to me: it is hard to even imagine a closer confidante.

Recently, Svetlana herself had three children. When they grow up, they will definitely understand that it was she who was a true second mother to them: in the medical consultations where their parents had sought help and where they were treated for several years, they were left with no hope for parental happiness at all.

Whether Svetlana herself is happy in her personal life is hard to say. Nadezhda Sergeevna is still troubled by the words of the famous Bulgarian fortune-teller that wounded her mother’s heart so much:

— Lord, what a grief, what a grief! So young! — exclaimed Vanga when Svetlana for the first time appeared on the threshold of her house.

Who knows, **what fate the blind Bulgarian prophetess saw in the fair-haired Russian girl. **It was apparently not a simple one even for herself, if the gift bestowed from above was not perceived as a happy woman’s lot and peace for the soul. And in general, what does happiness mean for such people? In any case, not only personal well-being.

3.2. One conversation between two peers turned out to be enough …

Fate and … providence brought them together. Such people have their own ways of communicating, special threads of connection and influence. Therefore one should not be surprised by what Svetlana recounts:

— Once, when I was sitting at home watching television, a woman unexpectedly appeared in the room and said that I must definitely meet with her — no matter how far and difficult it might turn out to be. From the description of the publications that had appeared at that time and from a kind of inner voice, I recognized her as Vanga.

Within three days they processed their passports, bought tickets, and Svetlana and her mother arrived in Sofia. How were they to know then that they would still need to get to Petrich, where the woman who had so strangely “invited” them lived, and from there — to the mountain settlement of Rupite, where she received the afflicted who flocked to her from all over the world.

— The impression, — says Svetlana, — is that we were helped the entire time. Along the whole way we kept meeting people who willingly explained how best to get to the place. On the road to Rupite, when we nearly got lost in a tobacco field, a little old man appeared as if from out of the ground and directed us onto the right road. Where he came from, we still cannot figure out.

In Rupite itself, too, kind people were found: they arranged lodging, and in the morning warned — you’ll have to wait your turn, they said, no less than a month.

Svetlana, however, was received immediately. Vanga was already expecting her. While preparing for the meeting, she asked her nephew Dmitry Gaigurov to feed the guests breakfast. Svetlana, of course, remembers

everything down to the details: coffee, fresh rolls, freshly cut grapes, flowers by the terrace where they settled in, the vineyard right there, the hospitality of Mitko, her mother’s bewildered gaze, and … the beating of her own heart. What would Vanga tell her?

She, always laconic, categorical, and as if stern in her judgments, said unambiguously:

— The girl has a future. She will heal all illnesses. Especially well — nervous ones. And she will treat them with water. The time will come — she will be very powerful.

And all the while, shaking her head and pressing to her chest the wooden spoons Svetlana had gifted her, she repeated:

— Lord, what sorrow, what grief! So young!

Then she asked to “look at” herself — and was pleased.

With a familiar gesture she struck her palm against her knee, tilted her head, and repeated once more:

— So young!

The next day Vanga invited two Bulgarian girls to meet Svetlana: two Danielles — from Bansko and Plovdiv — who “communicate” with earthly spirits and had long been acquainted with Baba Vanga. One of them could remain in a trance for several days at a time, taking no food whatsoever. Vanga had tried to help her, but could not. She asked Sveta. One conversation between the two peers turned out to be enough…

Afterward, Sveta visited Vanga twice more, and she even sent her own patients to her. Once she gave her own car and urgently dispatched her to the village of Gabrene, where, by her premonition, a misfortune was about to occur. And so it happened: two girls drowned in a huge reservoir. They were searched for a long time; they were already about to drain the water. Sveta precisely determined the spot where the girls should be searched for. The village remembers this case to this day.

3.3. “Like a living X-ray — sees right through”

When Svetlana’s father, coal-face miner Nikolai Ilyich Kuleshov, is literally pestered by his coworkers with questions about how his daughter actually sees internal organs, he — without himself fully realizing how right he is — usually answers: “Like a living X-ray — sees right through.”

It took a full six years for Svetlana to polish her “inner vision” of internal organs — and she achieved complete perfection, for she now sees human organs in their natural form. She has no time yet for predicting people’s fates — she has thrown herself headlong into studying psychology, having enrolled last year in the regional University of the Russian Academy of Education in the psychology department. She has not abandoned her diagnostic work, however; as she admitted, she can no longer live without it.

This ability “fell from the sky” to her, as it were, in the form of a kind of X-ray image of a person’s internal organs. Then she “made” this image move, as in a black-and-white film. Now she sees everything in color and in motion. She set herself a goal — and achieved it. And this was genuine, painstaking work on herself. It turns out that even “supernatural forces” do not simply hand anything to you “on a silver platter.”

— Working with Sveta, — admits Albina Gennadievna Stragonova, head of the department at the Novomoskovsk City Polyclinic, a neurologist, — you are constantly amazed by her unique ability to see right through all the organs and structures of the human body literally at the anatomical level — down to the minutest changes in the walls of blood vessels. Among modern instrumental investigations, this is attainable,

perhaps, only by nuclear magnetic resonance tomography and endoscopic techniques.

She sees the slightest manifestations of disease in organs, describes them superbly, reflecting layer by layer the condition of all human tissues, moreover — in their natural color range. It is simply astonishing how deeply she delves with her wondrous gaze: “in the region of the greater curvature of the stomach, in the upper third — the mucosa is hypertrophied,” “the lining of the gallbladder is gray,” “in the renal pelvises — white crystalline masses,” and so forth. Numerous examples could be cited.

Unlike CT-based computer techniques, Svetlana sees organs as functioning — for example, the secretion of bile into the hepatic ducts, intestinal peristalsis, and so on. And this is precisely what a physician needs to know when treating functional disorders of internal organs with impaired motility.

Furthermore, diagnostic instrumental techniques involve serious interventions in the patient’s body: radiation doses during computed tomography, painful endoscopic procedures. Svetlana Kuleshova’s “method,” on the other hand, is safe in every respect.

Why does she not make a specific diagnosis, but instead tells patients about the condition of their tissues and organs? That, evidently, is the prerogative of physicians. Her clairvoyance, however, astounds us, and troubles us, and inspires us.

3.4. “All illnesses come from nerves”

— Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers were right, — Svetlana believes, — in seeking the cause of many of their ailments in a “nervous disposition.”

I have seen with my own eyes how irritation, fear, or anxiety are harmful to the stomach. In people who constantly experience these emotions, the secretion of gastric juice increases, the acid content in it rises, and at the same time the blood supply to the stomach walls decreases, and its protective functions decline. The sad result is the formation of an ulcer. The intestines can suffer in a similar manner.

Changes in the body caused by various emotional experiences are “visible” mainly in the dilation and constriction of blood vessels. Generally speaking, all people prone to illness from emotional experiences are divided, according to my observations, into active and passive types. Not in the sense of their attitude toward their own health, but in their attitude toward life’s vicissitudes. The former are most often sociable and energetic. If their emotional experiences were at some point inhibited or suppressed due to certain circumstances, then over time, as a rule, such people become overcome by heart disease. The vascular system suffers, and the cardiac rhythm is disrupted.

Passive people are withdrawn and pensive. They do not want to face reality and retreat before circumstances. They are difficult to work with. However, it seemed to me that it is precisely they who most often visit the offices of psychics and folk healers. Their most common diseases are bronchial asthma and hypotonic-type dystonia. But they are particularly prone to diseases of the digestive organs, such as stomach ulcers, colitis, and so forth.

However, these two types of people have a great deal in common — they possess a weak character and heightened sensitivity. Due to incorrect assessment of situations, they prove unable to control themselves and their circumstances. And the most

important thing is to learn to understand and accept reality as it is, to stop being a mere observer of life — which is, after all, uninteresting — but instead to take joy in every moment of it, to try to find a way out in any situation, even a difficult one, and to strive for perfection. Through study and knowledge. Why hide it — it is, after all, intelligence that most often helps us solve a tangled problem and relieve excessive tension.

One should look inward more often, rather than seek the cause of one’s troubles outside! People come to me quite often regarding hexes. However, a hex in its pure form is encountered extremely rarely. In all my practice — six years of work at the Center — I have encountered it perhaps three or four times. Placing a hex is not as simple as many think. This phenomenon is by no means widespread, but the desire to shift all the blame onto a hex or the evil eye is very far from rare.

4. I See How the Heart Beats

Alexander Kosarev recounted his arduous and instructive personal experience of developing biocomputer vision in the magazine “Miracles and Adventures” (No. 7, 1997).

As a person of quite mature age, I had never noticed any special talents in myself, let alone paranormal ones. However, several times in my life, amazing things have happened to me.

The very first case occurred when I was about fifteen years old; I was then a weak and sickly child, but I very much wanted to become strong and healthy. I could achieve my goal only by engaging in sports, but because of my frailty I was not accepted into a single section. Then I decided to build up my muscles with dumbbells, and

…only then to try my luck in the weightlifting section. Since I had no money, I began making the sports equipment myself. I made the barbell bar from a water pipe, and the “plates” I fashioned from pieces of lead stripped from scraps of telephone cables. I made almost everything, but I could in no way manage to find a three-quarter-inch die, which nullified all my efforts. In short, the cursed die little by little took possession of all my thoughts. I ate and thought about the die, slept and thought about the die, did my homework and thought about the die. This state lasted two or three days. And then, one fine moment, I got up from the couch, got dressed, and my legs carried me to the place where the Olympic Stadium now towers on Prospekt Mira in the city of Moscow. At that time there was a small stadium there, surrounded by old, already-vacated little houses. Reaching one of them, I sat down on the low, lopsided little porch and, leaning down, thrust my hand under the steps (a board had been knocked out there) and grabbed the first thing I touched. When I pulled my hand out, I saw that lying in my palm was my fondest dream — a brand-new, chrome-glittering three-quarter-inch die. I drew no profound conclusions at the time, of course; I simply rejoiced and raced home.

Another incident happened to me when I was studying at the Mendeleev Institute (Moscow). In the summer I went to Tuchkovo, where my friends were staying at the institute’s sports camp. I got from the station to the crossing without incident. The only thing that plagued me was a gargantuan backpack stuffed with gifts, which I was lugging to the celebration of our shared birthday. When I reached the crossing, my path was blocked by a freight train barreling along the other tracks. Mentally already among our merry company, I looked to the right, waiting for the last car of the freight train to

of the freight train. But the train kept stretching on and on. Suddenly someone’s invisible hand, taking my head by the back of the skull, sharply turned it to the left, and at a distance of no more than ten meters I saw another train rushing toward me. I was standing right where the tracks made a sharp turn, so the engineer of the train bearing down on me could in no way see me: an enormously long freight train was blocking his view. I clearly saw steam bursting from the locomotive whistle, but the roar produced by the train rushing past nearby drowned out all other sounds. All the remaining actions my body performed on its own. Taking a wide step, I positioned myself so that the freight train would not strike me and at the same time the other convoy would not catch my backpack. At that point the freight train finally came to an end, and I hastily crossed the rails. At the camp I told my friends about the incident. “Well, that’s nothing,” — I heard in reply, — “last week a track inspector and his son died at this curve…”

In this whole story, one thing above all fascinated me: who turned my head at a completely empty crossing?

Although such incidents did happen to me from time to time, I simply perceived them as remarkable, nothing more. Right up until 1994, I did not believe in any miraculous abilities of anyone whatsoever, and had someone told me that something extraordinary would awaken in me myself, I would have had a good hearty laugh. But one day, while searching for a specialist who could help me heal a foot injury, I became acquainted with a genuine psychic. After my leg was healed, a friendly relationship developed between us; I would not say that he trained me in any way — no — but in our conversations we often speculated about mysterious cases and the use of unusual abilities for practical purposes. After one of these joint, so to speak, undertakings aimed at cur-

…ation of my acquaintance’s little son, that I discovered in myself a certain ability.

It happened by chance — an acquaintance of ours with her son dropped by our place to have her back treated (I practiced therapeutic massage). When they had left, my wife asked whether I knew what was wrong with the kidneys of that woman’s son. Before I could open my mouth to answer in the negative, a kind of semitransparent film with an image of the kidneys appeared before my eyes — moreover, the left one was smaller than the right, looked much worse, and seemed to be pierced by some kind of spike. Having lasted a few seconds, the picture dissolved, and I, as best I could, recounted my vision to my wife. She was surprised and phoned that acquaintance. The latter confirmed that indeed her son’s left kidney had degenerated, unable to withstand the rapid growth of his organism at fifteen years of age, and had remained underdeveloped. At this point I myself became interested. Since I am a sober-minded person, non-believing, with a higher education, I decided to conduct a scientific experiment and confirm or refute the presence in me of abilities previously unseen. I began, as is customary, with relatives and acquaintances. At first things went poorly. In order to visually imagine for myself the internal organs of one or another person, I would summon in my imagination a kind of semitransparent toy little naked figure, identify it with a specific individual, and attempt to discern in it the condition of their organs. Delirium, right? I agree, but that is exactly what I started with. The hardest part in this process was maintaining concentration of attention. It was necessary both to keep the “little naked figure” from blurring and to retain in memory the appearance of its organs.

This was exhausting, and I could not sustain it for long. Help came unexpectedly. One of the women possessing extraordinary abilities advised me to scan not the entire perso—

…person as a whole, but by specific organs. From that moment my research gained new impetus. Having learned to mentally divide a person into constituent parts, I made a major step forward. It soon turned out that all organs are visible in color, and in different people the color of the same organs differed, most often in certain parts, less often entirely. And the shape of the same organs in different people differed substantially as well. Lacking a medical education, I had difficulty identifying what I saw. Therefore I first had to sketch these pictures and then search in a medical encyclopedia for the organ corresponding to the drawing. But the most difficult thing for me was translating the forms of the organs under examination and their coloration into everyday language. Examining, for example, the liver of a woman sitting opposite me, I had to draw, based on its shape, the color spots on its surface, and the overall coloration of the liver, an unerring conclusion as to whether this liver had previously been affected by disease and what its condition was now. I had to give an answer as to how well the liver’s function was preserved and whether it was clogged with uneliminated remnants of biological tissue. And which of its four lobes was more blocked, and which less. This proved to be the most difficult.

I gained extensive practice at the Center of Tibetan-Mongolian Medicine under the guidance of S.P. Dragachev. Here the patients already knew about all their ailments, and it was not I who was discovering something for them, but they who were essentially decoding for me what I had seen in them and drawn on a sheet of paper. This was a wonderful period, and I was “growing” before everyone’s eyes. It was not only the quality of the “picture” that improved, but my “database” grew as well. However, it turned out that my abilities were not omnipotent. I established that well-healed bones do not give a “signal” about a former fracture, while the mark from a strong blow remains practically for life. But the most amazing—

…able was the fact that I mastered the method of remote viewing, and moreover the patient could be at any distance from me. It turned out that one can see the condition of internal organs not only in those who are nearby or connected by telephone, but also in people whom I had never known. It was enough that they were known to the person maintaining contact with you at that moment. When such cases had accumulated in large numbers, I began to ponder this problem on a theoretical level as well. The fact that the phenomenon of “intervision” exists in my case no longer gives rise to doubt — the percentage of accurate answers is simply too high. But how can one explain the fact that missing organs are visible? And how does the transmission of information occur in general? Why does the quality of the image not depend on distance, and how does the tuning to a specific person and to a specific organ take place?

Let us try to untangle this knot of mysteries. First of all, what strikes the eye is the similarity between this system of information transmission and the television system. Indeed, there is a kind of television transmitter — a person or an individual organ of theirs; there is a certain information carrier, most likely some global electromagnetic field, possibly excited by a flux of cosmic rays; and, of course, there is a receiver — another person or their organ. Let us examine this scheme in more detail.

Let us begin with the “transmitter.” A human emits an entire spectrum of electromagnetic radiations: from infrared, widely used in night-vision devices, to hard gamma radiation emitted by potassium-40 and carbon-14 atoms. One cannot rule out the presence of other poorly studied and low-intensity fields either, which does not change the essence of the matter: every human is an emitter, and therefore a distinctive biological transmitter. Since a human consists of individual organs, each one too

its organ, literally every particle too, radiate. In this lies the explanation for the fact that, when examining the digestive system, I never see either food or liquid.

Now let us consider the second component of the extrasensory information system. The human organism is an extremely weak emitter; its power is sufficient only for transmitting information within the confines of a single room. But how then to explain such a case. An acquaintance of mine calls and starts a conversation about his relative. I ask what is wrong with him. “Pavel is in the hospital,” I heard in reply. “There is something wrong with his lungs. His wife will go see him the day after tomorrow, and then she will find out the diagnosis. However, you can look yourself,” he added, alluding to my ability. And so I did. I concentrated on Pavel’s lungs and saw a strange picture, never before seen. His lungs were as if strewn with crystal crumbs and seemed to sparkle. A few days later I learned what Pavel was suffering from. The mucus forming in his lungs was not eliminated in the natural way, but settled in the form of a crystalline powder, gradually clogging the alveoli, until he took to his bed. Now then, from my house to the hospital where Pavel lay was no less than ten kilometers, and, of course, no power of a single organism would have been sufficient for a stable and clear transmission over such a distance. It remains only to assume that the informational signal produced by the organism somehow modulates certain high-frequency fields that constantly permeate our bodies. It is known that powerful streams of high-energy particles continuously “sweep over” the Earth, causing constantly generated high-frequency radiation that permeates all living things. It would not be fantastic to assume that upon some biological structure of human organs (is it not organic tissue?) mutually

two high-frequency fields are transformed: the weak emission of a biological object and the powerful, all-encompassing cosmic radiation. It is apparently from this very combination that the informational field itself emerges, from which psychics draw any information they need.

Finally, let us consider the third component of our bio-relay system — the bio-receiver. It seems that every person is potentially endowed with the capacity for extrasensory perception; however, as in other types of activity, talent plays no small role. Among strong psychics there is a high percentage of people who have been subjected to severe stress (Vanga) or have worked for long periods with strong physical fields or radioactive substances. The latter example is precisely my own case.

Thus, if this scheme is correct, we can rather easily explain practically any of the cases presented here. Perhaps the only case that does not find an explanation is that of the visualization of missing organs. True, recently there have appeared publications asserting that our bodies, besides their physical foundation, also possess a certain energy skeleton, a kind of holographic matrix, according to which, in essence, our physical appearance is continuously constructed and modified.

It would be interesting to learn what readers — and especially physicians — think about this matter. It is a great pity that medical professionals take little interest in such cases. As a result, my abilities go to waste and bring almost no benefit to people.

5. The “Virus” Against the Biocomputer

Journalist Alexander Nikonov in the magazine “Ogonek” (No. 15 for April 1997) published an article “Sleight of Hand”, in which he “exposes” the activities of V.M. Bronnikov. In politics, we often hear about dirty technologies, but how similar technologies are knocked together by scribblers creating disinformation, guided by a vile strategy of information warfare, devoid of elementary moral qualities, lies directed against creative people, enthusiasts, discoverers in practical psychology and parapsychology, the esteemed reader can read and evaluate for themselves. But, for example, from this material students could get a good essay on the topic of psychic conflictology.

“Last year (1996), several television channels aired sensational reports that a certain magician teaches blind children to see. Non-blind children, however, too. Viewers saw a crowd of kids with blindfolds flawlessly picking up bowling pins in a circus arena. Now that really is a circus! Stunned viewers were told that practically any child could be taught to see without eyes. A well-trained little child begins to see with their hand, with a finger, reads texts with a blindfold over their eyes. He, you see, connects his “internal computer”, connected to the information field, and everything goes like clockwork. A certain Vyacheslav Bronnikov, a former artist, heads the miraculous training. He opened a school where he teaches children all sorts of super-abilities. Naturally, after such television promises, people flocked in droves.

Naturally, I could not help but visit “Dr. Bronnikov” to see this miracle of nature. From the conversation it turned out that the

training in the school is three-tiered. Three tiers of ten sessions each. Each tier is paid for separately, the cost is from 50 to 200 dollars, progressively. In the first two tiers, you will simply be taught to live in harmony with yourself, not to get sick (even with viral diseases!), they will improve your memory, etc. And in the third, the most expensive, they teach that very “external vision with closed eyes”. So, in just 30 sessions and a little money, they will make a super-phenomenon out of you. It is very simple, you just need to want it.

Bronnikov, looking like Münchhausen, enthusiastically told that they have a guy who, lying on the couch, lazily lowers his leg down and … looks with his heel to see what is under the couch, listing everything in detail. And in general, the possibilities of a person are limitless. He can fly. He can materialize objects … I listened carefully to Bronnikov. I nodded my head. I even agreed for his two girls to measure my biofield. Then I asked to bring the wonderful boy to the editorial office. I was promised. At the end of the conversation, I had the good fortune to behold the “author’s certificates” received by Bronnikov for his training methodology. The “certificates” hung on the wall and made an impression on an ignorant person: a beautiful form, you see, seals … But a knowledgeable person knows **that **such certificates in the Russian Author Society can be obtained by any citizen, having paid money, having submitted any text and having declared that this is his personal work.

… A day later, a fat dad indeed came to the editorial office and brought a fat son with cunning eyes. I prepared to behold a miracle. But everything started not with a demonstration. It started with verbal artillery preparation. The dad told that his son would be studied at the Department of Physics at Moscow State University, that he is a celebrity in his school, and all the teachers are surprised by his abilities. I

listened carefully to all the father’s pronouncements. And so, finally, from the depths of the father’s briefcase a special blindfold was extracted, which immediately covered the cunning little eyes of the fat boy. After that, the boy began briskly reading the magazine “Ogonek”. The father was beaming. It seems he himself sincerely believed in the super-abilities of his little copy.

Then I blocked the text with another magazine. The boy did not read anything.

Taking the blindfold off the kid, I wrapped his head with my personal sweater. The boy again could not read anything, referring to the fact that a powerful energetic interference comes from the sweater, blocking the “screen of the internal computer”. I put the boy’s blindfold on my long-suffering eyes, “Ogonek” was opened in front of me, and I easily and casually read almost a whole page. Despite the fact that I did not study at Bronnikov’s school, and my wallet was not lightened by a few hundred dollars. And all because in the lower corner of the blindfold there was a small hole. You just need to turn your head correctly.”.

The methods of denigration by the journalists O.P. Moroz against Rosa Kuleshova and A. Nikonov against Vyacheslav Bronnikov are similar: both cite “scientific” evidence, conducting their own “experiments”. However, real scientific experiments differ from the invented journalistic “experiments”, and therefore the results of these different spheres of activity turn out to be opposite.

6. Turn On Your Biocomputer

Unlike the negative publication by journalist A. Nikonov, there exist benevolent articles by decent

people capable of writing critically and objectively; Lyubov Zhuravleva belongs to the latter. Her impressions of Bronnikov’s method and school, obtained in early 1998, will be discussed further.

The first computers appeared in the mid-1940s. Now we are dealing with sixth-generation computer systems, and they improve year by year, multiplying human capabilities. Meanwhile, the most perfect computer system of the first generation was created by the living cosmos (in religion it is called — God, Lord, Creator) — this is our head, our brain.

The capabilities of the human brain are limitless. Humanity has not yet surpassed its Creator — apparently, no one can become God’s co-author and create an artificial brain similar to our natural biocomputer. The whole paradox consists in the fact that the very “crown of nature” — man — uses the capabilities of his biocomputer at only 3 percent.

Recently I had the opportunity to become acquainted with a new sensational method of human self-development. Its author is the president of the International Academy of Human Development, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Bronnikov. Bronnikov’s methodology makes it possible to awaken fantastic abilities dormant in humans. Development of holographic consciousness, virtual vision within one’s own brain, mastery of photographic, biocomputer memory, the ability of a person to see with closed eyes, to behold one’s own organism from within and control it — such is the fantastic reality of today.

The most important merit of the method consists in the fact that, having mastered it, people learn not to fall ill: immune forces are restored, amazing abilities to help one’s own

organism emerge. The manifestations of such diseases diminish — anemia, inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, neuroses, vegetovascular dystonia, progressive myopia, bronchopulmonary and a number of others. It turns out that with the help of simple exercises accessible to every person, one can develop the right and left hemispheres of the brain, which strengthens old and forms new biological connections. The brain receives new possibilities for development. The methodology allows successful treatment of children suffering from cerebral palsy. Special exercises activate those centers of the brain that are responsible for motor function. Within 2–3 months, a child affected by infantile cerebral palsy acquires the ability to move, learns to walk, but most importantly — acquires an instrument for self-development, and consequently a new meaning in life.

The stage when someone still needs to prove something is already behind us. Now we work together with scientists, — says Bronnikov. — My task is to give the method wide distribution among the population.

He dreams of creating an educational center and teaching the whole world. Russia can share its phenomenal abilities with the world; everything else we have already given to the world community. Mastering the methodology provides the possibility of preventing many diseases that today have no serious treatment developments. Medical dissertations multiply, new medicines appear, diseases remain. The method does not replace medicine but is an additional instrument. At our House there is an “infection of this method”! Children, I, my wife, our friends — we teach everyone who wants to expand their capabilities and change the quality of their life.

A person can learn to control certain areas

of the brain and internal organs. For us this is a discovery lying beyond the threshold of reality. Meanwhile, this knowledge came from the Slavic-Tibetan system of health improvement. The new is the forgotten old. We rejoice that a person was found who dug up this knowledge, extracted it, and brought it back to people.

The International Academy of Human Development does not yet have its own office in Moscow. The meeting with Bronnikov and his team was organized on the premises of the Khudozhestvennaya Literatura publishing house, where classes were held for some time with the assistance of its director Arkady Naumovich Petrov. The team consisted of Bronnikov’s followers, doctors, children, and their parents. The main heroes of this meeting were hopelessly ill children, condemned to blindness and immobility. I saw them sighted and mobile, and watched a film about disabled children. The heroes of the film were sitting in the hall.

Sasha Levit was born nearly blind, with a congenital anomaly of the optic nerve. He studied at a Moscow boarding school for the visually impaired and blind. At school he tired easily, fell behind. Classes using Bronnikov’s methodology drastically changed the boy’s life. Vision in one eye increased to 13 percent. With a cataract in the other eye, he works. He orients himself freely in space, even roller-skates with blindfolded eyes — this we saw in the film dedicated to disabled children.

Before our eyes, Sasha read with blindfolded eyes. Bronnikov’s method allows even those completely blind from birth to learn to see in a new way — with the brain. This is how bats and dolphins see. For humans, this method of vision presents great prospects.

My head has become a real biocomputer, — says the boy, — I can record a large volume of numbers, I can control my screen and see my organs with my inner gaze.

Katya Redkina could see and walk, but her health was such that the girl missed school for long periods, her kidneys were failing, her liver, poisoned by medications, was ailing. Fearing for her life, her desperate mother ran from doctor to doctor. She happened to see Vyacheslav Mikhailovich on television.

“He was like something out of a fantasy world to me,” she recalls. “I found the most amazing doctor for my daughter. After a month, her health problems were gone. Katya started doing well in school. Her memory improved 100 times. Before, the whole family would do homework until 12 at night. Now one hour is enough for Katya. She takes long walks, socializes with friends, and knows how to treat glaucoma. She now treats everyone: her father, who was in an accident, and acquaintances.

Vova, son of Vyacheslav Mikhailovich:

I have mastered the method since I was 5 years old. My memory is now like a computer’s. This gives me a lot of free time. I can walk as much as I want. I taught the method to my friends. Sick people call me on the phone. And I try to help them even at a distance.

Lyubov Yuryevna Lozhnikova, pediatrician:

What does this method give? I was brought to Vyacheslav Mikhailovich 3 years ago. I was bedridden. A disabled doctor. What could be more tragic and sadder? Even the first health-improvement stage gave me colossal opportunities. In three years, the method brought me back to life. Now I teach it myself.

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Bronnikov’s method began its march across the country from Feodosia, the city of the romantic Grin and the marine painter Aivazovsky. At another time, another romantic was born and raised there, dreaming of making all people healthy and mighty.

Bronnikov’s system was successfully tested in a Kyiv boarding school for disabled children. A film shot in this sad house left a feeling of joy in my soul. The drawings of a little girl, whose face still bore traces of cerebral palsy, were surprisingly beautiful and full of motion. As if her soul had broken out of a cage and marveled: “How wonderful the world is!”

Medical professionals noted the high and stable results obtained in disabled children after training according to Bronnikov’s method. The blind began to see light and read in Russian and Ukrainian. They can navigate the streets and teach others. One may not believe it, but I saw with my own eyes how children here in the hall played chess blindfolded.

Bronnikov’s program reached the state level. In the near future, 300 doctors with conventional traditional training will be taught it in Kyiv.

A serious competitor has emerged for linguist-psychologist Ilona Davydova. The methodology greatly facilitates the successful learning of a foreign language. Timur managed to learn two foreign languages in a short time. And the boy, by his parents’ own admission, is seriously ill, and any studying was difficult for him.

Another story happened in Tver. Yulia S. had congenital glaucoma. She suffered from severe eye pain. To ease the girl’s suffering, medical professionals proposed removing both eyes. The parents gave consent for the removal of one. The girl’s eye was removed, and some time later they learned about Bronnikov’s method. Vyacheslav Mikhailovich taught Yulia, and she cured herself At a meeting at the Khudozhestvennaya Literatura publishing house, the doctor who operated on Yulia publicly admitted that he “regrets it very much”. Now everything is fine with Yulia. She got married. Yulia had to

switch roles with the doctors. Now she teaches them the methodology that happily changed her life. At the Tver Medical Institute, where previously only the scalpel was preferred, they also teach Bronnikov’s method.

The method, repeatedly tested with the participation of doctors and scientists, has proven its uniqueness in treating cerebral palsy, congenital blindness, diabetes mellitus, and hearing loss—diseases that are recognized worldwide today as incurable. The method is protected by a copyright certificate from the Russian Authors’ Society. So what is the secret of the method? It allows one to teach any person to activate their systemic internal resources and to make them work correctly themselves. A sick person works with their body as one team toward their own recovery. A healthy person uses it for prevention and creativity. The method itself is constantly being improved and developed thanks to the cooperation of the Academy of Human Development with leading scientists, researchers, and businessmen.

7. Blindfolded Games at the Tatar Sabantuy

Each year, since ancient times, the Tatars hold the festival of Sabantuy — the most beloved festival of labor. The program of Sabantuy is vast and diverse. Here the games are both the most ancient and the most modern. And Sabantuy begins with the wrestling of young boys. Whoever wins leaves the circle with a gift, to the approving shouts of the spectators. When the powerful men take to the middle, the peaceful battle for the title of batyr of the Sabantuy heats up to the limit. Then they play “break the pot” with blindfolded eyes. Here physical strength is unnecessary — only special agility, an unusual instinct. Mostly boys and young people participate in this game. Everything seems fine, but …the magical meaning has been lost — of both the physical struggle and the spiritual contest. Here is how the ethnographer R. Urazmanova describes the game “break the pot”:

“Various comic competitions, which are held at this time on the maidan … bring great liveliness. …A competition during which one must break a pot standing on the ground with a stick while blindfolded …elicits much laughter. With the change in the economic way of life, magical rites lost their meaning, but many of them continued to exist already as folk amusements and festivals. This also happened with Sabantuy. In the 19th century, Sabantuy was already simply a cheerful folk festival that marked the beginning of very complex, labor-intensive agricultural work. Only in certain places have vestigial rites survived that point to the original connection of Sabantuy with magic.”

At Sabantuy, eyes are blindfolded during another game as well — two people are seated at a table facing each other, their eyes are blindfolded, and they are asked to feed each other porridge from plates using spoons. Whoever feeds faster is the winner. There is much laughter here.

And yet another game with blindfolded eyes. Children’s toys and treats are suspended by threads from a crossbar. One must approach with blindfolded eyes and cut with scissors any object hanging on a thread, which, upon success, one may take with them. Once at the festival, I managed by chance to cut down a piece of candy. At the time, in childhood, it was a joyful event for me. Every year at Sabantuy, near such an attractive attraction, one can observe hundreds of crowding children wishing to test themselves in this simple game and win a small prize. In any case, the child receives unforgettable impressions.

The festive ritual with the blindfolding of eyes will regain its original meaning if one attempts to comprehend the achievements of the graduates of V. M. Bronnikov’s unique school. The distinguishing feature of this school is its program for the rebirth of a harmoniously developed personality, where children, from the very first lessons, learn to befriend their own personal biocomputer and quickly master the ability to see with closed eyes. It is clear that the students of such a school would be capable, in the aforementioned Tatar national games, of breaking all the pots and winning all the prizes. And furthermore, games with blindfolded eyes lose their comic character, although in beginners they evoke surprise and delight.

One may recall the behavior of the first President of Russia — Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin — at the Kazan Sabantuy in 1996, when he demonstrated to the respected aqsaqals his developed natural ability to observe through blindfolded eyes: he took a stick and broke the pot. Apparently, the ancient Russian princes and Bulgarian khans knew the secrets of clairvoyance and competed in similar games with the leaders of other peoples.

Everyone knows from childhood the folk game of blindman’s buff, where the player with blindfolded eyes chases his comrades within a circle marked on the ground beneath their feet. Yes, humanity still has much to recall and rethink, when fundamental science comes face to face with clairvoyance, telepathy, materialization, and UFOs. Modern historians are gradually uncovering the richest experience of the ancient Eastern civilizations (Chinese, Indian, Altai, and others), where there were elite schools for the development of the intellectual-sensory abilities of great rulers and missionaries.

Over the past ten years, mass consciousness has matured intellectually; people are increasingly interested in deep questions — partly because the unmanifested is increasingly invading our lives. Among my acquaintances, there are various conversations about the anomalous. Some recount with surprise rare cases when their prophetic dreams predicted real events, or a conceived thought was quickly embodied before their eyes. Others simply share the joy that they had children of the gender they very much wanted. I have to explain to my interlocutors the low effectiveness of our thinking. If at every moment of life and at every point of the Earth’s space we are unable to foresee and embody our intentions, then we should be called anomalous beings. Recently, while walking down the street past a family (father, mother, and son), I heard the voice of a child asking his father:

Is it true that domovye live in a dark corner? The father said something in confusion … Apparently, this is so far from his specialty and interests …

8. Formation of Vision Without Eyes Using the Bronnikov Method — Sequential and Refined

Ever since the question of the possibility of seeing without eyes captured my interest, I dreamed of meeting Academician Natalya Petrovna Bekhtereva, whom I knew only from publications. And so, at the end of January 2000, I planned a trip to St. Petersburg, where I had the good fortune to meet the world-renowned scientist, leading specialist on the brain, N. P. Bekhtereva. I am particularly proud of the fact that I was born in the same Yelabuga District of Tataria (now the Repub

lic of Tatarstan), where her ancestors lived. Her surname, Bekhtereva, derives from the Turkic word “bekhet,” which translates into Russian as “happiness.” Although the meeting was brief, we exchanged our books with autographs, I told her about the activities of Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Bronnikov in Moscow, and gave her an almanac dedicated to the Academy of Human Development. Natalya Petrovna said that she does not believe in mysticism, but if they could help the daughter of her colleague, then that would be a different conversation. After returning to Moscow, I immediately passed Natalya Petrovna’s request on to V. M. Bronnikov. The good news from her was welcomed by all the staff of the Bronnikov school and came at just the right time. They called Petersburg and arranged to visit the sick Larisa.

What happened next is recounted by Natalya Bekhtereva herself (see the information bulletin of the Feodosia Center for Human Development “Nachalo,” No. 2, 2000):

— For almost 50 years, studying the human brain, I tried to stay as far away as possible from what is now very politely called non-traditional methods, from everything connected with telepathic mechanisms (one really wants to say so — but in fact we do not know the mechanism of this). In general, all of that which I internally classified for myself as belonging to the realm of the Looking Glass. I always shunned this, because such a still fragile science of the human brain, of special human functions and their physiological organization, could be compromised precisely by the fact that we would include in the circle of our research both what is amenable to investigation today and what is very difficult to investigate. Although, once the methods of studying the human brain had become established, it became, as it were, less frightening to approach these complex phenomena as well.

And so, several months ago, the journalist hosting the program “Boomerang,” Tatiana Koroleva, gave me a video cassette with a recording of the results of the work of the group led by V. M. Bronnikov. Among other interesting lines of work, this group is engaged in the formation of vision in persons who have partially or completely lost it. What is at issue is that children deprived of vision can receive in return a different type of vision — when all the forces of the organism, all the forces of the brain enter into a battle for the primordial human right to see. And the person does indeed begin to see. The demonstration was convincing: blind people read texts from books chosen at random, rode bicycles skillfully avoiding obstacles, and performed a number of other actions requiring normal vision.

Speaking with one specialist very well known in extrasensory perception, I heard: “No, I am absolutely certain, I saw it myself: they are peeking.”

But I saw it too. They are not peeking.

I considered it my duty not to pass by this phenomenon and to try to understand what is happening in the Bronnikov group.

The group led by V. M. Bronnikov arrived in St. Petersburg in February 2000. For conducting the research, I decided to propose a tragic case, from my point of view, that was close to my life. For many years I had heard about a pretty little girl, the daughter of a colleague at our institute, who had lost her eyes in a very tragic situation. Larisa Pavlova is now 26 years old. When I heard about V. M. Bronnikov, in addition to my scientific interest, there was an enormous personal interest: if all of this is indeed so — we must help Larisa. This case is interesting from every

point of view: first and foremost because there can be no question of any falsification here.

It was assumed that the methods of studying the brain used at our Institute of the Human Brainwould help us look intothe mechanism of the formation of vision under conditions of absence of the organ of sight.

**I saw above all the presence of a training system, where there is a constant movement toward maximally utilizing all the reserves of the organism and, above all, of the brain. **The formation of vision proceeded in three stages and was remarkably sequential, logical, and refined. The stages included training in purposeful control of one’s own energy (Stage I), the formation of internal (Stage II) and external (Stage III) vision. The formation of vision in Larisa is not complete; it continues, but the results already obtained from training using V. M. Bronnikov’s method make it possible to speak of the complete reality of forming vision in persons deprived of it.

I was present at practically all the sessions with Larisa, and the recording and computer analysis of her brain’s processes were carried out by my colleagues (leading research scientist S. G. Danko, senior research scientist L. A. Melyucheva, and their assistants).

Objective monitoring of the brain’s condition, conducted during the training sessions with Larisa Pavlova, showed: **the appearance, in the course of training, of the brain’s response to light signals; a wave-like gradual approximation of the brain’s condition indicators toward those characteristic of an originally sighted person; **the appearance of regional reproducible responses during the reproduction of internal vision; substantial initial activation of the brain, including with elements of hyperactivation;

high effectiveness of the brain’s own protective mechanisms. Larisa is not yet ready for testing using a monitor and, moreover, as noted, she has no eyes at all. Therefore, for comparison of vision with and without the help of eyes, a sighted person, Vladimir Bronnikov (son of the group’s leader), was invited.

The study revealed a number of interesting facts (mechanisms), the most significant of which is: **the ease of using, under heavy visual load and with both open and closed eyes, not ordinary vision, but a formed alternative vision. **When Vladimir was presented with varying visual tests with open eyes, with closed eyes, he seemed to switch to one and the same mode, and judging by the electrophysiological data — to a mode of formed direct vision. This turned out, apparently, not to be physiologically contraindicated for him.The brain easily switches to this possibly more advantageous method of signal reception. The results obtained underscorethe physiological naturalness of the training being conducted and of direct (alternative) vision.

Addendum from the editors.

Vladimir Bronnikov (with open eyes) was presented on a computer screen with a series of 240 images of living and non-living nature: each image for a duration of 0.1 seconds. And 240 of the same presentations with eyes closed by a mask. He had to press a response key — what category the image belonged to. With open eyes, Vladimir made two errors; with closed eyes — not a single one! Moreover, the instruments initially showed that the perception process was proceeding as in ordinary people: the signal from the image enters the brain through “doors” — the official term —

is processed, and a response is given. And then, with increased load and with both open and closed eyes, the instruments stopped registering the passage of the signal through the “doors.” But the brain gave a response! That is, it received information by another route. The researchers changed the modes on the equipment — nothing entered through the “doors.”

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Bronnikov politely joked: “You want to find the telephone wire, but we use a cellular phone…”

Regarding the results of the studies conducted, N. P. Bekhtereva sent a letter to the President of the Russian Federation, V. V. Putin.

The studies will be continued.

9. I Knew I Would See

The illness of each individual person brings not only suffering to them, but also creates a certain tension in some part of society. Modern civilization, with the help of medicine, has learned to eliminate certain formidable diseases; however, science cannot cope with many ailments, and therefore the problems of human health are not removed from the agenda. Incidentally, the most difficult illnesses attract for their resolution the best, most gifted people—miracle workers—from various fields. Thus, Larisa’s illness attracted helpers from Moscow, Kazan, Petersburg, and Feodosia. Could one not call it a miracle that visually impaired people, without surgery, without medication, but simply by means of the psycho-energo-informational method developed by V. M. Bronnikov, acquire new (alternative) vision and often even restore lost vision with their eyes. The experiment being demonstrated to restore vision in Larisa Pavlova will once again open the eyes of many skeptical scientists to the fact that the fragile living nature of a person

can be restored through good intentions, faith, hope, love, and labor.

The experiences of Larisa’s father:

— My daughter Larisa lost her vision in 1981. She was diagnosed with bilateral anophthalmia. Prosthetic eyes were fitted for both eyes. Since then, we constantly thought about how to adapt to the environment, to acquire the skills necessary for life. After numerous consultations with ophthalmologists, we stopped even dreaming about restoring vision, although Larisa’s desire to see never went away.

Our and Larisa’s spirits lifted immediately after the decision to restore vision using V. M. Bronnikov’s method. After several sessions, Larisa showed objective changes — her mood improved, her complexion improved, she gained confidence in her movements, and positive changes were noted in the brain’s electroencephalogram. With each session, confidence grows in the successful completion of the matter.

Larisa:

I always believed that any life situation is given not just like that, but for the purpose of solving some problem; a person must change something in their attitude toward life, toward the world, toward themselves.

Since childhood, I sensed a certain chosenness, I just could not understand in what it was expressed. A teacher at school once said that I had a tragic fate. I was surprised then — in childhood I did not feel any tragedy.

These past years were difficult; what was truly felt was not chosenness, but tragedy. Now I believe: the bad is already behind, and ahead there should be only good. When I met V. M. Bronnikov, I immediately felt that changes would soon come, that it was time to stop accumulating negative experience, that it was time to move

to a more conscious construction of my fate. At the same time, it was as if I felt that these thoughts were not from me.

Now I feel that a process of healing is underway, and I begin to perceive myself differently and break free from fears and distrust — from that which I lived with before. That is, consciousness influences physical health. It seems to me that every person can be healthy, independent of existing illnesses.

Now I am not afraid to solve my problems; I feel that I will solve them, I am not alone, I am not afraid of making a mistake, I am not afraid that it will hurt. I am convinced that everything will be fine — there are no doubts; it just takes a little time. I have begun to trust the world more inwardly, and not only the world — people as well.

I like Vyacheslav Mikhailovich’s approach to life; what he says is very close to me, I enjoy our sessions with energy work, with the biocomputer — and more and more with each time. During the sessions, there is a pleasant physical exertion, then a surge of strength. At first this was astonishing: it seemed that there was still a sea of things one could accomplish. Walking became easier for me, I began to lift my head, I straightened my shoulders.

My sleep improved. Before, this was a big problem: if I napped during the day, then I could not fall asleep at night. I wake up in a good mood, I have become calmer, all anxieties go away.

Incidentally, what I really like (and I think this is precisely where the genius of the method lies): now I can teach others — it is that accessible. It seems to me that it would be burdensome to be able to do what others cannot: one person has it good, while another has it bad. But here you can give this away well.

Before, I felt a sluggishness of brain, of consciousness. Now my brain has become more agile. It is amazing that the exercises are simple and at the same time effective.

Energy has begun to obey me. It is wonderful that you can do everything yourself and not wait until someone else does it instead of you. There is faith in the future, that it will be very, very good and interesting.

10. Physicists Wish to Unravel the Phenomenon of Vision Outside the Eyes

In Rossiyskaya Gazeta (dated March 16, 2001), an article by Albert Valentinov titled “The Sixth Sense—Blindly” was published, in which the author highlights the difficulties of physicists studying the phenomenon of vision outside the eyes. It would hardly be accurate to call this complex psychophysical phenomenon simply the sixth sense, since a boundless virgin land of unknown senses has been discovered in humans.

Russian scientists have for the first time conducted serious experiments with a unique phenomenon—vision outside the eyes.

In the laboratory, a strong magnetic field was created, and the girl phenomenon was able to read texts in sealed envelopes. For the first time, instruments registered physical fields of unknown origin. After special training, teenagers learned to see in detail what was happening behind solid walls.

10.1. Eyes Are Not Essential for Vision

The phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova, who “read with her fingers” texts in sealed thick envelopes, went to the grave with her unsolved. Scientists resigned themselves to defeat and now simply do not remember this mysterious woman. Perhaps because, even when conducting strictly controlled experiments with Kuleshova, researchers could not get rid of the feeling—

—that they were the victims of some clever fraud. Her phenomenon contradicted not only everything we know about nature, but simply common sense. But it seems that the same fate awaits other possessors of such phenomenal properties: domestic, and, it seems, world science has not yet realized that a completely new phenomenon is invading our everyday life, promising to radically change our ideas about the world around us and about ourselves.

Actually, the study of the physical processes allowing some people to “see” the surrounding world with tightly blindfolded eyes began more than a hundred years ago. The famous physicists J. J. Thomson, O. Lodge, and W. Crookes made a bold assumption for their time: that those rare magicians in fairground booths who amazed the amused crowd were not peeping through a cunningly designed blindfold, but actually distinguished surrounding objects without the help of their eyes. How? The eminent scientists were never able to answer this question.

Modern researchers in major universities, research, and technological institutes of many countries have not yet been able to answer it either. So far, the most tangible result of this work has been the designation of the mysterious phenomenon with the scientific term—extrasensory perception. In other words, the recognition of the surrounding world not with the help of the five known sense organs, but by means of certain fields surrounding a person and constituting their informational-energy aura. Such research is also being conducted in our country. And, perhaps, domestic scientists have come closer than anyone to the threshold beyond which the solution to this phenomenon shines.

10.2. Magic in a Closed Ring

And it all started a few years ago, when an acquaintance scientist brought his daughter to Professor Yuri Pytyev, Head of the Department of Computer Methods in Physics at the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University. The 14-year-old Nadenka was discovered to have a rare gift; she “saw” a magnet. Or rather, with tightly blindfolded eyes, she saw objects placed in a constant magnetic field and “illuminated” by electromagnetic radiation in the visible or microwave range. Moreover, the shorter the wavelength of the “electromagnetic backlighting,” the better she distinguished the objects. And if a person entered the magnetic field, Nadya saw a halo surrounding them—what is called an aura in extrasensory perception. In laboratories dealing with this problem, such an aura is made visible using powerful installations creating a high-intensity electromagnetic field. Nadya managed with “her own forces.” And the second, no less significant factor: the girl did not just “see” in the magnetic field, she summoned this ability in herself at will, but to do this she needed to strain her will very strongly. Thus, the whole process lasted one or two minutes, after which Nadya grew tired, and it was necessary to stop the experiments.

“And there were many experiments,” recounts Yuri Pytyev. “You understand, once we got such a phenomenon, we simply could not help but try to investigate its nature. Especially since it immediately became clear: there is no fraud here and, most importantly, nothing supernatural. Rather, there is some physical phenomenon which, the further you research it, the more amazing things you discover. To begin with, having noticed in his daughter this ability to ‘see’ objects in

the magnetic field and the magnet itself through willpower, the father began to develop it. So to speak, he trained Nadya, achieving that she not only distinguished objects with blindfolded eyes, but also read texts. Moreover, unlike Rosa Kuleshova, she did not need to touch the paper with her hands. It was only necessary to bring the paper to the magnet. And only when the father realized that his knowledge was not enough to uncover the mechanism of this phenomenon did he bring his daughter to our department.”

The main task that Yury Petrovich set for himself was the identification of those physical parameters accompanying this phenomenon that can be measured. Only in this case can it be claimed that this phenomenon exists. For this, a closed conducting ring was made. It has been known since the time of Faraday that such a ring, placed in a constant magnetic field, does not “manifest” itself in any way if the flux of this field does not change. Then a current of electromagnetic induction arises in the ring. So, if such a ring was placed next to a magnet, Nadya “saw” no longer a single magnet, but a whole series of magnets, and each subsequent one was mirror-symmetric to the previous one. Most importantly, a current arose in the ring, although the position of the magnet did not change. It turned out as if Nadya, by sheer willpower, changed the flux of the magnetic field through the ring, exciting electromagnetic induction in it.

But when Pytyev put the ring on the girl’s head, she lost the ability to “see” in the magnetic field. Including not “seeing” the aura of the person in the field. She did not “see” the aura when the ring was put on this person’s head either. But when Pytyev made a large ring and put it over both heads—Nadya’s and his colleague’s—the perception of the aura became very strong.

How to explain all this? In response to my question, Yury Petrovich merely threw up his hands.

“That is precisely the task of science: to discover and explain a new phenomenon. Only, between ‘discover’ and ‘explain’ there is often enormous labor, a large number of experiments, and a lot of time. In Nadya’s case, we have only discovered that we are dealing with some wave process, a wave field, but determining the nature of this field and its interaction with a person is not yet within our power. The only thing we could do was determine the wavelength—from four to thirty-five millimeters, depending on the physical condition of the subject. And we discovered another paradoxical, but perhaps most important, fact: Nadya perceives objects in a magnetic field as if she were seeing them with her eyes. Only, these ‘eyes’ are located outside her head—in the area of the crown, and their stereo base is two and a half to three times greater than the distance between normal eyes. One should not understand this literally: it is simply a place in space from where Nadya seems to look. Well, let’s say, like looking into a stereo telescope with widely separated barrels. But to explain this phenomenon, the facts were insufficient. And since we had already started this work, we had to invite other subjects to the laboratory—those who can already see with closed eyes outside a magnetic field. We found them at Vyacheslav Bronnikov’s school.”

10.3. I See Everything Hidden Behind the Wall

This school at the Academy of Human Development, where children are taught to identify and use the hidden reserves of their organism — those originally embedded in us by nature and lost in the course of evolution — has been written about quite a lot. We will not repeat ourselves. Simply, as in

the previous case, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Bronnikov brought his son Vova to Professor Pytyev with a request to explain, from the standpoint of physical science, the phenomenal abilities of the child that had emerged after a cycle of training. Easy to say: “Explain”! After the very first experiments, Pytyev was astonished to discover that, apart from the very fact of seeing with blindfolded eyes, there was nothing similar in the phenomena of Nadya and Vova. They unfold, if one can put it that way, in different physical planes.

Let us begin with the fact that Vova, like another pupil of the school with whom we conducted experiments, does not require a magnetic field at all, — says Pytyev. — He “sees” under any conditions, and neither a magnet nor a closed current-conducting ring has any influence on this vision. Just like Nadya, he summons this ability in himself at will, but unlike her, Vova does not need to strain his will, and he practically does not get tired. Significant differences, right? But compared to the others, they do not seem all that important.

The other differences are truly astonishing. Take form and color, for instance. While Nadya sees objects in black-and-white images and distorted in the horizontal plane, Vova and the other pupil of the school see them in natural colors and natural forms. As if they were looking with their own eyes. And, perhaps, the eyes are the most important thing here. Not their own, of course, but the ones with which the children seemingly see. If Nadya’s are located at a single point in space, the boys can control them — placing them sometimes directly in front of themselves, sometimes to the side of the object being examined or the text that needs to be read. If there is an opaque wall between them and the object they need to examine, they can toss their “eyes” over it. Moreover,

when necessary, they are capable of “organizing” two or three pairs of “eyes” and examining the object in full detail from all sides. And all this with a light effort of will.

We managed to establish with complete certainty that this phenomenon is also based on some kind of wave process, — says Pytyev. Only the wavelength here is different — on the order of 1.5–2 millimeters, depending on the subject’s state. Medical examinations of these children, including their brain, conducted at the Scientific Research Institute of Traditional Methods of Treatment and in the Laboratory of Electrophysiology of Higher Brain Functions of the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, showed no deviations from the norm. On the contrary, one could envy their data.

10.4. The Work Is Finished. The Mystery Remains

After completing a course of unconventional training, some children develop their abilities to such an extent that they are able to see the functioning of individual organs in sick people literally down to the cellular level. They work alongside medical professionals. But Yury Pytyev’s research came to an end at this point. The results of the experiments on the phenomenon of “seeing” with closed eyes were published in the works of Moscow State University. It was not possible to unravel the mechanism of the phenomenon. Perhaps for what has already become a traditional reason in our country — lack of funding?

In this case, that is not the main thing, — Yury Petrovich waved his hand. — The reason is far more serious: a lack of understanding. We have encountered completely new phenomena of nature, discovered new wave processes. Well, fine — in Nadya’s case, electromagnetic waves somehow “work.” At least something

familiar. But in the case of the other children? These are not electromagnetic waves, but we do not know any others. Acoustic waves do not count. So here we have two completely different processes that end with roughly the same result. And the nature of these processes must be studied with the help of the entire powerful arsenal of modern science. We carried out the main preparatory work; now the very modest capabilities of our department are exhausted. What is needed is the unification of large research collectives equipped with modern technology. And here I ran up against a trivial failure to understand the importance of this work. No matter where I turned, everywhere there was a polite refusal. The impression is that people are put off by the unusual nature of these phenomena, which are indeed difficult to squeeze into the familiar, materialistic framework. But it is high time to understand that big science has already practically taken up the deciphering of mysteries that initially are difficult to find a place for in our familiar picture of the world.

It has long been known: the main obstacle in science is not a deficit of resources, but inertia of thinking. And so it is in this case. Having discovered electromagnetic waves, having mastered their mechanism in our technogenic activity, we have grown accustomed to believing that no other carriers of information exist in the universe. We even try to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations using radio telescopes on the wavelength of interstellar hydrogen. But it turns out that, in addition to electromagnetic ones, there exist other, unknown fields with as-yet-unknown capabilities. And we must accept them as a given. Seek them out and master them. And prepare ourselves for the possibility that society may change beyond recognition if there are more and more such people, from whose “eyes” no secrets can be hidden.

11. The Human Brain — Supernormal Capabilities and Prohibitions

(N.P. Bekhtereva’s article was published in full in the journal “Science and Life,” No. 7, 2001.)

About the author.

Bekhtereva, Natalya Petrovna:

Born 7 July 1924 in Leningrad. Granddaughter of the world-famous physiologist, psychiatrist, and neuropathologist Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev; daughter of the talented engineer and inventor Pyotr Vladimirovich Bekhterev. Graduated from the I.P. Pavlov Leningrad Medical Institute, and completed postgraduate studies at the V.M. Bekhterev Leningrad Psychoneurological Institute. After completing her postgraduate studies, she worked as a research associate at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, then as a research associate, head of a laboratory, and deputy director of the Neurosurgical Institute, head of the Department of Human Applied Neurophysiology, from 1966 — as deputy director for research of the Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Medicine (NIIEM), from 1970 to 1990 — as director of NIIEM. In 1990 she became the scientific director of the “Brain” Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and from 1992 — scientific consultant of the “Brain” Center. For the first time in the country (1962), she proposed a method of implanting electro des into the brain for the treatment of patients and developed a method for studying the human brain.

Full member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (RAMS), Laureate of the USSR State Prize, foreign member of the Austrian, Finnish Academies of Sciences, the American Academy of

Medicine and Psychiatry, the International Academy of Sciences of Ecology, Human Safety and Nature, and an honorary member of a number of international scientific societies.

She has received scientific awards for the highest contribution to the development of neurophysiology and neuroscience.

The name “Bekhtereva” has been assigned to minor planet No. 6074 of the Solar System.

Author of approximately 350 scientific publications and seven monographs in the field of human brain physiology. Bekhtereva’s school is universally recognized.

The heretical ideas set forth in this

article — they are indeed heretical, but

there are no others as yet, and perhaps

there never will be. And yet … Anything can happen.

N.P. Bekhtereva

The twentieth century proved to be a century of mutually enriching inventions and discoveries in the most diverse fields. Modern man has traversed the path from the primer to the Internet, but nevertheless cannot cope with the organization of a balanced world. His “biological” in many corners of the world, and sometimes even globally, triumphs over reason and is realized through aggression — so advantageous in small doses as an activator of the brain’s capabilities, so destructive in large ones. A century of scientific and technological progress and a bloody century … It seems to me that the key to the transition from the bloody century to an epoch (century?) of prosperity is hidden beneath several mechanical protections and coverings, on the surface and in the depths of the human brain …

The twentieth century contributed much of value to the treasury of fundamental knowledge about the human brain. Part of this knowledge has already found application

in medicine, but is used relatively little in upbringing and education. Man as an individual already makes use of the achievements of the fundamental sciences of the brain. Man as a member of society still has little “profit” both for himself and for society, which is connected largely with the conservatism of social structures and the difficulty of forming a common language between sociology and neurophysiology. Here, the translation of achievements in studying the regularities of the brain’s work from the language of neurophysiology into a form acceptable for upbringing and education is meant.

Let us try to figure out whether we are “on the way” to the mystical wisdom of “Shambhala”, and if we are, then where? The only reliable path to the necessary and sufficient wisdom in interpersonal, personal-social, and intersocial relations, the rational-religious path to “Shambhala” lies through the further cognition of the laws of the brain’s work. Humanity is paving the path to this knowledge through the joint efforts of neurophysiology and neuropsychology, reinforced by today’s and tomorrow’s technological solutions.

The 20th century inherited and developed data and concepts about the basic mechanisms of the brain’s work (Sechenov. Pavlov), including the human brain (Bekhterev). The complex method of studying the human brain and technological progress in medicine in the 20th century also brought the most significant achievements in the cognition of the principles and mechanisms of the human brain’s work. Forms of organization of the brain’s provision of human intellectual activity, the reliability of its brain’s functioning, the mechanism of stable states (health and disease) have been formulated, the presence of error detection in the brain has been shown, its cortical and subcortical links have been described, different mechanisms of ow-

of the natural defense of the brain. The significance of these discoveries for understanding the possibilities and limitations of the healthy and sick brain can hardly be overestimated.

The possibilities of the brain are being intensively studied and will continue to be studied; on the threshold stands the task of discovering (or closing?) the cerebral code of thought processes. The human brain is prepared in advance for everything, living, as it were, not in our century, but in the future, ahead of itself.

What do we know today about those conditions, those principles, on the basis of which not only the possibilities, but also the super-possibilities of the human brain are realized? And what exactly are its defense mechanisms, super-defense, and perhaps even prohibitions?

Once—and in the ever-accelerating race of time, perhaps quite a long time ago—already more than thirty years ago, while stimulating one of the subcortical nuclei, my colleague Vladimir Mikhailovich Smirnov saw how a patient, literally before our very eyes, became about twice as “smarter”: his ability to memorize increased by more than twofold. Let us put it this way: before the stimulation of this quite specific point of the brain (I know, but I won’t say which one!), the patient remembered 7 plus or minus 2 (that is, within normal limits) words. And immediately after stimulation—15 or more. The ironclad rule: “for each given patient—only what is specifically indicated for them.” We did not know then how to “put the genie back in the bottle,” and we did not start toying with it, but actively pushed for its return—in the interests of the patient. And this was an artificially induced super-possibility of the human brain!

We have known about the super-possibilities of the brain for a long time. These are, first of all, the innate properties of the brain that determine the presence in human society of those who are capable of finding the maximum number of correct decisions under conditions of a deficit of information introduced into the consciousness

information. Extreme cases. People of this kind are evaluated by society as possessors of talents and even geniuses! A vivid example of the brain’s super-capabilities is provided by various creations of geniuses, so-called rapid calculation, almost instantaneous vision of the events of an entire life in extreme situations, and much more. The possibility of teaching certain individuals a multitude of living and dead languages is known, although usually 3-4 foreign languages are nearly the limit, and 2-3 are the optimal and sufficient number. In the life not only of a talented person, but also of a so-called ordinary person, states of illumination sometimes arise, and sometimes as a result of these illuminations much gold is deposited into the treasury of human knowledge.

In V.M. Smirnov’s observation, what amounts to a reverse event is presented compared to those mentioned further below; however, perhaps it also contains the answer to a question not yet formulated here regarding the brain: what exactly is it and how that ensures super-capabilities? The answer is both expected and simple: in ensuring intellectual super-capabilities, the most important role is played by the activation of certain, and probably many, brain structures. Simple, expected, but — incomplete. The stimulation was brief, the phenomenon “did not stick.” We were all then so afraid of a possible price the brain might pay for super-capabilities so suddenly revealed. After all, they were revealed here not under real conditions of illumination, but semi-controllably, instrumentally.

Thus, super-capabilities can be innate (talent, genius) and can, under certain conditions of an optimal emotional regime, manifest in the form of illumination with a change in the regime (speed) of time, and in extreme situations too, apparently, with a change in the regime of time. And, what is most important in our knowledge of super-capabilities, they can be for-

to be formed during special training, and also in the case of setting a super-task.

Life brought me into contact with a group of individuals who, under the guidance of V.M. Bronnikov, are trained to do many things, in particular to see with closed eyes. “Bronnikov’s boys” have obtained and demonstrate their super-abilities, acquired as a result of systematic, prolonged training that cautiously reveals the capacities for alternative (direct) vision. During objective investigation, it proved possible to show that in the electroencephalogram (EEG) such training reveals conditionally pathological mechanisms operating at a super-norm level. “Conditionally pathological,” apparently, in the context of the brain’s own special protective mechanisms.

The quantitative accumulation of data about the capabilities and prohibitions of the brain, about the dual unity — at least of many, if not all, of its mechanisms — is now on the verge of transition into quality — on the verge of gaining the possibility of purposefully forming the conscious human being. However, the transition from cognizing the laws of nature to making rational use of them is not always quick, not always easy. But always thorny.

And yet, if one thinks about the alternatives — life in anticipation of the pressing of the nuclear briefcase button, ecological catastrophe, global terrorism — one understands that, however difficult this path may be, it is the best one: the path of forming the conscious human being and, as a consequence, of a society and communities of conscious people. And forming the conscious human being is possible only on the basis of knowledge of the principles and mechanisms of the brain’s operation, its capabilities and super-capabilities, its protective mechanisms and limits, as well as understanding the dual unity of these mechanisms.

So, what are these dual-natured mechanisms of the brain, the two faces of Janus, that are being discussed here? Super-capabilities and illness, protection as a rational prohibition, and illness and many, many other things.

In the ideal variant, an example of super-capabilities is long-living geniuses, who know how to make correct decisions based on a minimum of information introduced into consciousness and who do not burn out due to the presence of adequate self-protection. But how often does a genius, as it were, “devour” himself, as if “seeking” an end. What is this? A lack of the brain’s own protection both “internally,” ensuring a single function, and in the interaction of various functions? But perhaps this protection can be formed, strengthened — especially from childhood, recognizing in a capable child the predispositions of intellectual super-capabilities?

Over the course of many decades and even centuries, the teaching of practically important knowledge proceeded through upbringing (the fixing in memory of moral values) and the training of memory. The riddle of memory remains unsolved to this day, despite the Nobel Prizes in medicine. And the significance of the early formation of the “moral” foundation of memory (although it is not called that) for society was very great; in the overwhelming majority, first of children, and then of adults, the commandments turned in the brain into a memorized matrix — a fence, not allowing them to be transgressed, practically determining a person’s behavior and painfully punishing the transgressor. The pangs of conscience (if it was formed!), the tragedy of repentance — all of this, activated through error detectors, revived in the brain of the transgressor, together with the “terrible punishments” promised already in early childhood for the violation of the commandments, in society as a whole worked more powerfully than judicial penalties. In real present-day life, much, including “terrible punishments,” the pangs of conscience, etc., to put it mildly,

has been transformed, and even in the past it stopped far from everyone. Neglecting the prohibitions of the memory matrix laid down in past generations and no longer being laid down now, a person strides toward freedom — of both spirit and crime.

In the case discussed above, memory worked primarily as a mechanism of prohibition or, if you will, as a mechanism of “local neurosis.” But if nothing was known about the memory matrix in the brain, and so it was never even named, then memory itself as the chief mechanism enabling us to survive in health and in illness was, in the old variant of education, nevertheless treated far more carefully than now.

Memory, already from early childhood, forms matrices where automatisms then operate. Thereby it frees our brain for the processing and use of the enormous information flow of the modern world, maintaining a stable state of health. But memory itself needs help, and it is especially important to help in advance its most fragile mechanism — retrieval. And earlier this was apparently accomplished through a large volume of memorization by heart, and especially — of the difficult-to-memorize prose of dead languages. Memory, having “pushed aside” and “pushing aside” into automatic mode everything stereotypical, again and again frees and opens up to us the enormous capabilities of the brain. The reliability of these enormous capabilities is determined by many factors, and the most important among them are daily constant training of the brain by any and every factor of novelty (the orienting reflex!), the multi-link character of brain systems, the presence within these systems, when ensuring non-stereotypical activity, not only of rigid, that is, constant links, but also of flexible (variable) links, and much else. In the process of creating conditions for the realization of capabilities and super-capabili-

…ties of the brain the same mechanisms — and above all the basic mechanism — memory — build up a palisade of defense and, in particular, defense of the human being against himself, against the biological within him, his negative aspirations, and also against various emergency life situations.

This is the restrictive role of the memory matrix in behavior (“thou shalt not kill” …). This is also its selective mechanism of limitations, the mechanism for detecting errors.

What kind of mechanism for protection against errors, limitation, prohibition is this — an error detector? We do not know whether nature grants this mechanism to a human being from birth. But most likely — no. The human brain develops by processing a flow (inflow!) of information, adapting to the environment through trial and error. In this process, in the learning brain, alongside zones that ensure activity through activation, zones are formed that respond selectively or predominantly to deviation from an advantageous, “correct under the given conditions” reaction to an error. These zones, judging by the subjective reaction (a type of anxiety), are connected with attributes of emotional activation that enter consciousness. In human language — although error detectors are apparently not only a human mechanism — this sounds like: “something … somewhere … is wrong, something … somewhere — is not right …“.

Up to now we have spoken (including about the most important discovery of V. M. Smirnov) about the capabilities and the physiological basis of supercapabilities. But how can supercapabilities be elicited under ordinary conditions, and is it always possible and, what is very important — permissible?

Currently there is no answer to the question “is it always?” However, supercapabilities can be elicited much more often than occurs in everyday life.

It has already been said that the brain of a genius is capable of statistically correctly solving problems based on a minimum of information introduced into consciousness. This is, as it were, an ideal combination of an intuitive and a logical cast of mind.

We see the manifestation of a genius’s brain in the super-tasks it solves — whether the “Sistine Madonna,” “Eugene Onegin,” or the discovery of heterojunctions. The ease of decision-making occurs through optimal activation mechanisms, mainly, it would appear, of an emotional nature. These same mechanisms are responsible for the joy of creativity, especially if the process is combined with optimal self-protection of the brain… And optimal protection consists primarily of a balance of cerebral restructurings during emotions (expressed physiologically — in the spatial multidirectionality of development in the brain of ultra-slow physiological processes of different sign) and optimal slow-wave nighttime “cleansing” of the brain (one must “not throw the baby out with the bathwater” and not leave too much “garbage”)…

And yet, although memory is the basic mechanism for providing capabilities and super-capabilities, neither talent nor, even more so, genius can be reduced to it alone. Recall at least the book by the Russian scientist-psychologist A. R. Luria, “The Great Memory of a Little Man”…

Super-capabilities in “ordinary” people, unlike in geniuses, manifest themselves — if they manifest themselves at all — when there is a need to solve super-tasks. In this case, the brain proves capable, in the interests of optimizing its own work, of also employing conventionally pathological mechanisms, in particular — hyperactivation, naturally, with sufficient protection that prevents the powerful helper from turning into an epileptic discharge. Super-

…task can be set by life, but it can be resolved both independently, and with the help of teachers, and there are decisions in this life when one can pay a high price for the result. Please do not confuse this with the notoriously known “the end justifies the means.”

As is known from the history of religion, Jesus Christ gave sight to a blind believer, presumably by touching him. Until the very most recent time, in attempts not to explain — far from it! — but at least to grasp the possibility of this possibility, one had to invoke the concept of so-called psychic blindness — a rare hysterical condition when “everything is in order, but the person cannot see,” yet can regain sight from a powerful emotional shock.

But now, already near the very end of life, I am sitting together with Larisa at a large meeting table. I am wearing a bright red wool mohair poncho, a gift from my son. “Larisa, what color is my clothing?” — “Red,” Larisa answers calmly, and at my stunned silence she begins to doubt,

—

or maybe it’s blue? — Under the poncho I have a dark blue dress.

—

“Yes,” Larisa continues, “I still cannot always clearly determine the color and shape, I need to practice more.” Behind us lie several months of very intense labor by Larisa and her teachers — Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Bronnikov, his colleague, physician Lyubov Yuryevna, and from time to time — Bronnikov’s beautiful 22-year-old daughter Natasha. She can do it too… All of them taught Larisa to see. I was present at nearly every session of teaching vision to the absolutely blind Larisa, who lost her eyes at the age of eight — and now she is 26! The blind girl — young woman — had adapted to life, and of course, primarily thanks to her inconceivably caring father. And because she,

probably tried very hard, for it seemed that cruel fate had left her no choice.

When she was told about the possibility of seeing after special training according to V. M. Bronnikov’s method, neither she nor we had any idea of the difficulty, the laboriousness of the learning as the price for the desired result.

How pretty Larisa is now! How she has straightened up, cheered up, how she believes in a future that is new for her… It is even frightening! After all, she has not yet reached that amazing ability to see without the help of the eyes, which the more “senior” students of Bronnikov demonstrate to us. But she has already learned a great deal, and this requires a separate account.

People usually do not believe accounts of things that already actually exist. Journalists make films, show, and tell. It seems (and perhaps it really is so) that nothing is being concealed. And still — the overwhelming majority is cautious: “I don’t know what exactly, but there is some trick involved here” or “They peek through the bandage” — the black, completely opaque bandage over the eyes.

But I, after the amazing film about the capabilities of Bronnikov’s method, was thinking not so much about science, about a scientific miracle, as about Larisa — Larisa as an unfortunate, tragically robbed girl, Larisa as a person who, in her great misfortune, has nothing even to peek with — she has no eyes at all.

Larisa is — as they say — a difficult case for training. What deprived her of sight belongs to the arsenal of the most terrifying “horror stories.” Hence her changing psychological disposition. Along with new capabilities, the terrible picture of the crime probably comes alive in her brain as well — a renewed awareness of its tragic consequences, long years of trial and error in adapt-

…tion to the changed world. But in the girl, over these long years, the dream did not die. “I always believed that I would see,” whispers Larisa. Her, Larisa, them, “Bronnikov’s boys” (Bronnikov’s son, patients at different stages of training), we examined using so-called objective research methods.

The electroencephalogram (EEG), the brain biocurrents of Larisa differ sharply from the familiar EEG picture of a healthy adult. The fast rhythm, normally barely discernible (the so-called beta rhythm), is present in the young woman in all leads, in all points of the brain. This, as is traditionally believed, reflects the predominance of excitatory processes. Well of course, Larisa’s life is difficult, demanding strain. But the alpha rhythm, the slower rhythm of healthy people, associated with the visual channel, was at first very scarce in Larisa. But Larisa’s EEG as a whole — not for a specialist with weak nerves. If one did not know whose EEG this was, one could think of a serious brain disease — epilepsy. Larisa’s encephalogram is full of so-called epileptiform activity. However, what we see here underscores once again the often-forgotten (golden!) rule of clinical physiology: “An EEG conclusion is one thing, but a medical diagnosis, a diagnosis of disease, is necessarily made on the basis of its clinical manifestations.” Well, of course, plus the EEG to clarify the form of the disease. Epileptiform activity, especially of the type of sharp waves and groups of sharp waves, is also a rhythm of excitation. Usually — in a diseased brain. In Larisa’s EEG there are many of these waves, and occasionally an almost “local seizure” is visible, not spreading even to neighboring regions of the brain. An EEG “equivalent” of a seizure.

Larisa’s brain is activated and, apparently, in addition to those about which we know, one must seek and discover new mech-

mechanisms that had firmly protected Larisa’s brain over many years against the spread of pathological excitation, which alone is the chief cause of the development of the disease — epilepsy. (Given the obligatory insufficiency of protective mechanisms, or as a result of this insufficiency, of course.)

Objective investigation of the brain’s biopotentials can be evaluated in various ways. One can write: dominance of the beta rhythm and single and grouped sharp waves. Not frightening? Yes, and moreover — it is true. One could put it differently: widespread and local epileptiform activity. Frightening? Yes, and moreover — it leads away somewhere from the truth about Larisa’s brain. The absence of any manifestations of epilepsy in Larisa’s medical biography provides no grounds for what is in general an unwarranted diagnosis of the disease. This includes the numerous EEGs that were recorded from Larisa during the training in vision according to Bronnikov’s method. I believe that in this case it is legitimate to speak of Larisa’s brain utilizing, under the conditions of her Vital supreme task, not only ordinary excitatory processes but also hyperexcitation. In the EEG this is reflected by the already described combination of widespread beta activity and single and grouped sharp (conventionally epileptiform) waves. The connection between what was observed in the EEG and Larisa’s actual condition was traced very clearly: the EEG was distinctly dynamic, and its dynamics were dependent both on the initial EEG background and on the training sessions.

We still had in our arsenal of research methods the ultr Slow processes, their various relationships, and the so-called evoked potentials. Analysis of the ultraslow potentials likewise underscored the high dynamism and depth, the intensity of the physiological reorganizations in Larisa’s brain.

The widely used evoked potentials method usually provides sufficiently reliable information about the brain inputs of signals arriving through the channels of the sensory organs. At present, apparently, it is already possible to investigate the response to certain light signals in Larisa — in the EEG, a response to bright light has already appeared; however, several months ago it seemed more expedient (reliable) to us to obtain this kind of information from a person with good natural vision and fully trained in alternative (direct) vision.

The most “advanced” student and son of the teacher V.M. Bronnikov — Volodya Bronnikov — was presented with visual images (on a monitor — animals, furniture) with open eyes and with eyes closed by an opaque, massive black blindfold. The number of presentations of these signals was sufficient for statistically reliable detection of local evoked responses (evoked potential). The evoked response to visual signals presented with open eyes showed sufficiently trivial results: the evoked response was registered in the posterior regions of the hemispheres. The first attempts to register evoked potentials to analogous (the same) visual signals with tightly closed eyes were unsuccessful — the analysis was hindered by a huge number of artifacts usually observed with trembling of the eyelids or movement of the eyeballs. To eliminate these artifacts, an additional blindfold, but this time fitting tightly against the eyelids, was applied to Volodya’s eyes. (This is from the practice of clinical physiology.) The artifacts disappeared. But alternative vision — vision without the participation of the eyes — also disappeared (temporarily)! After a couple of days, Volodya again restored alternative vision, giving correct verbal responses with double closure of the eyes. His EEG changed both in the first and in this

case. However, with the literal “walling up” of Volodya’s eyes by our additional bandage, visual evoked potentials were not registered. And Volodya continued to give correct answers to signals, correctly identifying the presented objects! Based on the EEG, the impression was created that the signal enters the brain directly, changing its overall state. But the entry of the signal into the brain — evoked potentials — after the restoration of alternative vision, ceased to be registered. One could imagine … — as always, an explanation can be found. But here is what sharply narrowed the possibilities of “simply” explaining the disappearance of evoked potentials with closed eyes.

The fact is that after Volodya’s mastery of alternative vision, let us say, under complicated conditions — a regular bandage plus slight pressure on the eyeballs — evoked potentials ceased to be registered even during examination with open eyes. According to objective methods, which we are accustomed to trusting more than subjective ones, Volodya Bronnikov, as it were, also used alternative vision under conditions when ordinary vision could be used … This assertion is a serious one. It requires checks and rechecks. Besides Volodya, there are others already well-trained in alternative vision. Finally, Larisa is already maturing for such research. But if this phenomenon is confirmed, we will have to think about the alternative (which channels?) transmission of visual information or about the direct entry of information into the human brain, bypassing the sense organs. Is this possible? The brain is separated from the external world by several membranes; it is decently protected from mechanical damage. However, through all these membranes we register what happens in the brain, moreover, the losses in amplitude

of the signal during passage through these membranes are surprisingly small — relative to direct registration from the brain, the signal decreases in amplitude by no more than two to three times (if it decreases at all!).

So what is being discussed here, and to what do the observed facts lead us?

The physicist S. Davitaya proposed evaluating the formation of alternative vision as a phenomenon of direct vision. Thus, we are talking about the possibility of information entering the brain directly, bypassing the sense organs.

The possibility of direct activation of brain cells by factors of the external environment and, in particular, by electromagnetic waves in the process of therapeutic electromagnetic stimulation, is easily proven by the developing effect. One may presumably admit that under the conditions of a supertask — the formation of alternative vision — the result is indeed achieved through direct vision, through direct activation of brain cells by factors of the external environment. However, at present this is no more than a fragile hypothesis. Or perhaps the brain’s own electrical waves are able to “search” the external world? Something like “radar”? Or perhaps there is another explanation for all this? We must think! And study!

What kind of protective mechanism must play the leading role in the capacity of Larisa’s brain to use both normal and conventionally pathological types of activity? Many years ago, while purposefully studying the epileptic brain, I came to the conclusion that not only local slow activity, reflecting changes in brain tissue, simultaneously possesses a protective function (as the well-known English physiologist Grey Walter showed in 1953). The function of suppressing epileptogenesis in

…exis[ting] physiological processes manifesting as high-voltage slow activity of a paroxysmal type. The assumption was verified: a local sinusoidal current modulating these slow waves was applied to the region of epileptogenesis — it clearly suppressed the epileptiform activity!

In epilepsy, we see this protection as already insufficiently active; it “is no longer enough” to suppress epileptogenesis. And furthermore, growing stronger, this most important physiological protection of ours itself becomes a pathological phenomenon, switching off consciousness for ever longer periods. Taking every care to protect Larisa from unnecessary overload, we have not yet performed a sleep EEG recording on her. This is of interest primarily to us, though it is not dangerous for Larisa — and may even prove useful. Based on Larisa’s EEG and by analogy with the vast international experience in studying epileptiform activity and epilepsy, Larisa works on the formation of vision (direct seeing) by means of various activation mechanisms balanced by her own physiological protection. However, it would be wrong to completely disregard the fact that in Larisa’s EEG there is much single and grouped sharp, including high-voltage, activity — it is here, as it were, “on the borderline” of the physiological; and the fact that in her EEG recorded in the waking state, high-voltage paroxysmal slow activity is episodically detected — the dual mechanism of the brain, its reliable protection, likewise already “on the borderline” of transformation into a pathological manifestation. I remind here those who are unfamiliar with this line of our work: the appearance in the waking state of sudden high-voltage slow waves in the EEG reflects the transition of a physiological protective process into a pathological phenomenon! In this particular case, however, in all appearance, everything is still —

fulfilling its most important physiological role, since there are no clinical manifestations of epilepsy.

The ability to control oneself is regarded primarily as a manifestation of adaptation. Physiologically, the implementation of emotions “with minimal losses” (without the spread of pathological excitation) is achieved through the balancing of ultra-slow processes — those in the brain associated with the development of emotions, and those in the same brain that limit their spread (ultra-slow physiological processes of the opposite sign). This form of defense, like the one described above, can also have its pathological face — as it intensifies, the defense impedes the development of emotions, up to the emergence of states defined as emotional blunting. Is the defense examined by EEG not only a defense but also a prohibition? To a known measure and to a known degree — yes. And primarily in relation to pathology or conditional pathology, in this case — conditionally epileptogenic activity. Even here one can, it is true with some stretching, speak of the dual unity of physiological defense. The defense “against” and the prohibition “on” the development of an emotion are much more definite in the second defense mechanism.

As one progresses from the physiological process to the pathological one, its prohibitive function emerges ever more prominently.

Both defense mechanisms presented here, unlike the one formed by memory, have physiological correlates, which makes them, as it were, “tractable” for study. The information about them is provided here in connection with the discussion of Larisa, but not everything is the result of direct research; the “prohibitive” role of the error detector manifests itself not in its physiological correlates, although these do exist. The prohibitive properties of the error detector manifest themselves in the subjective, emotio

…tional, and subsequently — not infrequently in the behavioral and motor components. However, the potential dual unity of the phenomenon of error detection also exists. The error detector is normally our protection, but in hyperfunction it causes pathological manifestations such as neurosis, obsessive states: from fear, which protects us from the often very sensitive consequences of our errors, to neurosis, when the detector does not ” suggest” (remind, hint!) but demands, dominates, and, in its extreme form, withdraws a person from social life.

Unlike what has been said above, everything known about memory — the most important, fundamental mechanism determining the stable state of both health and disease, largely maintaining the behavior of the majority of members of society within the framework of moral values, a moral “code of laws” — turns out so far to be the result of analysis solely of the manifestations of human activity. As I wrote at the beginning, we — for now, at least —see only the results of the invisible work of memory; the direct physiological correlates of this most important mechanism of brain function remain unknown.

The mechanisms of brain function must continue to be intensively studied. In my view, the physiological regularities known today, including those presented here, should already be given a place in the teaching of human studies or, more simply, the subject: “know thyself.”

This work was carried out under a grant for the support of scientific schools No. 00-15-97893.

Chapter IV the Kazan experience of studying the ability of vision outside the eyes

Having met Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Bronnikov in 1994 in Moscow on the basis of a scientific interest in understanding the phenomenon of vision with closed eyes (in other words, we will briefly call this phenomenon vision outside the eyes - VOE), in the early stages I limited myself to visiting the “KORTAS” center, where seminars and lectures by Vyacheslav Bronnikov were held, and the VOE abilities of trained children were also demonstrated. It was obvious that Bronnikov lacked personnel, time, finances, and premises, but he had no need to borrow enthusiasm, determination, optimism, and decisiveness from anyone. He was constantly invited by various people, to various organizations; everyone wanted to meet Bronnikov, and then there were also family issues, housing, etc. It was difficult for Vyacheslav Mikhailovich, but the Moscow world is not without kind people: in 1995, the “STERKH” company temporarily provided premises near the “Chistye Prudy” metro station. Then the first regular lectures and practical classes for the new employees of the “KORTAS” center began; I regularly attended these seminars. In 1996, the center moved to the premises of the Institute of Steel and Alloys, near the “Belyaevo” metro station. The first stable team was formed, which included L.D. Bronnikova, N.V. Bronnikova, L.Yu. Lozhnikova, V.A. Galinsky, S.T. Petrova, M.I. Bashkirov, and many other creative people. In the same year, I managed to publish my first book on philosophy, “The System of Ultimate Categories of Philosophy”. A year later, the “KORTAS” center moved to the building of the “Khudozhestvennaya Literatura” publishing house,

here the International Academy of Human Development was created, of which Academician V.M. Bronnikov became president. Almost a year, until the middle of 1997, was spent by me on organizing and holding in the city of Kazan the Third International Symposium “Phenomena of Nature and Human Ecology”, in which V.M. Bronnikov participated. Only after the conference did I again begin to study the VOE phenomenon, organizing educational seminars in Kazan at KSU, and at the city library the “Znanie” club, where the development of human abilities according to Bronnikov’s method was discussed. In 1998, the first manual by V.M. Bronnikov, “Method of Harmonization of the Functions of Human Organs and the Organism”, saw the light of day; in the same year, I prepared and published the second, supplemented edition of my book “The System of Ultimate Categories of Philosophy”. Working became easier; in Moscow, I became even more deeply acquainted with the work experience of individual experienced specialists, confidence appeared, but there was still no complete understanding of the VOE phenomenon. A certain general idea of the activities of the Academy of Human Development became possible thanks to the book by A.N. Petrov “The Key to Superconsciousness”, which came out in 1999, and the documentary film (under the same title) by the talented director Igor Shadkhan. In Kazan, training was conducted not on as broad a front as in Moscow, but in small groups, where we initially consciously chose a position of critical attitude to the existing methodology, which allowed us to better understand our activities; in 1998, the first students studying Bronnikov’s method came to us. Having sufficient experience in practical psychology, philosophy, medicine, parapsychology, and others, I saw shortcomings in scientific elaboration, in particular, the lack of a theoretical and categorical base. However, this is natural, since expecting from a single

person the creation of a new fundamental science about a human in a short time is simply inconceivable. We all still need to learn to duly appreciate the passionate propagandist, talented organizer, and creative romantic Vyacheslav Bronnikov, who devotes all his strength to understanding the reserve capabilities of a human and their applied aspects. Apparently, whoever is attracted by this scientific direction develops, by virtue of their capabilities, individual fragments of a new understanding of the human, and models of varying complexity.

1. What did Bulat and Misha learn?

In the summer of 1999, two boys, Bulat and Misha, who were both about 9 years old at the time, studied with me for over a month (five times a week) using the Bronnikov method. For myself, I set the task of studying and describing in detail the process of the emergence of the phenomenon of vision outside the eyes (VOE), as well as determining the capabilities and limitations of the well-known methodology.

The parents and children received our lesson program with interest. From the very beginning, they were explained the meaning of the lessons: to learn to see with closed eyes. The children were perfectly healthy, had good vision, had no complaints about their well-being, and were listed as successful students at school. From the very first day, a psychological incompatibility of characters was revealed: leadership. Both children did not know how to swim.

Daily routine:

Breakfast from 8:00 to 9:00.
Lesson from 9:00 to 11:00.
Walk and swimming in the river: from 11:00 to 12:00.
Lunch: from 12:00 to 13:00.
Rest: from 13:00 to 14:00.

Lesson: from 14:00 to 16:00.
Walk, active recreation, games, etc.

Educational supplies:

Notebook for notes (self-observation diary).
Ballpoint pen.
Album for drawing.
Colored markers (or colored pencils, paints).
Colored paper (A4 size).
Zener cards.
Lightproof blindfold for covering the eyes.
Set of colored objects.

General safety techniques and basic rules for performing exercises

(Although all exercises are conducted in a playful form, the meaning of the rules of conduct during their execution must be conveyed to everyone.)

Perform all exercises with open eyes (until a special instruction from the teacher) and extinguished negative emotions.
Perform all movements clockwise.
The student must correctly adjust their consciousness: be in the active position of an observer, concentrate attention on sensations, compare them in various exercises, and report to the teacher.
The control word when performing exercises is the student’s clear answer: “Yes!”, which testifies to a confident position of consciousness.

The student and the teacher must not use thought-forms (telepathy).
If painful or other seemingly negative sensations arise, reduce the time of performing the exercise, or stop temporarily.
It must be remembered that the process of energy exchange in the organism is associated with the engagement of various parts of the brain; the organism transitions to another state. Gradually, the negative reactions will disappear.

Exercise 1. Positive psychological attitude

Starting Position

The exercise is performed sitting, standing, or lying down.

Method of Execution

The teacher shows and pronounces, and then invites the student to perform this exercise together. Subsequently, the student performs it independently when a bad mood appears.

Raising the hands up and to the side, stretch and bend backward, and even yawn with pleasure, imagining that you have just woken up from a pleasant, sweet sleep, depict the widest smile on your face, imagining a huge, warm, gentle sun in front of you. Feel yourself to be the happiest person, the healthiest and strongest, the richest, the smartest and most beautiful, the freest and most joyful, and see around you only kind, wonderful, and remarkable friends…

To bring yourself into a working state, take a couple of deep breaths and calm exhalations, and then finally tune yourself during the minute of silence announced by the teacher.

Exercise 2. Development of bioenergetic sensations

Starting Position

The exercise is performed sitting, standing, or lying down.

Method of Execution

To activate the sensations in the palms, it is necessary to rub them against each other, feel their relief, the texture of the skin, as well as the change in temperature. The student touches objects of various textures with their fingers and speaks aloud about their sensations. Then they touch warm and cold objects, evaluating their temperature difference. Bringing the palm closer to the object and moving it away, the student speaks about their sensations of the temperature field around the studied object. That interaction of the palm with the object, as a result of which a person’s perception of any specific sensations occurs, we will call bioenergetic contact (briefly - simply contact).

“Ball”

Rub the palms against each other and slowly spread them apart to the sides. Bringing the palms closer and moving them apart, listen to the sensations (there may be tingling in the fingers, warmth and cold in the palms, density and pressure between the palms). The first time, the teacher shows it, and then performs the exercise together with the student. Subsequently, upon the command “ball”, the student independently performs this exercise, manipulates the virtual

object, changing its position, sizes, and other qualities, speaking aloud about their sensations.

”Rubber Band”

To relieve previous sensations, the student rubs their palms and creates a sensation of stretching. If the student is unable to create this sensation, they should be given an elastic expander to stretch. The student demonstrates the length of the stretch and describes the tension force of the virtual object.

”Little Spring”

The student rubs their palms and spreads them apart, imagines a virtual spring clamped between the palms, compresses it, and pays attention to the sensation of resistance force and subsequent relaxation. They perform this exercise, varying the force of resistance. The exercise can be varied by imagining sensations of different compression force in each hand when pressing against, for example, a wall, floor, or ceiling.

”Accordion”

By bringing the palms together and moving them apart, create a sensation of compression and stretching of a virtual energetic accordion. The exercise can be accompanied by a fun song, which will give the activity a special positive emotional flavor.

“Beam”

Imagine that you have caught a beautiful energy beam with your palms, which, on a mental command, obediently travels back and forth between your palms. Describe your sensations.

Point the index finger of one hand at the palm of the other hand, sending a small energy beam from the finger; on the palm, trace, for example, a circle, square, triangle, or letter. The student performs the exercise with each finger and describes their sensations.

Trace a spiral line on the palm with the beam, gradually moving beyond the boundaries of the palm without losing the sensation, and note that the area of the receiving palm has increased.

Children performed these exercises easily and with pleasure.

Exercise 3. “Heaviness”

Starting Position

The student sits in the “coachman’s” pose (back straight, hands on knees palms up, feet and knees spread 10–15 cm apart). The exercise is performed both on the teacher’s command and independently.

Performance method.

The sensation should arise after the teacher’s command, for example: “Let the body become heavy.” The student mentally imagines themselves in a pleasant relaxation situation, when they can enjoy the heaviness of their body. When the sensation of heaviness appears, the student says clearly: “There is” and returns to the normal state.

When learning the “heaviness” exercise, it is recommended to start with the sensation of heaviness in the fingers of the hand and then move on to the sensation of heaviness in the arms, legs, torso, and head. Carefully note, alongside the sensation of heaviness, other sensations as well, for example, warmth, pulsation, etc.

It is better to perform the exercise on exhalation, several times a day for 5–10 minutes. Increase the duration of the exercise gradually.

Exercise 4. “Lightness”

Starting Position

Same as in Exercise 3. Performance method.

The sensation of lightness should arise after the teacher’s command, for example: “Let the body become light.” The student can mentally imagine themselves immersed in pleasant water, lying horizontally while freely bobbing on the waves while swimming in a river, sea, lake, or bathtub. In this case, the body seems to lose its shape, its volume becomes indeterminate, the sensation of internal organs disappears, and a sensation of infinite freedom and floating in space arises. When the sensation of lightness appears, the student says the word “There is” and returns to the normal state.

When learning the “lightness” exercise, it is recommended to start with the sensation of lightness in the hands, and then move on to the sensation of lightness in the arms, legs, torso, and head. Carefully note, alongside the sensation of lightness, other sensations as well, for example, smoothness, flaccidity, a colored image, etc.

It is better to perform the exercise on inhalation, several times a day for 5–10 min.; increase the load gradually.

Exercise 5. “Heaviness - Lightness”

Starting Position

“Coachman” pose.

Method of execution.

The “heaviness-lightness” exercise is recommended to be performed in various combinations: combining sensations of heaviness and lightness of individual parts of the body and organs. First, at the teacher’s command, for example: “The right hand is heavy, and the left is light; the right leg is heavy, and the left is light; the right half of the body is light, the left is heavy, etc.”, the student observes their sensations and speaks about them out loud. Then it is proposed to perform the exercise independently.

When performing this exercise, subjective sensations of “distortion” or “asymmetry” of the body may arise.

Exercise 6. Movement of the “Energy ball”

Starting Position

“Coachman” pose.

Method of Execution

The student independently creates a virtual energy ball between their palms (hereinafter, for brevity, we will simply call it a ball), which they then transfer to the palm of their right hand and hold on the palm.
The teacher suggests that the student mentally perform a movement of this ball along the following circular route: from the right palm to the elbow, from the elbow to the right shoulder, to the left shoulder, elbow, into the left palm and toss it into the right palm. Preliminarily, the teacher, with light touches of the fingers to the student’s arms and shoulders,

marks out on their body an informational-tactile path, which the student memorizes. Then the teacher, with the palm of their hand, makes rotational movements clockwise over the palm of the student’s right hand until the appearance in them of some sensation: warmth, cold, tingling, buzzing, etc. The student briefly reports on this: “There is.” Then the teacher, without ceasing to make rotational movements with the palm, slowly moves the ball along the student’s arm from the palm to the elbow, asks the student to report the presence of the sensation; upon the answer “there is,” the progression along the marked route is carried out.

If the sensations when moving the ball are weak or disappear, then the teacher helps again.

If the joint movements of the ball turn out well, then the teacher checks the time of independent movement of the ball by the student, giving the student verbal commands, for example: “Move the ball from the right palm to the elbow.” After an affirmative answer from the student, the next command is given to move the ball from the elbow to the right shoulder, etc.

Upon quick execution of all commands, the student is offered to independently move the ball along the same route 5-10 times.

In the future, the route of the ball’s movement must be diversified, passing it along the legs, back, stomach, head.

Exercise 7. “Energy surge”

Starting Position

“Coachman” pose.

Method of Execution

1st stage- the exercise is performed with open eyes.

The student forms a ball between the palms and moves it into the tailbone area. The teacher, with light touches of the fingers to the student’s back, marks out the route of the ball’s movement along the spine: from the tailbone to the head. The student memorizes the informational-tactile route. Then the teacher makes circular movements with the palm in the area of the student’s tailbone until the appearance of new sensations (warmth, cold, tingling, buzzing, waves, a ball, the rotation of a fine substance).

After the appearance of any sensations, the student reports: “There is,” and the teacher, continuing circular movements with the palm, slowly moves the ball along the spine. At the same time, the student reports their sensations out loud. As soon as the ball penetrates inside the head, the student says: “There is.” Further, the student fills their head with the ball and, upon feeling an internal tension, an unusual energy influx, “throws this energy out through the eyes” in the form of two rays, looks into the distance for 30-60 seconds, giving the energy the opportunity to freely “flow out.” The student is to report the sensations in the eyes.

2nd stage- is performed just like the first stage, but the student’s eyes are closed. After filling the head with energy, the student sharply opens their eyes and observes their sensations, reports them to the teacher.

3rd stage- the student independently creates the sensation of a ball in the tailbone, moves it inside the head on an inhale, after fill-

ing the head with energy, sharply opens their eyes and on an exhale makes a release of energy through them in the form of two rays.

The exercise can be performed in different positions: sitting, standing, lying down. Gradually, the performance of the “surge” is brought to automatism, spending 2-3 seconds on it. Another important quality of the “surge” is its strength, which the student controls, placing their palm in front of their eyes, in the path of the emitted rays. The student observes the sensations of a push of the flow into the palm and reports to the teacher.

In the future, the student practices, performing a “surge,” a release of energy, not only from the eyes, but also from other organs or parts of the body (for example, from the ear, forehead, palm, etc.).

Exercise 8. “Energy hands”

Starting Position

The student stands, feet shoulder-width apart, arms lowered.

Method of Execution

The student spreads their arms to the sides, then brings them together in front of them, then raises them upward and lowers them downward. They memorize the sensations with each position of the arms. After this, they mentally spread their virtual (energy) arms to the sides instead of their physical ones, paying attention to maintaining the sensations. They mentally bring their ‘energy arms’ together in front of them and raise them upward, and, finally, lower them downward.

The student performs various manipulations with their energy arms, mentally lengthening them, touching, for example, the walls, the ceiling of the room, and tells the teacher about their sensations.

Exercise 9. “Energy Cocoon”

Starting Position

The student stands, arms lowered. Method of Execution

The student mentally moves their virtual arms to the sides and creates a virtual cocoon between them (we will briefly call it simply a cocoon), shaped like an elongated eggshell of such a size that the student’s entire body ends up inside this virtual, oval energy suit.

Being inside the cocoon, the student strokes and pats its inner surface with their hands until sensations of elasticity, tingling, and vibration appear in their palms. The student feels their energy suit in this way in different areas, making sure of the uniformity of the arising sensations.

Then the student lowers their arms and mentally feels the cocoon from the outer surface with their virtual hands, while observing the arising sensations.

The student gives a command to their virtual hands to move the cocoon in different directions: rotation around the vertical axis clockwise and counterclockwise, shifting right and left, forward and backward, up and down. At the same time, the student observes the sensations arising when controlling the dynamics of the cocoon.

Exercise 10. “Sensing Phantom”

Starting Position

The student stands, arms lowered. Method of Execution

The student mentally raises their right virtual arm to the side, lengthens it to the right wall and feels the wall, without turning their head towards it, describes their sensations aloud, and memorizes them. Similarly, they feel the left wall with their left virtual arm and also memorize their sensations.

Then the student observes the sensation of the floor under their feet, takes a step forward with their right virtual leg, and shifts the center of gravity of their virtual body to the new position. They compare the new sensation with the previous one. The student can mentally walk around the room, observing their sensations of the floor (we will call such a virtual body a ‘sensing phantom’).

Next, the student lengthens their virtual neck and reaches the ceiling with the parietal part of their virtual head, describing their sensations aloud.

Finally, the student fills the entire space of the room with their virtual body and strives to feel all the inner surfaces of the room simultaneously (all at once).

The student can increase the height of their phantom and partially end up in the room above or on the roof. Then the student observes with that part of the phantom which ended up outside the room with their physical body, and describes their sensations aloud (what was seen, heard, etc.). With the same success, the student’s phantom penetrates to the lower floor.

Exercise 11. “Biofield Breathing”

Starting Position

The teacher and the student stand facing each other, at a distance of half a meter from each other, their arms bent at the elbows, palms forward.

Method of Execution

The teacher and the student, working in pairs, each rubs their own hands’ palms and directs them at the partner’s palms. Then both, smoothly swaying their palms back and forth, establish a bioenergy contact between each other. Without breaking the perceived sensation, the student backs away from the teacher to a distance of 5-7 meters and stops. The teacher (in the role of the ‘transmitter’) performs smooth movements with their palms back and forth at chest level, while with an exhale mentally sends a bioenergy stream from their palms into the student’s palms, and the student (in the role of the ‘receiver’) perceives the stream with an inhale, observing their sensations. Next, with an exhale, the student becomes the ‘transmitter’, and the teacher with an inhale becomes the ‘receiver’.

The exercise can be varied by performing it alternately with the left and right hand.

Exercise 12. “Bioenergy Contact”

Starting Position

Rub the palms of the hands until warm, raise the right palm over the observed object (for example, the surface of a wooden table, a sheet of paper, a scrap of fabric, etc.) to a height of 50-70 cm.

Method of Execution

Slowly lowering the palm onto the object, concentrate attention on the sensation of the perceived field existing between the palm and the object.

Having touched the surface with the palm, memorize the sensation and, slowly raising the palm, observe the sensations (resistance) of the energy field.

Create a bioenergy contact of the palm with the object, located at a distance of 2-3 meters from each other. Mentally send an energy stream from the palm to the object and immediately try to perceive with the palm the energy stream reflected from the object, describe your sensations aloud (for example, tingling in the palm, a push, etc.).
With eyes closed, using the “virtual hand,” determine the distance to each wall of the room, touch it, and describe your sensations aloud. By imagining that bodies emit energy flows, a sensation of the surrounding space is developed.

Exercise 13. Controlling the “Vision Outside the Eyes Screen”

(or “personal biocomputer screen,” “vision screen,” “internal vision screen”)

Starting Position

“Coachman’s” posture. The student’s eyes are covered with a blindfold.

Method of Execution

After psychological preparation, the teacher suggests that the student carefully examine the dark, comfortable space (or dark background, dark screen, black screen) and describe what is seen. Then the teacher recommends that the student imagine

(form, retrieve from memory, draw, feel) a white point, expand this point into a horizontal white line, then expand this line (by vertical rolling out) into a white screen. Initially, all operations are performed upon the teacher’s command. In subsequent sessions, upon the teacher’s command: “switch on the personal biocomputer” (PBC), the student performs the screen activation sequence independently. The “switching on” process usually takes 3–5 seconds. Upon completion of work with the screen, it is “switched off” in reverse order. For a complete physiological transition of vision from the “PBC screen” mode to the “eyes” mode, the student needs to remove the blindfold from the eyes and perform an “energy surge.” In most children, the operations of “switching on,” “switching off,” and “working with the screen” proceed very easily. For many adults, this is achieved with difficulty; in some people, the screen does not appear at all, which can be explained by the following reasons: relatively low brain activity, the presence of insurmountable psychological barriers, religious attitudes, and others.

Once the screen appears, it becomes possible, with the help of imagination, to produce vivid images, animate them, record necessary information, and so on.

Exercise 14. “Coloring the Screen”

Starting Position

The student is in the “coachman’s” posture. The student’s eyes are covered with a blindfold.

Method of Execution

The teacher gives a command, and the student, after completing each action, reports confidently and concisely: “Done.” Should any difficulty arise (partial completion of the task, pain

in the head, etc.), the student must immediately inform the teacher.

Switch on the PBC, white screen.
Change the white screen to blue.
Change the blue screen to red.
Change the red screen to green.
Change the green screen to white.
Switch off the PBC. Remove the blindfold, perform a “surge.”
Tell the teacher about your observations, write them in a notebook, and sketch the colored screens in an album.

Note

The duration of the session should not exceed 10 minutes. After the session, yawning may occur. Success comes only with regular and consistent practice. The first difficulty may be the operation of “switching on” or “switching off” the PBC; in this case, it is necessary to work on the corresponding exercise.

Exercise 15. “Table with Numbers”

Starting Position

The student is in the “coachman’s” posture. The student’s eyes are covered with a blindfold.

Method of Execution

Switch on the PBC.
On the white screen, draw a square frame (cell) with black lines.
In the middle of the frame, draw the number 1 in black.
Pierce the number 1 in the middle with a little needle and rotate the number, like the hand of a mechanical clock, into a horizontal position.

Erase the hand.
Draw two adjacent cells.
Draw four adjacent cells in two rows.
Fill the resulting table with single-digit numbers (the teacher calls out the numbers and their positions in the table; the student, after placing each number in the corresponding cell, reports this with the word “done”).
Name all the numbers and their positions in the table (the student looks at their own screen and reports the contents of the table).
Remove the table from the white screen (the student moves the table, for example, to the right).
Switch off the PBC.
Tell the teacher about any difficulties that arose, write about your impressions in a notebook, and sketch the tables created on the screen in an album.

Note

In the early stages, the table and numbers may be unclear. From session to session, the number of cells in the table is gradually increased, and multi-digit numbers may also be written.

Exercise 16. “Table with Colored Cells”

Starting Position

The student is in the “coachman’s” posture. The student’s eyes are covered with a blindfold.

Method of Execution

Switch on the PBC.
On the white screen, draw a table (grid) consisting of four squares.
Fill each cell of the table with a solid color fill (the teacher names the color and the cell’s position, and

the student, after completing the fill operation, reports “done”).

Name the colors of the cells (the student looks at the PBC screen, names the cell’s position and its color).
Upon successful completion of the task, add two more cells to the table and continue the exercise from step 3.
Switch off the PBC.
Describe any difficulties, write your impressions in a notebook, and sketch the table cells in an album.

Note

If a feeling of fatigue or pain arises, the student stops the exercise.

Exercise 17. “Table with Colored Pictures”

Starting Position

The student is in the “coachman’s” posture, with a blindfold over the eyes.

Methodology of execution.

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
On a white screen, draw a table of four cells.
Draw a colored picture in each cell of the table (a simple composition of two or three objects).
Describe each picture in detail, indicating its place in the table.
Upon successful completion of the task, you can add two more cells and continue the exercise from step 3.
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Talk about the difficulties, write down your impressions in a notebook, and sketch the table with the pictures in an album.

Exercise 18. “Spatial Imagination”

(or “Volumetric Memory”)

Starting Position

The student is in the “coachman” pose, with a blindfold over his eyes.

Execution method.

Turn on the PB.
On a white screen, imagine a hollow cube (for some, it is easier to imagine, for example, a wooden box, a glass aquarium).
Walk clockwise around the cube, marking its faces, lid, and bottom on the outside with original drawings.
Describe all faces of the cube.
Upon successful completion of the task, mark the inside of the cube’s faces with new drawings and continue the ex ercise from point 4.
Turn off the PB.
Tell about the difficulties, write down your impressions in a notebook, and sketch the cube with pictures in an album.

Exercise 19. “Route (or path) memory”

Starting Position

The student is in the “coachman’s” pose, blindfolded.

Method of Execution

Turn on the PB.
We choose a theme for the route (for example, visiting a museum, a trip on public transport, inspection of a warehouse, etc.). Suppose we examine clock-

wise the museum exhibits placed on the floor, on the left wall, on the ceiling, and on the right side.

On the white screen, we see a picture of the entrance door to the museum room. With a virtual hand, we open the door, and enter the museum (the teacher describes the imaginary exhibits: “Underfoot is a green rubber mat. On the left on the wall is a coat rack. On the ceiling hangs a lightbulb. On the right is a wooden chair.” The student places on the screen (in the “virtual room”), in the appropriate order, the images of the objects.).
Describe aloud the images of the objects.
Upon successful completion of the task, we move forward (the teacher describes the following fictitious exhibits: “On the floor is a cast-iron cannonball. On the left on the wall hangs an old map of the city. On the ceiling is a nest with a stuffed crow. On the right on a nightstand stands a small fruit basket.” The student places on the screen - in the “virtual museum room” - these new images).
Successfully progressing in this way through the “virtual museum room”, the student records the images of objects and describes them aloud.
Turn off the PB.

Tell about the difficulties that have arisen, write down your impressions in a notebook, sketch in an album the images of the recorded objects.

Exercise 20. “Seeing color with the hand”

Starting Position

The student sits at the table, blind folded. A set of sheets of colored paper is prepared.##### Method of Execution

Turn on the PB.
Establish a bioenergetic contact of the palm with the surface of the sheet (see Exercise 12.).
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the color. (The student speaks about their sensations, names the determining color. The teacher “corrects” the color).
The teacher places another sheet of colored paper under the student’s palm, and the exercise continues from point 2.
Turn off the PB.
Tell the teacher about the difficulties that have arisen, write in a notebook your impressions, sketch in an album your observations on the screen of colors.

Note

in the initial stages, the duration of the exercise is recommended not to exceed 10-15 minutes, and to repeat the exercise each time after a half-hour rest. The quality of “hand vision” significantly increases with smooth swaying of the palm (horizontally and vertically) over the observed object. The teacher morally encourages the student with words like “good”, “well done”, etc. To check their color sensations, the student can touch the surface of the sheet, take the sheet in their hands, applying it to any part of the head.

Exercise 21. “Seeing simple symbols with the hand”

Starting Position

The student sits at the table, blindfolded. A deck of Zener cards is prepared.

Method of Execution

Turn on the PB.
Establish a bioenergetic contact of the palm with the surface of the Zener card.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the figure (the student speaks about their sensations, names the observed figure, the teacher “corrects” the figure).
The teacher places another Zener card under the student’s palm, the exercise continues from point 2.
Turn off the PB.
Tell the teacher about the difficulties that have arisen, write about your impressions, sketch in an album your observations on the screen of figures.

Exercise 22. “Seeing written symbols with the hand”

Starting Position

The student sits at the table, blind folded. Cards are prepared, on which are written both individual letters and individual words in fonts of various sizes.

Method of Execution

Turn on the PB.
Establish a bioenergetic contact of the palm with the surface of the card.

On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of a letter or word. We read aloud.
The teacher places the next card, we continue the exercise from point 2.
Turn off the PB.
Tell the teacher about the difficulties that have arisen, write in a notebook your impressions, sketch in an album the seen on the inner screen scenes.

Note

In the initial stages, the student observes large letters and words, gradually moving on to reading words written in a smaller font.

Exercise 23. “Seeing with any part of the body”

Starting Position

The student sits at the table, blind folded. Sheets of colored paper, Zener cards, and cards with letters and words are prepared.

Method of Execution

Turn on the PB.
Take an object in hand, establish a bioenergetic contact, for example, of the forehead with the surface of the observed object.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of a color, symbol, letter, or word. We speak aloud about what is ob served.
The teacher hands over another object, we continue the exercise from point 2.
Turn off the PB.

Tell the teacher about the difficulties that have arisen, write

in a notebook your impressions, sketch in an album the

seen on the inner screen colorful scenes.

Note

Perform this exercise, ob

serving objects, for example, with a finger, the back of the head, the parietal part

of the head, the nose, the ears, the back, the chest, the stomach, the sole

of the foot, etc.

Exercise 24. “Seeing your internal organs”

Starting Position

The student is sitting, standing, or lying down, blindfolded.

Execution method.

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
Place the palm of one hand, for example, on the hand of the other arm, and establish bioenergetic contact between them.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the outlines of the fingers, the hairs on the skin, the white shaped bones of the finger phalanges, and the red lines of the blood vessels. The student describes the observed body part aloud.
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Tell the teacher about any difficulties that arose, write down your impressions in a notebook, and sketch in an album the colorful scenes of your individual organs seen on the internal screen.

Note

This exercise can be recommended for use in human anatomy lessons in secondary

school and other specialized medical educational institutions.

Exercise 25. “Seeing by means of any object”

Starting Position

The student is sitting, standing, or lying down. There is a blindfold over the eyes, and some object (a stick, a pencil, a ruler, etc.) is in the hand.

Method of Execution

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
Establish bioenergetic contact between the end of the object held in the hand and the observed surface.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the image, and describe the visual sensations aloud.
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Tell the teacher about any difficulties that arose, write down your impressions in a notebook, and sketch in an album the scenes seen on the internal screen.

Note

Initially, perform the exercise on simple objects (colored paper, Zener cards, individual letters).

On the screen, images of symbols reduced in size relative to the studied original may be observed.

Exercise 26. “Changing the size and position of the image on the screen”

(or “Copying an image”)

Starting Position

The student is sitting, standing, or lying down, with a blindfold over the eyes. Zener cards are prepared.##### Method of Execution

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
Establish bioenergetic contact with the surface of a Zener card.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the image; the student names the figure aloud.
Increase (decrease) the size of the figure, keeping the original, and place the copy to the right (left, top, bottom, etc.) of the original. Fill the screen with copies of various sizes.
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Tell the teacher about any difficulties that arose, write your impressions in a notebook, and sketch in an album the scenes seen on the internal screen.

Exercise 27. “Drawing colored letters and words”

Starting Position

The student is sitting at a desk, with a blindfold over the eyes. Colored markers, an album, and cards with letters and words drawn on them in different colors are prepared.##### Method of Execution

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
Establish bioenergetic contact with the surface of the card.

On the white screen, carefully examine the letter, words, and their colored parts.
Similarly, examine the colored markers and begin drawing multi-colored letters and words in the album.
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Tell the teacher about any difficulties that arose, analyze your drawings, and write down your impressions in a notebook.

Note

Initially, the drawings of letters and words may turn out uneven, and sometimes completely upside down.

Exercise 28. “Text rotations”

Starting Position

The student is sitting at a desk, with a blindfold over the eyes. An album, markers, and cards with words written in large print are prepared.

Method of Execution

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
Establish bioenergetic contact with the surface of the card.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the word.
Turn the word “upside down”.
Sketch the word in the album in its normal position and upside down.
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Tell the teacher about any difficulties that arose, analyze your drawings, and write down your impressions in a notebook.

Note

The exercise can be varied by turning over and unfolding tables of numbers, letters, words, and drawings.

Exercise 29. “Seeing with the brain in depth”

Starting Position

The student is sitting or standing, with a blindfold over the eyes. Zener cards and large colored objects are prepared (for example, a ball, a book, a cup, a vase, etc.).

Method of execution.

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
The student takes an object in hand and places it in front of their face, establishes bioenergetic contact with the object.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the image of the object, describe this object aloud.
Slowly moving the object away from the face by hand and bringing it closer to the face, monitor the clarity of the image on the screen. The teacher helps the student during their observation of the object, moving the object away from the partner’s face and bringing it closer at a distance of one to two meters. The student continuously reports on their observation of the object, the distance to the object, the clarity of the image on the screen.
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Tell the teacher about any difficulties that arose, record impressions in a notebook, sketch in an album the scenes seen on the internal screen.

Note

For training the ability of “vision outside the eyes,” the skill of seeing with the brain, it is recommended to use

various board games (checkers, chess, cards, dominoes, lotto, etc.), computer games.

Exercise 30. “Moving with a blindfold”

Starting Position

The student stands, with a blindfold over the eyes. A movement route is marked out.

Method of Execution

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
Establish bioenergetic contact with the nearest objects located along the marked route.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the outlines of objects, report observations to the teacher.
With the teacher’s support, take several steps and again “look around” oneself.
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Tell the teacher about any difficulties that arose, record impressions in a notebook, sketch in an album the scenes seen on the screen.

Note

The student trains daily; in addition to walking, they run around the hall, ride a bicycle, play mini-soccer, basketball, etc.

Exercise 31. “Distant penetrating vision”

Starting Position

The student sits at a desk, with a blindfold over the eyes. Cards with large writing on them and colored sheets of paper are prepared.

Method of Execution

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
The teacher covers the card with writing using a sheet of colored paper and asks the student to read the word. The student establishes bioenergetic contact with the surface of the sheet.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the image, the student reports to the teacher what was seen.
The teacher encourages or corrects the student, the exercise continues from step 2.
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Tell the teacher about any difficulties that arose, record impressions in a notebook, sketch in an album the scenes seen on the screen.

Note

Cards with writing can be covered with several sheets of paper, fabric, plates made of various materials.

Exercise 32. “Seeing and drawing in the dark”

Starting Position

The student sits at a desk, with a blindfold over the eyes, the light in the room is turned off. Zener cards, colored sheets of paper, cards with large words written on them, colored markers, and an album are prepared.

Method of Execution

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
Establish bioenergetic contact with the observed surface.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the image, report to the teacher what was seen.

The student sketches their observation in an album.
The teacher offers another object for examination, the exercise continues from step 2.
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Tell the teacher about any difficulties that arose, record observations in a notebook. Analyze the album drawings.

Exercise 33. “Seeing through a wall”

Starting Position

The student sits or stands, with a blindfold over the eyes, the head is covered with a special bag or blanket. Colored paper, Zener cards, cards with large words written on them, colored markers, and an album are prepared.

Methodology of execution.

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
Establish bioenergetic contact with the object.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the image, report to the teacher what was seen. The student sketches the observed object in the album with felt-tip pens.
The teacher corrects the student and offers another object for consideration, we continue the exercise from point 2.
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Tell the teacher about the difficulties that arose, write down your impressions in a notebook, and analyze your drawings.

Note

In the future, instead of a bag, covers, a screen can be placed in front of the student, on which, for example, paper, cardboard, fabric, etc., is hung.

Exercise 34. “Seeing Around Oneself”

(or “spherical vision”)

Starting Position

The student is sitting, with a blindfold over the eyes, a cylindrical strip hangs around the head, on which pictures and words are drawn along the entire perimeter. Colored felt-tip pens and an album for drawing are prepared.

Methodology of execution.

Turn on the personal biocomputer.
Establish bioenergetic contact with the surface of the cylinder.
On the white screen, carefully observe the appearance of the image, report to the teacher what was seen.
The teacher corrects the student, who then sketches a fragment in the album and, without turning their head, proceeds to observe and draw the next fragment depicted on the cylinder. (Thus, the entire cylindrical strip is viewed, all pictures and words are sketched in the album. As a result of performing the exercise, viewing around the head and around oneself is carried out.)
Turn off the personal biocomputer.
Tell the teacher about the difficulties that arose, write down your impressions in a notebook, and analyze the garland of words and drawings sketched in the album.

Of the two boys, only one, Misha, was able to perform all the exercises. The first half of the exercises was not a burden for both, but the rest required diligence. The repetition of monotonous exercises, obviously, also bored the boys. It must be said that most of the exercises were born literally “on the fly,” the students immediately hinted with their successes at what they were capable of. A large number of the completed exercises are not included in this book. Over the summer, the children learned to swim well, rested, grew stronger, and grew taller during the summer months. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, after the summer, classes with these boys were not continued, their developed abilities were not consolidated, and therefore were lost. During three years of observation of these two boys, no serious diseases have been detected, their studies come easily to them, and therefore they have good academic performance at school.

Over the past seven years, seminars and practical classes on the topic of vision outside the eyes have been held in Kazan. There were many difficulties, especially psychological ones; people slowly overcame the barrier of rejection and misunderstanding of the demonstrated phenomenal capabilities of a person. Our research, as well as consultations and exchange of experience with specialists of the International Academy of Human Development, allowed us to create our own scientific-practical school in Kazan, which is now included under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan.

According to our observations, of all those wishing to develop the ability of vision outside the eyes in themselves, the majority, for various reasons, fail to achieve high success and get stuck on the first ten exercises. Individual people show outstanding results in a couple of classes; however, such an ability does not interest them. Blind people are not yet eager to attend classes on

the development of alternative vision (vision outside the eyes). We have a positive experience where a blind woman, who had lacked vision for more than 25 years, achieved partial restoration of her eyesight in a short time through simple psycho-physical exercises. There is hope that she will see even better. We believe that every person needs to work on themselves, to constantly work on their own improvement, since this activity is one of the most important factors and conditions of their personal health.

There is a great perspective for work in school; two years ago, trial elective classes on human development and their abilities in the lower grades were started in Kazan; children like the direct, interesting, dynamic classes. At present, creative work continues.

2. Difficulties in developing vision outside the eyes

Psychological barrier.
Internal and general illnesses.
Weakness of the body (starvation, overeating, sleepiness, fatigue).
Misunderstanding of the task.
Overexcitement (stressful state - anger, fear, grief, passion; physiological needs, etc.).

Lack of willpower, lack of desire to study, antipathy towards the teacher, etc.

Environmental factors (cold, heat, loud noise, unpleasant odors, magnetic storms, changes in atmospheric pressure).
Inability of the student to concentrate.

Absence of a methodology or its poor development.
Absence of philosophical and methodological developments.

PHENOMENOLOGY OF VISION OUTSIDE THE EYES

(Candidate of Psychological Sciences R.R. Garifullin)

I have known for a long time about the research work of R.L. Iskhakov on the problem of vision without eyes; he wrote about this topic in short articles, and now, finally, his book “Vision Outside the Eyes” has been published, which I congratulate him on. This book introduces us to numerous phenomena and facts of non-traditional visual perception (vision outside the eyes). In our opinion, the author has managed to study the history of this issue deeply enough. In essence, his work presents a unique phenomenology of non-traditional vision, detailed descriptions of which are gathered from disparate sources and united by one common idea. In addition, the author’s research as a psycho-experimenter is included, and specific methods for developing non-traditional visual perception are presented. This is also the author’s merit. It should also be noted that the book itself represents an original way of drawing attention to this complex problem: until now, fundamental psychology lacks certainty in understanding the mechanisms of even traditional vision and image formation, and there is no point in talking about explaining the phenomenon of vision outside the eyes yet, since we know little about it. It is known that attempts to study non-traditional vision and the phenomenon of the “third eye” at the fundamental and general psychological level have been made.

Thus, for example, by us (Garifullin R.R. “Illusionism of Personality as a New Philosophical-Psychological Concept.” - Kazan, 1997), the phenomena of visions and synesthesia were studied. Of course, people possessing synesthetic perception, capable of seeing something more than people with differentiated perception, have always attracted researchers. There are, for example, psychics capable of visualizing painful foci in the body of the diagnosed person as colored in a certain color; other healers experience unpleasant sensations in those areas (organs) of their body in which the patient feels pain, or they hear a special sound when touching a person’s sore spot, etc. Some of them see a person’s internals. In essence, this is the phenomenon of vision outside the eyes, which, in our opinion, is based on the phenomenon of synesthesia.

In our previous studies, we strove to understand to what extent what people with synesthetic perception see corresponds to reality. To what extent are the pictures, signs, and symbols that appear before their eyes, i.e., on the screen of the internal biocomputer, not delusions, illusions, or hallucinations? In principle, we were faced with the fundamental semiotic problem of image visualization with the following specific interrelated tasks:

Investigate the characteristics of visions.

Based on the identified characteristics, study the relationship between the elements of visions.
Evaluate the attitude of the subject possessing visions towards their visions.

Establish the connection between the characteristics of the hidden object and the characteristics of visions (first-order correlation).
Reveal the connection between the structure of the vision and the structure of the hidden object (second-order correlation).

We have partially resolved these problems. We developed a model of extrasensory perception. It turned out that everything fits well within the framework of traditional psychology. We came to the conclusion that color, brightness, clarity, intensity, “lifespan”, speed of appearance of visions, and other characteristics of visions depend on all traditional forms of information acquisition.

In parapsychological literature, much is said about some special forms of perception, i.e., in addition to the existing five traditional forms of perception, there allegedly exist specific channels of perception that need to be uncovered. However, already solely on the basis of scientific analysis of the existing traditional forms of perception, it can be concluded that there is no need to look for these special channels, but rather to study the traditional ones.

Our analysis of traditional forms of perception has shown how complex this problem is. The ability to see without eyes is undoubtedly possessed by gifted and talented people. They are all united by one thing: they all have a special organic interconnection and mutual influence both at the level of signals coming from traditional channels of perception, and at the level of images and subjective experiences. In other words, these people begin to see not only with their eyes, but also with their brain. Thus, for example, in some of them, the auditory perception of music causes visions of color or smell. Or, conversely, the vision of color can cause the subjective perception of music.

We have shown that the mechanism of the ability to see without eyes works on the principle of “from simple to complex”, i.e., with each cycle in the analysis of psycho-informational radiation, the “picture” of the vision is adjusted. The Gestalt model, also developed by us, works in the opposite way, i.e., the subject first sees a Gestalt—a whole image without any kind of analysis of the object of perception. Further, “pushing off” from the whole image, the analysis of the vision’s structure begins, which subsequently remains unchanged.

In reality, to create a reliable Gestalt, an “initial base” is necessary, which, in our opinion, consists of several elements of psycho-information that are well-aligned with the true characteristics of the object of perception. In other words, the Gestalt is initially formed due to a slight analysis of the object. Several true characteristics are found that generate the Gestalt, from which a great multitude of hidden characteristics of the object, invisible to the eye, are subsequently “pulled out.” (All this is consistent, to one degree or another, with the model of the internal biocomputer, which underlies the phenomenon of vision without eyes described in R.L. Iskhakov’s book). During our research, many questions arose. It turned out that the phenomenon of visions and synesthesia is possible without the participation of visual analyzers, but sufficient phenomenology on this issue was previously lacking. Now the reader can familiarize themselves with it. This phenomenology is in his hands; there is undoubtedly a breakthrough here in the field of the phenomenon of vision outside the eyes. In this work, it is widely presented, and this instills confidence that this problem will arouse interest among many psychologists, and research into the mechanisms of vision outside the eyes will be continued.

The topic raised in R.L. Iskhakov’s book has important social and applied aspects in educational, upbringing, and health-improving systems; the questions of unlocking the creative potential of an individual are especially attractive, however, in the absence of fundamental developments by scientists in this complex field, one often has to deal with trickery, conjuring, or self-deception of the subject. All this must be taken into account. There are sophisticated “technologies of miracles” that were widely studied by us (Garifullin R.R. “Encyclopedia of Bluff.” - Kazan, 1995). In his research, R.L. Iskhakov is, in our opinion, objective and impartial towards such kind of manipulations. It is precisely the reliable experiments cited in the book that instill in us confidence in this work.

Overall, the work has great heuristic potential. The book will undoubtedly give an impetus for successful activity not only to practical psychologists and defectologists working with the visually impaired, but also to theoretical psychologists.

Instead of a Conclusion

(Doctor of Medical Sciences N. U. Akhmerov)

Interest in psychological phenomena, including parapsychological phenomena, has always been present in human society. Therefore, it is natural that mysterious phenomena of the psyche have at all times been in the field of view of the sciences associated with the study of human beings (medicine, psychology, biophysics, etc.). In general, the attitude of official science towards the phenomena of vision outside the eyes remains quite contradictory to this day. On the one hand, life dictates the need to study these human capabilities, and on the other, there are many obstacles in society hindering such research. These include both a dogmatized ideology denying the possibility of the existence of alternative vision, attitudes of a religious nature, as well as the lack of theoretical developments explaining the so-called parapsychological phenomena from the latest level of achievements of modern natural science. Apparently, all these difficulties are nevertheless temporary in nature, and in a future highly intelligent, highly conscious society, a special scientific direction should emerge for the study of visual properties in human nature.

Of course, such a transformation of social views will require the creation of completely different philosophical and methodological concepts reflecting more adequate ideas about human beings and their place in the world. Significant recent achievements in the matter of cognizing mental and parapsychological phenomena include the emergence of unique practical methods aimed at developing

such special qualities of the human personality as clairvoyance, telepathy, the ability for self-regeneration of organs, etc. And although excellent educational psychological programs have already been created, and there are significant achievements, for example, in the development of visual sensations even in blind people, there are also opponents who accuse enthusiastic researchers of mysticism. Yet practice is the best opponent.

The book “Vision Outside the Eyes” by R.L. Iskhakov, offered to the reader, can be considered an important scientific event in the matter of overcoming social prejudice regarding the unusual visual capabilities of humans. It provides a systematic and documented presentation of facts of non-traditional visual perception, and gives detailed descriptions of experiments on vision outside the eyes, and this gives every experimenter the opportunity to reproduce the experiments in their own creative laboratory.

REFERENCES

Vasiliev L.L. Mysterious phenomena of the human psyche. - M., 1963.
Goldberg I.M. On the question of the trainability of tactile sensitivity. // Problems of Psychology. 1963, No. 1.
Dobronravov S.N., Fishelev Ya.R. Phenomenal sensitivity of human skin receptors. // Collection of materials from the scientific session of universities of the Ural economic region. - Sverdlovsk, 1963.
Leontiev A.N. Problems of the development of the psyche. - APN RSFSR, 1959.
Novomeysky A.S. Skin-optical sense - a property of many people. // Science and Life. 1963, No. 2.
Novomeysky A.S. Color and light by touch. / Technology for Youth. 1963, No. 4.
Penfield W., Jasper H. Epilepsy and the functional anatomy of the human brain. Translated from English. - M., 1958.
Hands see. // Soviet Union. 1963, No. 4.
Rabkin E.B. Polychromatic tables for the study of color perception. 1954, 6th ed.
Again about the Tagil mystery. / Science and Life. 1963, No. 2.
Khovrin A.N. A rare form of hyperesthesia of the higher sense organs. // Problems of Neuropsychiatric Medicine. - Kiev, 1898, iss. 3-4.
Problems of skin-optical sensitivity. Collection of articles. - Sverdlovsk, 1965.

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Table of Contents

Vision Outside the Eyes

Vision Outside the Eyes

Preface

Chapter I

1. The Phenomenon of Vision of Sofya M-va

1.1 Doctor A.N. Khovrin about his patient - test subject

1.2. Detection of an enhanced discriminatory ability in Sofya M-va

1.3. The ability to read closed letters

1.4 First Experiment

1.5. The Second Experiment

1.6. The First Commission for Studying the Ability of M-va

1.7. The ability of M-va to distinguish objects indistinguishable to the naked eye

1.8. Recognition of Color by Means of Touch

1.9. On the stability of the manifestation of M-va’s ability

2. Sees Through the Ground

Chapter II — The Phenomenon of “Skin” Vision of Rosa Kuleshova

1. The Phenomenon of Skin-Optical Sensitivity

1.1. From the History of the Question

1.2. The Initial Stage of Investigating the Abilities of Rosa Kuleshova

1.3. Second stage of research. Study of the distant and penetrating sensitivity of Rosa Kuleshova

1.4. Features of skin-optical sensitivity and its difference from vision

1.5. Evolution of skin-optical sensitivity in Rosa Kuleshova

1.6. An Attempt at a Physiological Explanation of the Phenomenon of Rosa Kuleshova

2. On “skin vision” in humans

2.1. Experimental verification of the hypothesis of unusual tactile sensitivity

2.2. Experimental Verification of the Hypothesis of Unusual Temperature Sensitivity

2.3. Investigation of the Unusual Light Sensitivity of the Skin

2.4. Discussion of the Main Test Results

3. How to Distinguish Color with Fingers

3.1. “Skin vision” can be developed in everyone

3.2. Studying Color Discrimination by Force of Resistance

3.3. Teaching the blind to “see” with their fingers

3.4. Testing the thermal and photoreceptor hypotheses of “skin vision”

4. The Skin-Optical Sense as a New Psychological Problem

4.1. Results of the training experiment

5. From the experience of forming skin-optical sense in blind people

5.1. Three ways of determining color in skin-optical sensation

5.2. Dependence of the Quality of Color Recognition on Its Area

5.3. The Phenomenon of Color Tone Transfer

5.4. The Penetrating Property of the Skin-Optical Sense

5.5. Laws of Skin-Optical Mixing of Color Signs

5.6. Distant Perception of Text with the Palm

5.7. The Influence of a Break in Classes on the Formation of Skin-Optical Sensitivity

5.8. Peeking and Mental Suggestion Are Excluded

5.9. Search-and-cognitive activity develops skin-optical sensation

5.10. Conclusions

6. On the Physical Nature of the Skin-Optical Sense

6.1. Experimental conditions and measurements

6.2. Results of the experiments conducted with the participation of A. Avdeev

6.3. Experiments conducted with the participation of Rosa Kuleshova

7. Critical analysis of works on skin-optical sense prior to 1965

7.1. The State of the Problem of Skin-Optical Sensitivity

7.2. General Properties of Skin-Optical Sensitivity

7.3. Hypotheses of skin-optical sensitivity

7.4. What Does the Skin-Optical Sense Reflect?

7.5. On the Significance of the Electromagnetic Sense

8. Slander Against the Abilities of Rosa Kuleshova

9. Research on Skin-Optical Perception of Color and Images in the Blind Continues

10. The Disputes about Skin Vision Continue

11. About Schoolchildren Who … Read with Their Ears

12. Why Is Training in Alternative Vision Not Used in Rehabilitation Programs for the Blind?

13. Abroad, People Also See … With Their Skin

Chapter III The Personal Biocomputer — An Innate Organ of the Human Being

1. Clairvoyants from “KORTAS”

2. Meetings of Vyacheslav Bronnikov in Kazan

3. Live X-Ray

3.2. One conversation between two peers turned out to be enough …

3.3. “Like a living X-ray — sees right through”

3.4. “All illnesses come from nerves”

4. I See How the Heart Beats

5. The “Virus” Against the Biocomputer

6. Turn On Your Biocomputer

7. Blindfolded Games at the Tatar Sabantuy

8. Formation of Vision Without Eyes Using the Bronnikov Method — Sequential and Refined

9. I Knew I Would See

10. Physicists Wish to Unravel the Phenomenon of Vision Outside the Eyes

10.1. Eyes Are Not Essential for Vision

10.2. Magic in a Closed Ring