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How extreme isolation warps the mind

bbc.com

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Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#11

Post by grownseed »

kazinator wrote: post #9

The article seems to mix up sensory deprivation with isolation. Suppose you are stuck on a deserted island with no human contact, like Robinson Crusoe. Surely, you're not going to get hallucinations? You're not in a box or dark prison cell; you have day and night, the beach, woods, animals. Survival activities to keep you busy, like making shelter and gathering food. Maybe the sensory deprivation causes the brain sli…

I think extended isolation could lead to sensory numbness, which I imagine could get pretty close to sensory deprivation.

There is also the story about Ellen MacArthur mentioned in the article. Isolation from civilization, in this case complete solitude, leads her to anthropomorphise her boat.

> The hallucinations are perhaps related to the mechanism which produces dreams, and not evidence that you're going bonkers.

As the article mentions, hallucinations would be a way to not go bonkers. Humans need to be around other humans, and if that can't happen, we'll make them up.

Completely subjective supposition - I see hallucinations as being, in some cases, extreme forms of delusions. IIRC, I believe there has been a fair amount of research done on delusion (like this one [1] I suppose), suggesting delusion could be a survival mechanism, similar to what is described in the article.

[1] http://www.agroparistech.fr/mmip/maths/laurent_orseau/papers...

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#12

Post by gwern »

grownseed wrote: post #2

> For starters, isolation messes with our sense of time. Interestingly, people who have lost their sight or hearing, at birth or from a young age, experience this too. From my own experience (back when I was deaf), I would (and occasionally still do) perceive relatively large stretches of time (up to a few hours) as considerably less, and vice-versa. Funnily enough, though understandably I suppose, I also have a very…

If you want papers, it's always a good idea to check Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Hearing%20Shapes%20Our%2... which points to http://www.tmslab.org/publications/422.pdf / http://www.researchgate.net/publication/51629726_Hearing_sha... (and if GS doesn't work, there's always http://libgen.org/scimag/index.php )

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#13

Post by Swizec »

kazinator wrote: post #9

The article seems to mix up sensory deprivation with isolation. Suppose you are stuck on a deserted island with no human contact, like Robinson Crusoe. Surely, you're not going to get hallucinations? You're not in a box or dark prison cell; you have day and night, the beach, woods, animals. Survival activities to keep you busy, like making shelter and gathering food. Maybe the sensory deprivation causes the brain sli…

> Surely, you're not going to get hallucinations?

And yet we all cried when Wilson died.

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#14

Post by delinka »

grownseed wrote: post #2

> For starters, isolation messes with our sense of time. Interestingly, people who have lost their sight or hearing, at birth or from a young age, experience this too. From my own experience (back when I was deaf), I would (and occasionally still do) perceive relatively large stretches of time (up to a few hours) as considerably less, and vice-versa. Funnily enough, though understandably I suppose, I also have a very…

Do we have a "sense of time"? I ask because upon reflection, it seems that I have to get back to my sentinels and time tracking devices constantly to know where I am in time. What day is it? What's the current time? I comprehend time ordering, cause and effect, but I can't measure nor track time worth a damn. If I go on holiday and avoid reference a watch and calendar, I can easily lose track in short order.

I'm not blind, nor deaf. I have a family and have never been isolated. I just assumed this is How Things Are, that attention must be paid in an effort to stay "in sync."

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#15

Post by socceroos »

triplesec wrote: post #8

This article from May is extremely pertinent to today's news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-28793055 about how Chinese detention ad isolation has "Destroyed" the most famous Chinese human rights lawyer.

Boy that article just made me sad. I'm not angry at those responsible for his abuse exclusively though, the sadness grows when you realize that this is done all over the world. Justice being silenced by 'justice'.

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#16

Post by socceroos »

Swizec wrote: post #13
kazinator wrote: post #9

The article seems to mix up sensory deprivation with isolation. Suppose you are stuck on a deserted island with no human contact, like Robinson Crusoe. Surely, you're not going to get hallucinations? You're not in a box or dark prison cell; you have day and night, the beach, woods, animals. Survival activities to keep you busy, like making shelter and gathering food. Maybe the sensory deprivation causes the brain sli…

> Surely, you're not going to get hallucinations? And yet we all cried when Wilson died.

Wilson didn't die. Wilson left him. I assume that Wilson dying would require severe degeneration or destruction such as a shark ripping the ball in pieces.

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#18

Post by Retric »

delinka wrote: post #14
grownseed wrote: post #2

> For starters, isolation messes with our sense of time. Interestingly, people who have lost their sight or hearing, at birth or from a young age, experience this too. From my own experience (back when I was deaf), I would (and occasionally still do) perceive relatively large stretches of time (up to a few hours) as considerably less, and vice-versa. Funnily enough, though understandably I suppose, I also have a very…

Do we have a "sense of time"? I ask because upon reflection, it seems that I have to get back to my sentinels and time tracking devices constantly to know where I am in time. What day is it? What's the current time? I comprehend time ordering, cause and effect, but I can't measure nor track time worth a damn. If I go on holiday and avoid reference a watch and calendar, I can easily lose track in short order. I'm not…

I found with the right schedule I would generally wake up 10 minutes before my alarm when off even when it was still dark outside. I can often guess what time it is +/-10 minutes throughout the day. I even stopped using a watch at collage as my internal clock was enough to get to class on time.

Granted, I was keeping a vary regular schedule and there where plenty of clocks around which helped, but I think most people can probably get to that level of precision.

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#19

Post by bdevani »

delinka wrote: post #14
grownseed wrote: post #2

> For starters, isolation messes with our sense of time. Interestingly, people who have lost their sight or hearing, at birth or from a young age, experience this too. From my own experience (back when I was deaf), I would (and occasionally still do) perceive relatively large stretches of time (up to a few hours) as considerably less, and vice-versa. Funnily enough, though understandably I suppose, I also have a very…

Do we have a "sense of time"? I ask because upon reflection, it seems that I have to get back to my sentinels and time tracking devices constantly to know where I am in time. What day is it? What's the current time? I comprehend time ordering, cause and effect, but I can't measure nor track time worth a damn. If I go on holiday and avoid reference a watch and calendar, I can easily lose track in short order. I'm not…

In general humans have a sense of time. This is why the graveyard shift is so incomprehensibly difficult for human beings. At the core humans require routine but beyond that thoughtful activities lend themselves to daylight.

Depression is also strongly related to being in the dark, probably linked to us needing vitamin D.

Re: How extreme isolation warps the mind

#20

Post by Qantourisc »

kazinator wrote: post #9

The article seems to mix up sensory deprivation with isolation. Suppose you are stuck on a deserted island with no human contact, like Robinson Crusoe. Surely, you're not going to get hallucinations? You're not in a box or dark prison cell; you have day and night, the beach, woods, animals. Survival activities to keep you busy, like making shelter and gathering food. Maybe the sensory deprivation causes the brain sli…

The hallucinations might be a form of dreaming ?
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