A comparison of the effects of prolonged sensory deprivation and perceptual deprivation.

Compared the effects on 161 male undergraduates of sensory deprivation (sd) and perceptual deprivation (pd), each of 4-days duration. Ss were tested on measures of eeg activity, subjective stress, and on 22 different psychological and somatic symptom areas derived from myers' postisolation questionnaire. Results reveal that both sd and pd produced a decrease in occipital alpha frequency, an increased degree of subjective stress, and a higher incidence of 16 of the 22 questionnaire-elicited symptoms. Virtually no significant differences were observed between the 2 experimental conditions, a finding contrary to 2 current deprivation theories which would predict that pd should produce a greater impairment than sd. It is suggested that these negative results may be related to the shortness of the deprivation period. (french summary) (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)