http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/hallucinations/
Do you find yourself continually consumed by the daily pressures and constant distractions? Do you just want to get away from it all and see where your mind takes you? To fully be able to confine yourself to just your thoughts, and have no other external stimuli infiltrating your mind is basically impossible. However, there are ways to circumvent that impossibility. Psychologist Oliver Mason, from University College London, accepts such a challenge by devising a study to deprive a sample of participants all their external stimuli. Based on preliminary mental health screenings, Mason gathered 19 individuals and placed them in a sensory-deprivation room for a 15-minute period. All outside light and sound was completely terminated while in the room. The main findings reported from the study include the deep psychological thread associated with the powerful functions of the brain and how those functions can often lead to some degree of psychosis. Researchers suggest because when our sensory input is totally deprived from us, "we have a natural tendency to superimpose our own thoughts." These thoughts, especially in a dark, soundproof room, often become negative by nature, as reported by some of the participants in the study. Many participants experienced visual hallucinations, depressed moods, and even paranoia. Among the hallucinations some of the participants reported visualizing, five claimed to see faces, and six reported seeing objects in the room that were clearly were non-existent. This area in psychology is definitely understudied, but the ultimate goal of this study will help enable further investigation about the effects of sensory deprivation among clinically diagnosed individuals with schizophrenia and recreational substance users.
In chapter four of the textbook the author addresses the fundamental properties of psychological and physiological regulation. The above study indirectly relates to the motivational drive theory. Drive theory is the process of the body responding to physiological deprivations and deficits. Maybe in some utopian bubble this sensory deprivation study is somehow indicative of animals' (including humans, or course) need to mentally visualize the world, even if all sensory inputs are removed. It is interesting to note that most of the participants in the experienced some form of dark, or lurking presence; everything was related to a negative sensation while in the room. This could be evolutionarily reliable, because when one thinks about all the negative outcomes of a situation or event, he or she is priming his/her outcome possibilities in hopes of avoiding each outcome. As the book describes drive theory more related to behavioral components, this mental aspect of drive should not be underestimated.
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