Psychosomatic Medicine 23:48-61 (1961)
© 1961 American Psychosomatic Society

Psychophysiological Investigations in Sensory Deprivation

The Body-Field Dimension

¹ Division of Psychophysiological Research, Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N. C.

It was postulated that subjects who rely more on external rather than internal cues would react differently to an experience in which external cues were lacking. Using the Draw-a-Person test and the Rod and Frame test on a population of 109 college students to determine extent of Field dependency, 5 Body and 6 Field subjects were selected and placed in a low-sensory environment for 2 hours.

Field-dependent subjects performed more poorly on pre- and postexperimental two-point discrimination and letter identification, remained more aroused (GSR, EEG), and tended to move around more. Postexperimentally they expressed more discomfort about the experiment, struggled more with feelings and fantasies (or denied them), were more suspicious, and projected internal precepts more.

Other trends noted were a general decrease in arousal (GSR, EEG, pulse rate) for all subjects over the 2 hours and a direct correlation between amount of movement and verbalization artifact, GSR and discomfort, between ego organization and sensory discrimination, adrenaline level and discomfort, and adrenaline level and pulse rate.