AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF ISOLATION ON TIME PERCEPTION AND ITS PHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES.
Abstract
A review of the literature on physiological correlates of time perception, the effects of drugs on time perception, and changes in time perception due to sensory deprivation indicated that: (a) time perception is quite possibly a physiologically controlled phenomenon, (b) that body temperature, and possibly heart and respiratory rate, are indicators of the course of changes in time perception, and that (c) sensory deprivation may induce errors in time perception, the direction of which errors is apparently related to activation level--a function of severity of isolation. Twenty Ss were confined for three hours in an extremely restricting isolation environment. Severity of isolation was manipulated by the introduction of auditory and/or visual stimulation. S's task was to produce intervals of 1, 5, 15, and 30 seconds duration before and during isolation. Heart rate, respiratory rate, axillary body temperature, and skin temperature were recorded immediately before each trial. Heart and respiratory rate were clearly uncorrelated with time production errors. Axillary temperature and skin temperature were not clearly related or unrelated to time production errors. The time production data indicated differences in length of interval to be produced interacting with the presence or absence of auditory stimulation. The physiological data indicated that amount of time in isolation affected activation differentially for Ss with and without stimulation. Without visual stimulation, activation tended to increase slightly over time. With visual stimulation, there was a slight decrease in activation over time. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 09, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0665517
Entities
People
- Barry K. Schwartz
Organizations
- Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster