Accession Number:

AD0457909

Title:

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF CONFINEMENT IN A HIGH- PRESSURE HELIUM-OXYGENNITROGEN ATMOSPHERE FOR 284 HOURS,

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

NAVAL MEDICAL RESEARCH LAB NEW LONDON CT

Personal Author(s):

• Weybrew, Benjamin B.
• Greenwood, Michael
• Parker, James W.

Report Date:

1964-11-10

Pagination or Media Count:

19.0

Abstract:

Three submariners were confined in a chamber for 284 hours in a helium-oxygen-nitrogen environment at 7 atmospheres pressure. Electrodermal conductance EDC levels, changes and recoverability prior to and following hyperventilation and breathholding were obtained before, three times during, and once at the termination of the pressurization phase of the experiment. In addition, breathholding time, time-span estimation and indices of spatial perception were obtained during the same measurement sessions. The results suggested individual differences in general excitability EDC level, in autonomic reactivity change in EDC during hyperventilation, in recoverability rate of EDC recovery during breathholding, in breathholding time and in time estimation. Some of these change patterns, particularly in autonomic indices, may be useful predictors of individual differences in capacities to adjust to confinement in an exotic gaseous atmosphere at high pressure.

Descriptors:

• *PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY
• AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
• BEHAVIOR
• CONFINED ENVIRONMENTS
• CONTROLLED ATMOSPHERES
• HELIUM
• HYPERBARIC CONDITIONS
• NITROGEN
• OXYGEN
• PERCEPTION(PSYCHOLOGY)
• PERFORMANCE(HUMAN)
• PRESSURE BREATHING
• SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
• SKIN(ANATOMY)
• STRESS(PHYSIOLOGY)

Subject Categories:

• Psychology

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE