Sensory deprivation or
perceptual isolation is the deliberate reduction or removal of
stimuliIn physiology, a stimulus is a detectable change in the internal or external environment. The ability of an organism or organ to respond to external stimuli is called sensitivity. When a stimulus is applied to a sensory receptor, it elicits or influences a reflex via stimulus transduction...
from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as
blindfoldA blindfold is a garment, usually of cloth, tied to one's head to cover the eyes to disable the wearer's sight. It can be worn when the eyes are in a closed state and thus prevents the wearer from opening them...
s or
hoodsA hood is a kind of headgear that covers most of the head and neck and sometimes the face. They may be worn for protection from the environment, for fashion, as a form of traditional dress or uniform, to prevent the wearer seeing or to prevent the wearer being identified.Today, fashion hoods are...
and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing respectively, while more complex devices can also cut off the sense of smell, touch, taste, thermoception (heat-sense), and 'gravity'. Sensory deprivation has been used in various
alternative medicineIn Western culture, alternative medicine is any healing practice "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine", or "that which has been shown consistently to be effective." Alternative medicine is often based on the belief that a particular health regimen has efficacious effects...
s and in
psychologicalPsychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the systematic, and sometimes scientific, study of human or animal mental functions and behavior...
experiments (e.g., see
Isolation tankAn isolation tank is a lightless, soundproof tank in which subjects float in salinated water at skin temperature. They were first used by John C. Lilly in 1954 in order to test the effects of sensory deprivation. Such tanks are now also used for meditation and relaxation and in alternative...
).
Short-term sessions of sensory deprivation are described as relaxing and conducive to
meditationMeditation is used here as a broad term for practices done by a sole practitioner without much, if any, external aide, often for the purpose of self-transformation...
, if sometimes boring; however, extended or forced sensory deprivation can result in extreme
anxietyAnxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components. These components combine to create an unpleasant feeling that is typically associated with uneasiness, fear, or worry....
, hallucinations, bizarre thoughts,
depressionIn psychology and psychiatry, depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity. While most often described as a disease or dysfunction, there are also strong arguments for seeing depression as an adaptive defense mechanism....
and
deathDeath is the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical...
.
Isolation tank
An
isolation tank is a lightless, soundproof tank in which subjects float in salty water at skin temperature. They were first used by
John C. LillyJohn Cunningham Lilly was an American physician, psychoanalyst, philosopher and writer.He was a pioneer researcher into the nature of consciousness using as his principal tools the isolation tank, dolphin communication, and psychedelic drugs, sometimes in combination...
in 1954 in order to test the effects of sensory deprivation. Such tanks are now also used for
meditationMeditation is used here as a broad term for practices done by a sole practitioner without much, if any, external aide, often for the purpose of self-transformation...
, prayer, relaxation, and in
alternative medicineIn Western culture, alternative medicine is any healing practice "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine", or "that which has been shown consistently to be effective." Alternative medicine is often based on the belief that a particular health regimen has efficacious effects...
.
Isolation tanks were originally called
sensory deprivation tanks. They were renamed because it was found that the terminology of "sensory deprivation" negatively prejudiced people prior to experiencing the use of the device. Dr. Peter Suedfeld and Dr. Roderick Borrie of the University of British Columbia began experimenting on the therapeutic benefits of this technique in the late 1970s. They renamed the technique Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST) or Flotation REST.
A therapeutic session in a flotation tank typically lasts an hour. For the first forty minutes it is reportedly possible to experience itching in various parts of the body (a phenomenon also reported to be common during the early stages of meditation). The last 20 minutes often end with a transition from beta or alpha brainwaves to theta, which typically occur briefly before sleep and again at waking. In a float tank the theta state can last for several minutes without the subject losing consciousness. Some use the extended theta state as a tool for enhanced
creativityCreativity is a mental and social process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Creativity is fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight...
and
problem-solvingProblem solving is a mental process and is part of the larger problem process that includes problem finding and problem shaping. Consideredthe most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of...
or for
superlearningSuperlearning is the title of a book on the subject of superlearning, a term for a system to help people learn large amounts of information quickly and easily. It was first published in 1979, authored by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder with Nancy Ostrander. Later editions have been...
.
SpasHot Springs may refer to:* Hot Springs, Arkansas*Hot Springs, California**Hot Springs, Lassen County, California**Hot Springs, Modoc County, California**Hot Springs, Plumas County, California* Hot Springs, Montana* Hot Springs, North Carolina...
sometimes provide commercial float tanks for use in relaxation. Flotation therapy has been academically studied in the USA and in Sweden with published results showing reduction of both pain and stress. The relaxed state also involves lowered blood pressure and maximal blood flow.
The five sensory deprivation techniques
The five techniques of
wall-standing; hooding; subjection to noise; deprivation of sleep; deprivation of food and drink were used by the security forces in
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
in the early 1970s. After the Parker Report of 1972 these techniques were formally abandoned by the United Kingdom as aids to the
interrogationInterrogation or questioning is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police and military.The interviewee is also referred to as a "source"...
of paramilitary suspects. Note that in actuality four of these (wall standing,
sleep deprivationSleep deprivation, a sleep disorder characterized by having too little sleep, can be either chronic or acute. Long-term sleep deprivation causes death in lab animals...
, noise, and deprivation of food and drink) increase rather than decrease sensory stimulation; thus, calling them "sensory deprivation" is completely in error (Suedfeld, 1980).
The Irish Government on behalf of the men who had been subject to the five methods took a case to the European Commission on Human Rights (Ireland v. United Kingdom, 1976 Y.B. Eur. Conv. on Hum. Rts. 512, 748, 788-94 (European Commission of Human Rights)). The Commission stated that it "
considered the combined use of the five methods to amount to torture".This consideration was overturned on appeal. In 1978 in the
European Court of Human RightsThe European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is an international judicial body established under the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 to monitor respect of human rights by states...
(ECHR) trial "
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
v. the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
" ruled that the five techniques "
did not occasion suffering of the particular intensity and cruelty implied by the word torture ... [but] amounted to a practice of inhuman and degrading treatment", in breach of the
European Convention on Human RightsThe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms , was adopted under the auspices of the Council of Europe in 1950 to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe...
.
It is on record in the ECHR judgment that:
- These methods, sometimes termed "disorientation" or "sensory deprivation" techniques, were not used in any cases other than the fourteen so indicated above. It emerges from the Commission's
European Commission of Human Rights was a special tribunal.From 1954 to the entry into force of Protocol 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, individuals did not have direct access to the European Court of Human Rights; they had to apply to the Commission, which if it found the case to be...
establishment of the facts that the techniques consisted of:
- wall-standing: forcing the detainees to remain for periods of some hours in a stress position
Stress Position is a fourth season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It reintroduces Detective Mike Logan back into the Law & Order franchise.-Plot summary:...
, described by those who underwent it as being "spreadeagled against the wall, with their fingers put high above the head against the wall, the legs spread apart and the feet back, causing them to stand on their toes with the weight of the body mainly on the fingers";
- hooding: putting a black or navy colored bag over the detainees' heads and, at least initially, keeping it there all the time except during interrogation;
- subjection to noise: pending their interrogations, holding the detainees in a room where there was a continuous loud and hissing noise;
- deprivation of sleep: pending their interrogations, depriving the detainees of sleep
- deprivation of food and drink: subjecting the detainees to a reduced diet during their stay at the center and pending interrogations.
Literature
- The Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War and his video games. His name is also a brand for similar movie scripts written by ghost writers and many series of...
novel The Cardinal of the KremlinThe Cardinal of the Kremlin is a novel by Tom Clancy, featuring his character Jack Ryan. It is a sequel to The Hunt for Red October, based around the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative and its Soviet equivalent, covering themes including intelligence gathering and counterintelligence,...
features the descriptive use of a sensory deprivation device by the KGBThe KGB was the national security agency of the USSR. From 1954 until 1991, the Committee for State Security was the Communist state's premier secret police, internal security, and espionage organization, whose coat of arms—the Shield and the Sword—illustrate a national military hierarchy...
in brainwashing techniques for counterintelligence purposes.
- In the book by George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist and journalist...
, Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian novel, by George Orwell, published in 1949 about the totalitarian régime of the Party, an oligarchical collectivist society where life in the Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, public mind control,...
, sensory deprivation and its possibly mind-twisting effects are very well described in the second half of the story.
- Arthur Koestler's book, Darkness at Noon
Darkness at Noon is the most famous novel by Hungarian-born British novelist Arthur Koestler. Published in 1940, it tells the tale of Rubashov, a Bolshevik old guard and 1917 revolutionary who is first cast out and then imprisoned and tried for treason by the Soviet government he once helped...
, describes sleep deprivation practices during and between interrogations in the 1938 Soviet Union.
- In the Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven is a US science fiction author. Perhaps his best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics. It also often includes elements of detective...
novel A Gift from Earth, a sensory deprivation tank is used as an interrogation device; in the story it is referred to as "the coffin cure".
- In the H. Beam Piper
Henry Beam Piper was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales.He wrote under the name H. Beam Piper...
novel Little Fuzzy, a Company psychologist, Dr. Ernst Mallin, used a sensory deprivation tank on a group of Fuzzies by way of determining how their cognitive functioning differed from humans. Each of the Fuzzies in turn entered a yoga-like state that defeated the effects of the deprivation tank.
- In the Marvel Comics
Marvel Publishing, Inc., a company doing business as Marvel Comics, produces American comic books and related media. It forms a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc....
series The ClanDestine, Dominic Destine, who has senses that dwarf even those of Daredevil, when living on his family estate, would spend his time in an anechoic chamber, a sort of sensory deprivation room. He eventually came to wear an isolation shell generator, which creates anti-stimulation aura, as a sort of portable anechoic chamber.
- Irish author John McGuffin wrote a provocative book, entitled The Guineapigs, documenting the chilling accounts of 14 Irish political detainees held by the British Army over an eight-day period during which they were subjected to extreme sensory deprivation. The accounts are graphic, intense and shocking. The first edition, published in 1974, sold 20,000 copies and was banned by the British government after one week on the shelves.
- Dean Koontz
Dean Ray Koontz is an American author best known for his novels which could be described broadly as suspense thrillers. He also frequently incorporates elements of horror, science fiction, mystery, and satire. Several of his books have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, with ten...
's The Door to DecemberThe Door to December is a novel by the best-selling author Dean Koontz, released in 1985. It was originally released under the pseudonym Richard Paige.-Plot Teaser:...
is about a father who subjects his kidnapped daughter to prolonged periods in a sensory deprivation chamber in order to awaken psychic abilities.
- In Dean Koontz
Dean Ray Koontz is an American author best known for his novels which could be described broadly as suspense thrillers. He also frequently incorporates elements of horror, science fiction, mystery, and satire. Several of his books have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, with ten...
's The HusbandThe Husband is a novel by the best-selling author Dean Koontz, released in 2006. Focus Features, in conjunction with Random House Films, has announced that a film adaptation has been greenlit...
, there are a few sections relating to a man who was subjected to prolonged periods in a sensory deprivation room, to increase learning. The room is given the name "the learning room".
- In the book Psychic Warrior by Robert Doherty
Robert "Bob" Mayer is an author, writing instructor, and former Green Beret. He has written over 30 titles under his name and his four pen names . Mayer has applied the principles from his training in the special forces to his career as a writer and as a writing instructor...
, the protagonists are placed in sensory deprivation chambers in preparation for their missions, in order to allow their mind to focus on the "distant present."
- In the third book The Passion of fantasy-series Dark Visions by Ljane Smith, a sensory deprivation chamber is used to torture the protagonist, Kaitlyn Fairchild.
- In the 1967 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist whose published work during his lifetime was almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian...
and Ray NelsonRadell "Ray" Faraday Nelson is a science fiction author and cartoonist most famous for his 1963 short story "", which was later used by John Carpenter as the basis for his 1988 film They Live.-As an author:...
, The Ganymede TakeoverThe Ganymede Takeover is a 1967 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick and Ray Nelson. It is an alien invasion novel, and similar to Dick's earlier solo novel The Game-Players of Titan...
, alien collaborator and psychiatric genius Rudolph Balkani uses the sensory deprivation tank to break resistance sympathizer Joan Hiashi.
- In the book Tales of Pirx the Pilot
Stanisław Lem's Tales of Pirx the Pilot , published in Poland in 1968, and translated to English in two parts in 1979 and 1982, are a series of short stories about a spaceship pilot named Pirx...
by Stanisław Lem, in the chapter The Conditional Reflex, the main character is put to the test known among students as "The Bath", in which the subject (the student) must lay down completely submerged in a pool of salt water, that is heated to such temperature that he cannot feel it anymore. The subject has a mask on his head, that deprives him of smell, hearing and sight. The student has to stay in the water for as long as possible. Any movement or sound made by the student earns him penalty points.
- In the book Quiller Barracuda by Adam Hall
Elleston Trevor was the pseudonym, and eventually legal name, of the British novelist Trevor Dudley-Smith , who also wrote as Adam Hall, Simon Rattray, Howard North, Roger Fitzalan, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith and Lesley Stone...
, a description of hooding is provided by the main character in the chapter "Breakthrough".
- In the book Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever by James Patterson, the main character is kept in a sensory-deprivation tank in an attempt to break her spirit.
- In the book The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
, Robert LangdonRobert Langdon is a fictional professor of religious iconology and symbology at Harvard University, created by author Dan Brown for the novels Angels & Demons , The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol .Tom Hanks portrayed Robert Langdon in the 2006 film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, and...
is immersed in a sensory-deprivation tank by the main antagonist, Mal'akh. Readers and other characters in the book believe he has drowned and is starting to experience the afterlifeThe afterlife is the idea that the consciousness or mind of a being continues after physical death occurs. In many popular views, this continued existence often takes place in a spiritual or immaterial realm. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics...
, but later the truth is revealed that he is breathing oxygenated liquid.
- In the Japanese manga Planetes
is a Japanese hard science fiction manga by Makoto Yukimura. It was adapted as a 26-episode television anime by Sunrise, which was broadcast on NHK from October 2003 through April 2004. The story revolves around a team of space debris collectors based in the debris ship Toy Box in the year 2075...
, an isolation chamber is used to examine the mental stability of potential astronauts.
Film
- The Ipcress File
The Ipcress File is a British espionage film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Michael Caine, Guy Doleman, Nigel Green, Gordon Jackson and Sue Lloyd. The screenplay by Bill Canaway and James Doran was based on Len Deighton's novel, The IPCRESS File. It has won critical acclaim and a BAFTA...
(1965), starring Michael CaineSir Michael Caine, CBE is an English film actor. Caine has appeared in more than 100 films, and is one of only two actors to have been nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade since the 1960s Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Jr.; 14 March 1933) is an...
, featured a variation on sensory deprivation in the final scene.
- Altered States
Altered States is a 1980 science fiction film adaptation of a novel by the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. It was the only novel that Chayefsky ever wrote, as well as his final film. Both the novel and the film are based on John C...
(1980), starring William HurtWilliam M. Hurt is an American actor. He won both the Academy and BAFTA Awards for his work in Kiss of the Spider Woman.-Early life:...
, Blair BrownBonnie Blair Brown is an American theater, film, and television actress. She has had a number of high profile roles, including a Tony Award winning turn in the play Copenhagen on Broadway, as well as a run as the title character in the television comedy-drama The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,...
and Bob BalabanRobert Elmer "Bob" Balaban is an American actor, author and director.-Personal life:Balaban was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Eleanor and Elmer Balaban, who owned several movie theatres and later was a pioneer in cable television...
. Based on the novel by Paddy ChayefskySidney Aaron Chayefski , known as Paddy Chayefsky, was an American dramatist and novelist who made a transition from the golden age of American live television in the 1950s to a successful career as a playwright and screenwriter...
.
- In the film Simon
- Plot summary :The Institute for Advanced Concepts, a group of scientists with an unlimited budget and a propensity for elaborate pranks, brainwash a scientist who was abandoned at birth to convince him that he is of extraterrestrial origin...
(1980), Alan ArkinAlan Wolf Arkin is an American actor, director, and musician. He is best-known for starring in such films as: Catch-22; The In-Laws; Edward Scissorhands; The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming; Glengarry Glen Ross; and Little Miss Sunshine, for which he won an Academy Award for Best...
, who plays the title character, is placed in a sensory deprivation tank and left for several days by scientists who want to brainwash him into believing he is an alien. When he finally comes out of the tank, Arkin performs a pantomime that represents evolutionIn biology, evolution is change in the genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. Though changes produced in any one generation are normally small, differences accumulate with each generation and can, over time, cause substantial changes in the population, a...
, from primordial ooze to modern man.
- In the superhero
A superhero is "a fictional character of unprecedented powers dedicated to acts of derring-do in the public interest"...
film DaredevilDaredevil is a American superhero film written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, the film stars Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer who fights for justice in the courtroom and out of the courtroom as the masked vigilante Daredevil...
(2003), the eponymous Marvel ComicsMarvel Publishing, Inc., a company doing business as Marvel Comics, produces American comic books and related media. It forms a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc....
character, Matt Murdock (Ben AffleckBen Affleck is an American actor, film director and screenwriter. He became known in the mid 1990s, after his involvement in the film Mallrats and later played the lead role in Chasing Amy in 1997. Affleck has since become an Academy Award winner for his screenplay in Good Will Hunting in 1997...
) sleeps in a sensory-deprivation chamber. Because of Murdock's heightened senses, the water in the tank helps to drown out any sound or touch.
- In the film The Jacket
The Jacket is a 2005 psychological thriller, directed by John Maybury partly based on the Jack London novel, The Star Rover. Massy Tadjedin wrote the screenplay based on a story by Tom Bleecker and Marc Rocco...
(2005), Adrien BrodyAdrien Brody is an American actor. He received widespread recognition and subsequent acclaim after starring in Roman Polanski's The Pianist...
is placed in an improvised sensory deprivation tank as a part of his rehabilitation treatment. The deprivation tank is an important plot element.
- The Mind Benders (1962) Starring Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde was a British actor and novelist. Initially a matinee star in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art house films like Death in Venice...
, Mary UreEileen Mary Ure was a Scottish actress of stage and film.-Early life:Born in Glasgow where she studied at the School of Drama, Ure was the daughter of civil engineer Colin McGregor Ure and Edith Swinburne...
& John ClementsSir John Selby Clements, CBE was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film....
. After the suicide of a colleague suspected of being a Soviet spy, Dr. Henry Longman (Bogarde) undergoes sensory deprivation in an attempt to clear his friends name.
- In the film Shortbus
Shortbus is a 2006 American comedy-drama film written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, writer/director/star of the play and film Hedwig and the Angry Inch....
(2006), one of the lead characters, Sofia (Sook-Yin LeeSook-Yin Lee is a Canadian musician, filmmaker, actress and media personality.-Background:Lee grew up in a Vancouver suburb with first-generation Chinese-Canadian parents. In the 1990s, she became the lead singer for Bob's Your Uncle, a Vancouver alternative rock band. Lee often incorporated...
) visits a spa with a sensory deprivation tank to meet with Severin to explore her inability to achieve an orgasmAn orgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure...
.
Television
- In the television
Television is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
series 24, government agents have used sensory deprivation as a method of interrogation.
- In Family Matters, Steve Urkel
Steven Quincy Urkel , generally known as Steve Urkel, is a fictional character on the ABC/CBS comedy sitcom Family Matters, portrayed by Jaleel White...
is said to have a sensory deprivation tank. Laura states that she can hear him sobbing from his sensory deprivation tank.
- The 1960s television show The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964 and remains syndicated to this day. The show consisted of unrelated vignettes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events, usually...
featured an episode in which an astronaut spent weeks in a secluded chamber in order to simulate a trip to the moon, leading to hallucinations.
- In the 1968 pilot to the television series Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American television series that starred Jack Lord in the lead role for a fictional Hawaii state police department. The show ran for 12 seasons, from 1968 to 1980. The twelfth season was repackaged into syndication under the title McGarrett.-Overview:The CBS television network...
, "Cocoon", Red Chinese agent Wo Fat uses a sensory deprivation chamber to procure information from U.S. agents.
- In the television series Alias
Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...
starring Jennifer GarnerJennifer Anne Affleck , known professionally as Jennifer Garner, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as CIA agent Sydney Bristow on the ABC thriller drama series Alias...
, sensory deprivation was used on CIAThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.It is an independent agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers....
agent Sydney BristowSydney Anne Bristow , played by Jennifer Garner, is the main character on the television series Alias.Sydney is depicted in the series as being strong both physically and emotionally...
by The CovenantIn the television series Alias, The Covenant is a large, powerful, and secretive intelligence/terrorist organization.The Covenant was a "loose affiliation of Russian nationalists" composed of retired KGB and former Central Committee members, all dedicated to the new world envisioned by Milo...
in order for them to brainwash her into thinking she was someone she was not.
- In the Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie...
episode "Make Room for Lisa"Make Room for Lisa" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons' tenth season. The episode aired on February 28, 1999.-Plot:...
", Lisa and Homer go to an alternative medicine specialist that recommends they spend time in sensory deprivation tanks.
- The TV series Earth: Final Conflict
Earth: Final Conflict is a Canadian science fiction television series based on story ideas created by Gene Roddenberry, and produced under the guidance of his widow, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. It was not produced, filmed, or aired until after his death...
features sensory deprivation prisons, where inmates float in an oxygenated fluid, completely deprived of all sensory stimuli.
- The use of, and mention of, a sensory deprivation tank occurred on several early episodes of Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993 to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Paramount Television.A spin-off from Cheers, Frasier stars Kelsey Grammer as psychiatrist...
. It was one of Maris' few hobbies.
- In the TV series Fringe
Fringe is an American science fiction television series co-created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows an FBI Fringe Division team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
, FBI agent Olivia Dunham, played by Anna TorvAnna Torv is an Australian actress who plays FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox series Fringe. She is also known for her role as the voice, motion capture performer, and face of the main character Nariko in the Playstation 3 game Heavenly Sword.-Biography:Anna Torv was born in Melbourne to Susan...
, is placed in a sensory tank in order to connect her mind with another dying, comatose character. Later, she uses the tank to connect with the other characters memories that had left an imprint in her mind.
- In a season four episode of House
House, also known as House, M.D., is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The program was co-created by David Shore and Paul Attanasio; Fox officially credits Shore as creator. The show's central character is Dr...
("House's Head"House's Head" is the fifteenth episode of the fourth season of House and the eighty-fifth episode overall. It was the first part of the two-part, season four finale, the second part being "Wilson's Heart". Co-written by several House producers and directed by Greg Yaitanes, "House's Head"...
"), Dr. Gregory House undergoes sensory deprivation while trying to solve a medical mystery.
- In the episode "Iso Tank" of the TV series Absolutely Fabulous
Absolutely Fabulous is a British sitcom created and written by Jennifer Saunders, who also plays the leading character. Joanna Lumley and Julia Sawalha co-star, along with June Whitfield and Jane Horrocks. It was broadcast on BBC from 1992 to 1996 and 2001 to 2004...
, Eddie and Patsy are in the iso tank while Eddie dreams of her life with a few twists. At the end of the episode, Eddie gets rid of the tank after finding out that she isn't the only one in Britain that has one.
- In the anime, Serial Experiments Lain
Serial Experiments Lain is an anime series directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, original character design by Yoshitoshi ABe, screenplay written by Chiaki J. Konaka, and produced by Yasuyuki Ueda for Triangle Staff. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo from July to September 1998...
, the episode "Protocol" references John C. Lilly and the use of sensory deprivation tanks.
Music
- There is a song named "Sensory Deprivation Adventure" on the album Holding A Wolf by the Ears
Holding a Wolf by the Ears is the fourth and final studio album by From Autumn to Ashes. It is also the only album without the band's original singer, Ben Perri, as well as the band's first album recorded with Rob Lauritson on 2nd guitar, and their last with Josh Newton on bass.One track from...
by American metalcore/post-hardcore band From Autumn to AshesFrom Autumn to Ashes was an American band that formed in Long Island in 2000. While the band had gone through many line-up changes, the members include Francis Mark , Brian Deneeve , Mike Pilato , Rob Lauritsen , and Jeff Gretz .Described as "melody and...
.
- Industrial metal band Cyanotic
Cyanotic is a Chicago-based industrial rock collective fronted by Sean Payne that formed in 2002 and released its first full-length album in 2005. Cyanotic is known for its genre-blending work, which fuses traditional industrial beats and vocals with drum n bass, sampling and heavy metal to create...
have a song entitled "Sensory Deprivation" on their 2005 album TranshumanTranshuman is the debut album of Industrial band Cyanotic. It contains many references to transhumanism, hence the name.-Track listing:# "Frequency in Cycles"# "Order Out of Chaos"# "Insurgance"# "Transhuman"# "Deface"# "Suspension of Disbelief"...
.
- The Who's Tommy
The Who's Tommy is a rock musical by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff based on The Who's 1969 double album rock opera Tommy, also by Pete Townshend.-Productions:The musical opened at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California in July 1992....
tells the story about a boy who is robbed of his senses due to a traumatic event. He then regains his senses, forms a cult, in which the people are to wear special lenses that are completely black. They also have earplugs and a cork for the mouth. He does this so people can better understand what he went through.
See also
- Apophenia
Apophenia is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. The term was coined in 1958 by Klaus Conrad, who defined it as the "unmotivated seeing of connections" accompanied by a "specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness".In statistics, apophenia would be...
- Enhanced interrogation techniques
Enhanced interrogation techniques or alternative set of procedures were terms adopted by the George W. Bush administration in the United States for interrogation methods newly approved for use by US military intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency to extract information from individuals...
- Ganzfeld effect
The Ganzfeld effect is a phenomenon of visual perception caused by staring at an undifferentiated and uniform field of color. The effect is described as the loss of vision as the brain cuts off the unchanging signal from the eyes...
- Ganzfeld experiment
A ganzfeld experiment is a technique used in the field of parapsychology to test individuals for extrasensory perception . It uses homogeneous and unpatterned sensory stimulation to produce an effect similar to sensory deprivation. The deprivation of patterned sensory input is said to be conducive...
Further reading
- Goldberger, L. Experimental isolation: An overview. Amer. J. Psychiat., 1966, 122, 774-782.
- Heron, W. The pathology of boredom. Sci. Amer, 1957, 196, 52-56.
- John Lilly, (inventor of the flotation tank),"The Deep Self: Profound Relaxation and the Tank Isolation Technique" (See also John Lilly, in Flaherty, B.E. (Ed) Psychophysiological aspects of space flight, Columbia U Press, 1961)
- Solomon, P. et al. (eds.) (1961) Sensory deprivation. Harvard U Press.
- Suedfeld, P. (1980). Restricted environmental stimulation: Research and clinical applications. Wiley Interscience.
- Suedfeld, P. & Borrie, R.A. (1999). Health and therapeutic applications of chamber and flotation Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST). Psychology and Health, 14, 545-566.
- Zuckerman, M., et al. Experimental and subject factors determining responses to perceptual and social isolation. J. abnorm. Psychol. 1968, 73, 183-194.
- Zubek, J. (Ed.) 1969) Sensory deprivation: Fifteen years of research. Appleton Century Crofts.
- By the Numbers Findings of the Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project Report of the Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project (26 April 2006).