[Imagery in a sensory isolation bubble]

Abstract

A study was made on 6 volunteer, spending four sessions of two hours in a state of sensori-motor isolation tank. Imagery is considered and individual factual experience is described. Four subjects wished to obtain an imagery and had it. The imagery was mainly visual and proprioceptive, seldom auditory, exceptionaly somesthetic, never olfactory nor gustatory. All subjects seemed to combine the main part of their imagery with a particularly long hypovigilance. The nature of that imagery could be daydreaming, hypnagogic images, "trips" and REM-like dreams. It was subtented by an affective climate and had had prolonged emotional reactions. In only one of the subjects, imagery was close to a pathological state. Authors conclude in stating the usefulness of the sensory isolation tank as a tool to facilitate imagery.