Abstract
Thirty-six college students individually experienced an hour of sensory deprivation while immobile and wearing translucent goggles. Half the sample spent the hour lying down in a horizontal position; half sitting up. Twelve Ss were randomly assigned to each of three report methods: continuous, voluntary, and silent. Anxiety and other S-characteristics were recorded. Sensory deprivation hallucinations (SDH) occurred significantly more often in the horizontal position. Reported sleeping decreased significantly with higher anxiety and continuous reporting. Report method, anxiety, intelligence, sex, daydreaming, and non-SDH visual imagery were not significantly related to SDH occurrence or vividness. Effects of horizontal position were interpreted as due to stimulus generalization from sleep. The horizontal position, analogous to the sleeping position, elicited SDH which conceivably may be analogous to dreams.
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