C
Engineering Division
Memorandum Report No. MCREXU-694-18D UNCLASSIFIED
25 April 1949
to fly a good pursuit curve on another aircraft in good daylight, for
example, much less to close on a solitary light at night. The difficulty
is due chiefly to the inability to judge distance or speed of a point
source of light.
Suggestion. Suggestion works in various ways. Sensational
radio and newspaper reports lead a few people to imagine they are
seeing things they are not seeing. The effect on most people is to
dampen their critical judgment. Under such conditions we are more
likely to overlook certain factors, and find it easier to accept the
suggested explanation uncritically. The expected result would be to
make the reports of most observers slightly less accurate than if
they had never heard reports of others seeing "flying saucers".
Particularly when the stimulus object is fuzzy or ill-defined, persons
tend to see it as resembling whatever is suggested to them. Carmichael
et. al., for example (1932) showed individuals simple designs and gave
them the name of an object. When the individuals drew the design
from memory, they drew it to resemble whatever the object was that
had been suggested to them.
Precedent. An historical precedent can be found for most errors
of human observation. Although the writer has not tried to make an
historical survey of reports of earlier unidentified aerial objects,
he feels sure that there have been many such reports in years past,
particularly during and after World War I.
Small Wind-borne Objects. It is possible that some observers
may have seen small objects carried aloft by strong winds, or objects
dropped from aircraft. Bits of paper, small cartons, etc., may occa-
sionally be carried to a considerable height by strong winds. Air-
craft may sometimes jettison small articles. It would be impossible to
UNCLASSIFIED
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DOWNGRADED AT 12 YEAR INTERVALS: NOT AUTOMATICALLY DECLASSIFIED. DOD DIR 5200.10
INTERVALS: NOT AUTOMATICALLY DECLASSIFIED. DOD DIR 5200.10