CHANGES IN HIGHER NERVOUS ACTIVITY AND IN CERTAIN VEGETATIVE REACTIONS DURING LONG PERIODS OF RELATIVE ADYNAMIA AND ISOLATION,

Under long exposure to relative adynamia and isolation where there is a reduction in afferent pulses, a person experiences a significant loss of the normal functioning of the central nervous system. In the labortory of I. P. Pavlov it was demonstrated that when the peripheral ends of the three distance analysors vision, hearing and olfactory are simultaneously severed in a mature animal he will go into a deep sleep lasting 23-23.5 hours of the day. In later works it was noted that sequential severing of peripheral receptors sharply reduces motor activity and leads to a profound change in higher nervous activity. Consequently, in order to maintain the normal work capability of the organism, a minimum influx of extraand interoceptive pulses is absolutely necessary. This article deals with the nature of the change of the higher nervous activity in man during long exposure to relative adynamia and isolation.