Sensory Deprivation
zell...@webtv.net
deprivation. As I write this, I have just completed a two hour session
in which I had foam earplugs stuffed in my ears, and wore the most
effective ear protectors I've been able to find over my ears. My eyes
were covered with hollow white plastic balls I cut in half and trimmed
to fit the contours of my eye sockets. I wore a heavy jacket and gloves
to minimize tactile sensations, and sat up straight in an overstuffed
chair. It being the middle of August, you might expect me to get
overheated, but I didn't. I sometimes find that I'm cooler when bundled
up than I am after I take all the stuff off. That's partly because of
the exertion of taking it all off, of course. Sensory deprivation has
been linked with attempts at mind-control. It's my distinct impression
that all of the past attempts at achieving mind control have been quite
unsuccessful. Read the accounts of Dr. Ewan Cameron, whose experiments
were funded by the CIA. They always focus on one particular lady.
Cameron threw every trick he could think of at her, with zero success.
He finally ended up giving her a lobotomy. That's not mind control,
it's no mind at all.
Sensory deprivation leaves you alone with your mind. There is no
escaping it, no evasion, no way to distract yourself. It doesn't weaken
the mind. It makes it more powerful.
(Zellerzone)
"In one of our early studies we restricted the movements of our
subjects somewhat by placing cardboard gauntlets on their arms. The
gauntlet extended from above the elbow to beyond the finger tips and
was held in place by a wrist cuff. We found that the gauntlet was not
necessary in order to restrict movement of our subjects, so its use was
later discarded, but in the case of two subjects it was of extreme
importance. Both of these men came to us with severe cases of poison
ivy. Obviously we would not have allowed them to serve as S.D. [sensory
deprivation] subjects had we known, but, as it turned out, both men
were completely cured at the end of their confinement, which for one
was forty-eight hours, and for the other seventy-two hours. Thinking
back on it, I do not see how they endured that situation, for the
gauntlets so covered their hands they could not scratch, and, also,
they had been asked to lie still. To be sure, each could have pulled
off the gauntlets and scratched to his heart's content and we would
have been none the wiser. But both men insisted that they carried out
our instructions to the letter, that at no time did they scratch their
itching poison ivy... Both men claimed that it was easy to resist
scratching _because_ of S.D."
"Three of our subjects who came to the laboratory to start S.D. had the
beginnings of bad head and chest colds. Our first reaction was to send
them away, but later appointments could not be worked out, and, as we
never had an easy time enlisting subjects, they were accepted, colds
and all. They were confined for forty-eight hours, and when they were
released from S.D. not one had a trace of a cold. All three expressed
amazement at the rapid recovery, since it was their usual experience to
keep a cold for a week or so..."
>From _Inside the Black Room_ by Jack A. Vernon (1963)
"Admittedly these are very broad statements and at best can express
only a personal opinion. Nonetheless the role of man in sensory
deprivation can easily conform to these notions. Never before has man
had so little opportunity to change his circumstance. Never before has
he become so totally dependent upon himself (and to discover how little
that is can be a frightening experience) In S.D. the opportunity for
variation or change resides only in one's mind. For some this is
possible, though in most cases not an easy task. For most the reduction
of opportunity and the dependence upon self create a difficult
situation. Some escape, at least for a while, by sleeping, but that
soon ceases to solve the problem of boredom. The simple case, then, is
that man does not well endure the conditions of S.D. because it affords
almost no variation of the few stimuli presented to him. That there are
some stimuli is perhaps the only way that S.D. could be tolerated. And
note what happens to the evaluation of those stimuli. They become very
enjoyable and desirable. A simple white light to which man would not
under normal circumstances give any consideration now becomes a thing
of wonder and worthy of prolonged study and thought. Man's jaded
sensory world takes on a new meaning as a result of S.D. The ordinary,
the usual, the almost unnoticed of our everyday world become, under
S.D., very desirable experiences, and perhaps for the first time we
come to appreciate the value of our ever-changing stimulus world. And
if it could mean that man would better utilize the information so
constantly available to him, then one would recommend periodic sessions
of S.D. for all."
Jack A. Vernon, _Inside the Black Room_
zell...@webtv.net
Deprivation: Fifteen Years of Research_
It's interesting for what it doesn't say as much as for what it does
say.
Zubek and MacNeill (1966, 1967) and Zubek and Wilgosh (1963) have
studied and compared the effects of recumbency and more severe
immobilization with ambulatory controls and SD groups confined for a
period of one week. The recumbent and immobilized subjects in these
experiments were provided with perceptual and social stimulation. The
recumbent groups were confined to a bed, but their movements not
otherwise restricted; the immobilized group was confined to a
foam-rubber-lined "coffin"-like box with straps and a head retainer
which severely restricted their movements. All 22 subjects immobilized,
but not perceptually restricted, were able to endure the week of
confinement. Similarly, all of the recumbent controls in the Zubek et
al. (1962) experiment endured a week of confinement. In contrast, only
about two thirds of the subjects in SD or PD [perceptual deprivation]
(Zubek et al., 1961, 1962) were able to endure a week's confinement. In
terms of the gross endurance data it would seem that confinement or
immobiliztion play no role in SD stress. However, the data from the
Myer's (1962) Post-Isolation-Questionaire, used in the Zubek and
MacNeill (1967) study, reveals that some of the subjective SD or PD
effects are due solely to perceptual restriction, others are due to a
combination of perceptual restriction and confinement, while some are
produced by confinement alone. The one-week PD group was significantly
higher than both confined-recumbent and ambulatory control groups on
the following scales: reported visual sensations, loss of contact with
reality, changes in body image, speech difficulties, reminiscence and
vivid memories, sexual preoccupation, temporal disorientation, and
positive attitude toward experimenters.
(end of quoted stuff)
Presumably there was also a study of immobilization AND sensory
deprivation whose results were NOT published.
zellerzone
The University of Manitoba Library has Dr. Zubek's papers collected
http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/collections/complete_holdings/ead/html/zubek.shtml
Among the photographs listed:
"Zubek in sensory deprivation test"
""Zubek after 2 week stint in isolation chamber"
There were good people and bad people involved in sensory deprivation research. Zubek was one of the good ones.
zellerzone
zellerzone
On Wednesday, April 8, 2015 at 12:56:09 PM UTC-4, zellerzone wrote:
"I was one of the first heavy smokers to undergo the seven-day period and it was surprising how little the addiction affected me. Smoking in the dark simply did not appeal" recollection from one of Zubek's associates.
Here's a clearer image of the immobilization box.
zellerzone
"In medieval times European queens wore white to express the deepest sorrow. In ancient Egypt white represented the lifeless desert while black was the colour of life. White torture is when you isolate a prisoner dressed in white, in a white, soundproofed, constantly lit room, isolated from all stimuli, even the sounds that we normally refer to as silence. In the white absence the prisoner is broken down, thought and focus hindered, you hallucinate. Encompassed in the white you lose your personality and the history of your personality. Japanese brides wear white to represent the death of their former family when they join their new one."