title: Enhancement of randomness by flotation rest (restricted environmental stimulation technique).
abstract: This study was conducted to evaluate the positive effect of flotation REST on the production of random sequences, employing both behavioral and physiological measures. The subjects were 7 student volunteers who spent a 40-min. session lying alone on a bed in an isolation box and two 40-min. sessions floating in a commercially produced tank. Polygraph recordings (EEG, EOG, ECG and respiration) were made continuously. Randomness of orally generated sequences was measured by RIP scores based on the Pólya-Eggenberger distribution in three test sessions, e.g., pre-, during, and post-REST period. Randomness increased in the floating condition, while those parameters decreased in the bed condition. Sleep-stage analysis and EEG spectral analysis showed that the flotation REST induced a more hypnagogic state and light sleep than did in-bed REST. It is speculated that the hypnagogic state and light sleep induced by floating enhanced random generation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakata
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shinohara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sugimoto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D012146:Rest; D012934:Social Isolation; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014893:Weightlessness