Sixty volunteer Naval enlisted men participated in a study of 7-day individual isolation. Forty Ss lived in small, dark, quiet rooms with little to do (SD). The other 20 served in a live-in-the-lab control group (C) with ad lib access to lights, recreational materials, and intercom conversation with another C S if mutually desired. SD Ss were significantly superior to C SS in signal detection performance on an auditory vigilance task administered after 25, 73, and 145 h of treatment. Both within and between sessions performance decrements over time were observed, but neither of these effects were differential for the two treatment goups.

Ss undergoing four-day dark, quiet sensory deprivation (SD) showed more restlessness and life-sustaining activity during the day than at night. These results contrast with retrospective reports of disrupted diurnal cycles. Daytime restlessness increased over days. Day 2 daytime restlessness predicted later requests for release and, among early release (ER) Ss, correlated inversely with time in isolation. ER Ss were more restless the hour before termination than were all other Ss during that hour.

: The Naval Medical Research Institute deep-isolation laboratory is described and various aspects of its instrumentation are detailed. The lab consists of six highly-sound-reduced rooms and an adjacent control room. The rooms contain full life-support facilities for carrying out multiple-day studies of isolated confinement. Safety monitoring and psychological testing are conducted from the control room with no required physical contacts with test subjects. Automated testing and data recording are carried out, in some cases 24 hours a day, utilizing a versatile audio system and extensive programming and data recording equipment. This description emphasizes the furnishings and instrumentation installed for Project COMONOT, a study of 7-day isolation of individuals under different conditions of monotony and social contact. (Author)

In 2 studies, isolated 5s (N = 59), while undergoing 4 days of dark, quiet sensory deprivation (SD), exhibited superior auditory vigilance compared with that shown by non-deprived controls (N = 76). This finding contrasts with the usual reports of performance decrements attributed to SD. There are indications that performance on such tests may be quite different when measured post-isolation rather than during isolation. Reasons for the apparent differences are discussed, as are the concepts of arousal, stimulus hunger, and dis-tractibility, which appear to be useful in understanding these vigilance results.

60 volunteer Naval enlisted men participated in a study of 7-day, individual isolation. 40 Ss lived in small, dark, quiet rooms with little to do (SD). The other 20 served in a live-in-the-lab control group (C) with ad lib. access to lights, recreational materials, and intercom conversation with another C S if mutually desired. 19 SD Ss, but only 1 C S, requested early release. Pre-, during-, and post-isolation tests were given. In a test of stimulation seeking, boring stock reports could be heard during a 1-hr. period on each of Days 1, 4, and 7 of isolation. SD Ss selected to listen significantly more than Cs on Days 4 and 7, with the differences increasing over time. Day 1 listening (about 6 hr. after isolation began) predicted who would later request release. In the discussion, currently available stimulation-seeking data are summarized and integrated.

Forty Ss attempted to remain in dark, quiet sensory deprivation (SD) for seven days. Twenty Ss lived individually in a live-in-the-lab control condition (C) affording much recreational activity. Nineteen SDs but only one C requested early release. SDs out-performed Cs on a time-shared perceptual-motor task which involved tracking, turning off location-coded tones, and turning off a noise. These data are further evidence that performance enhancement sometimes occurs during SD.

: To evaluate experimentally some of the psychological effects of sensory deprivation and social isolation, 176 randomly selected volunteers were placed in dark, soundproofed cubicles for four days, while an equal number of other randomly selected volunteers followed a normal routine. Psychological tests and measures were given both Cubicle and Control subjects before, during, and after isolation. Cubicle subjects reported the isolation experience to be unpleasant, boring, and stressful. One-third of them requested early release from the cubicles. In comparison with the Control subjects, Cubicle subjects were better on simple intellectual tasks and on auditory vigilance. They were worse on more complex intellectual tasks, and under some conditions, appeared to be more susceptible to influence. They more often sought meaningful stimulation but also showed some tendency to avoid stimulation. Sensory deprivation and social isolation do have psychological effects, but they are neither simple nor clear-cut.

4 separate experiments on the contagion of game-playing behavior were conducted. Exp. I indicated that contagion occurred whether the game engaged in by the confederate was of high or low valence to S, that mere activity on the part of the experimental confederate did not lead to game playing, and that contagion tended toward specificity. Exp. II indicated specificity of contagion was not necessary, that contagion was not entirely due to a desire to compere in game playing. Exp. III failed to produce contagion of a low-valence game with no restraints against game playing. Exp. IV failed to produce contagion of a high-valence game with no restraints against game playing. Throughout the 4 experiments there was no relationship between contagion and Asch-type conformity. The observed contagion was mediated by reduction of restraints. The data were not adequate to specify the manner in which restraints were reduced, although several alternatives were discussed and evaluated.