Muddying the target pool:

In both training and practice modes, a phenomenon often happens where a target will be randomly selected from a "pool of targets", and the inexperienced viewer will view one of the other targets, instead of the one selected. This phenomenon is lessened by actually physically removing the selected target from the others, allowing the viewer to see you set the others aside, and showing the viewer that only one of the targets has been placed into an envelope or folder for viewing. The phenomenon may still happen if the viewer does a series of targets, in that tomorrow’s target may be more interesting to the viewer’s subconscious mind than today’s, so the viewer will view it, instead. The next day’s target has not been selected yet, so the viewer’s work today is judged against today’s target, and is judged to be a miss.

One way that PSI trainers have found to lessen this phenomenon further is to have the viewer select the target from the pool, by asking the viewer to provide a number, in order to count down through the stack of targets to that number. There are even times when it is advantageous to ask the viewer to further specify the target, by asking, "(the selected number) down from the top, or up from the bottom?" In this way, the viewer gets firmly in his/her mind that a specific target has been chosen for viewing, and no other.