Optimal
stimulation levels of normal and disturbed subjects in sensory
deprivation
C.A. Brownfield |
A
questionnaire, the Sensation-Seeking Scale (SSS), was administered
to 70 normals and 70 randomly selected mental hospital patients.
High scorers were classified as Sensation-Seeking and low scorers
as Sensation-Avoiding. Sensation-Seeking was found more characteristic
of normals, while Sensation-Avoiding typified mental patents as a
group; females were less Sensation-Seeking than males; with increasing
age all Ss tended to become more Sensation-Avoiding. A small group
of patient and normal volunteers, representing extremes of scores
on the S S S, were subsequently placed in sensory deprivation; differential
responses seemed to relate to classification on the S S S rather
than to diagnostic status. Sensation-Seeking Ss experienced discomfort,
anxiety, boredom, and cognitive and perceptual disorganization (including
hallucinations of a mild type), while Sensation-Avoiding Ss reported
none, and also reported feeling better.
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