Sensory deprivation

Sensory deprivation or perceptual isolation^[1] is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds or hoods and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing, while more complex devices can also cut off the sense of smell, touch, taste, thermoception (heat-sense), and the ability to know which way is down. Sensory deprivation has been used in various alternative medicines and in psychological experiments (e.g. with an isolation tank). When deprived of sensation, the brain attempts to restore sensation in the form of hallucinations.^[2]

For the album by Benestrophe, see Sensory Deprivation (album).

Short-term sessions of sensory deprivation are described as relaxing and conducive to meditation; however, extended or forced sensory deprivation can result in extreme anxiety, hallucinations,^[3] bizarre thoughts, and depression.^[4]

A related phenomenon is perceptual deprivation, also called the Ganzfeld effect. In this case a constant uniform stimulus is used instead of attempting to remove the stimuli; this leads to effects which have similarities to sensory deprivation.^[5]

Sensory deprivation techniques were developed by some of the armed forces within NATO, as a means of interrogating prisoners within international treaty obligations.^[6] The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the use of the five techniques by British security forces in Northern Ireland amounted to a practice of inhuman and degrading treatment. It was also used in prisons such as Guantanamo.^[7]

(film)

Altered States

Apophenia

Dark retreat

Enhanced interrogation techniques

Fringe (TV series)

Human experimentation in the United States

Isolation to facilitate abuse

Johnny Got His Gun

John C. Lilly

Prisoner's cinema

Sensory overload

THX 1138

P. Solomon et al. (eds.) (1961). Sensory deprivation. Harvard University Press.

Marvin Zuckerman, Nathan Cohen (1964). . Psychological Bulletin, July 1964, 62, pp. 1–20.

"Sources of Reports of Visual Auditory Sensations in perceptual-isolation experiments"

L. Goldberger (1966). "Experimental isolation: An overview". 122, 774–782.

American Journal of Psychiatry

J. Zubek (ed.) (1969). Sensory deprivation: Fifteen years of research. Appleton Century Crofts.

(1978). Ireland v. the United Kingdom – January 18, 1978.

European Court of Human Rights

Dirk van Dierendonck & (2005). "Flotation restricted environmental stimulation therapy (REST) as a stress-management tool: A meta-analysis". Psychology and Health, June 2005, 20(3), pp. 405–412.

Jan te Nijenhuis

P. R. Corlett, C. D. Frith, P. C. Fletcher (2009). . Psychopharmacology, November 2009, 206(4), pp. 515–530.

"From drugs to deprivation: a Bayesian framework for understanding models of psychosis"

Heron, W. (1957). "The pathology of boredom". Scientific American. 196 (1): 52–56. :1957SciAm.196a..52H. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0157-52.

Bibcode

; Shurley, Jay T. (1961b). "Experiments in solitude, in maximum achievable physical isolation with water suspension, of intact healthy persons". In Flaherty, Bernard E. (ed.). Psychophysiological Aspects of Space Flight. New York: Columbia University Press. OCLC 609293243.

Lilly, John C.

Lilly, John C. (1977). (1st ed.). Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-22552-0. [Reprinted 1981, Warner Books, ISBN 978-0-446-33023-7; 2006, Gateways Books & Tapes, ISBN 978-0-89556-116-9].

The Deep Self: Profound Relaxation and the Tank Isolation Technique

Suedfeld, P. (1980). Restricted environmental stimulation: Research and clinical applications. Wiley Interscience.

Vernon, Jack C. (1963) Inside the black room: studies in sensory deprivation. C. N. Potter.

Zuckerman, M.; et al. (1968). "Experimental and subject factors determining responses to perceptual and social isolation". J. Abnorm. Psychol. 73 (3): 183–194. :10.1037/h0025748. PMID 5658514.