Behavioral and EEG changes after 14 days of perceptual deprivation )

Abstraet A progressive decrease in frequencies in the alpha range was observed during 14 days exposure to unpatterned light and white noise. Large individual differences, however, were present. Measures of CFF,depth perception, and size constancy were not affected and hallucinatory-like phenomena were rare . However, in several cases, long-lasting motivational losses were observed. Problem In an exploratory study, using 3 Ss, we observed a decrease in mean occipital lobe frequency during a 14-day exposure to perceptual deprivation. furthermore, follow-up records taken a week after the termination of isolation still revealed some signs of EEG abnormality. Hallucinatory phenomena and postisolation disturbances of the perceptual environment were rare (Zubek et aI., 1963). Since this preliminary study, an additional 7 Ss have been isolated. The present paper summarizes our results on these 10, 14-day Ss. Method A group of 15 'male Ss were placed individually in an isolation chamber for a prescribed periodoftwo weeks. Of these, 5 Ss failed to endure the full duration; all terminated isolation within the first four days. The Ss wore translucent goggles which permitted light but excluded all pattern vision. Each S also wore heavy gloves John P. Zubek UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA , CANADA