Mind Field (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Isolation - full transcript
Michael explores the effects of isolation on the human mind by subjecting himself to a very interesting experiment.
- Imagine being confined
to a 10-by-10-foot room
in complete isolation.
No timekeeping devices,
no phones, no books,
nothing to write on,
no windows.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
Psychologists say that fewer
than three days
in a room like this
can lead to brain damage.
I will be staying in this room
for three days.
♪ ♪
- Clearly, he is on the border
of misery.
[electronic music]
♪ ♪
- Even in a city
surrounded by people,
it's possible to feel lonely
or bored.
Your brain
is like a hungry sponge.
It's constantly absorbing
information.
It thrives when stimulated.
Between smartphones and books
and movies
and friends and family,
thousands of sensations
are constantly going
into our heads.
But what if it all
got cut off?
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
What is boredom?
Well, it's believed to be
an emotion
that's a less intense form
of disgust.
A visual representation
of emotions
developed by Robert Plutchik
shows them all on a wheel.
Notice that boredom
shares a spoke
with disgust and loathing.
They are different intensities
of the same emotion.
You see, boredom pushes us away
from low-stimulus situations
because variety and stimulation
literally lead
to neurogenesis--
brain-cell growth.
We are here today
doing what we do
because boredom has guided us
toward greater
and greater challenges
and bigger
and more complex brains.
So what is it like
to be deprived
of the sensations
and social interactions
so many of us take for granted?
♪ ♪
A landmark study at Harvard
and Virginia Universities
found that students prefer
to experience physical pain
over 15 minutes of boredom.
To demonstrate
the surprising lengths
people will go to
to avoid boredom,
we brought in
an unsuspecting subject
for what he believes to be
a focus group.
We begin by introducing
a set of stimuli,
one of which
is very unpleasant.
[device buzzes]
- Oh, shit.
- What?
- Shocked the shit out of me.
Touch it.
[device buzzes]
- [grunts]
It did shock me.
- No, it didn't.
Did it really?
- Yeah, it did.
- He doesn't like it.
- That really shocked me.
- Our fake focus test
continues.
- So let's start
with the shock button.
Jamison, would you choose
to experience this again?
- I don't want
to do that again.
- Why wouldn't you?
- 'Cause it shocked me,
and I can still feel it
going down my forearm.
- Now it's time
for Jamison's true test--
the test of boredom.
- You will be in the room
for 30 minutes.
Please remain in your chair.
Feel free to re-experience
the electric-shock button...
- Okay. Okay.
- Or not.
- All right,
the moment of truth.
[door closes]
When the only two options
are boredom or painful shock,
which will
our subject choose?
He's not even looking
at the button.
Oh.
It hasn't even been
a minute yet,
and already Jamison
is restless.
[pensive music]
With 29 minutes to go
and no other stimulation
in the room,
the shock button
is a tempting object
to occupy Jamison's mind.
♪ ♪
Remember what Jamison said
a few minutes ago.
- I don't want
to do that again.
- But will he desire stimulation
so strongly,
he just goes ahead
and pushes that button?
♪ ♪
[device buzzes]
- [grunts]
- It took exactly one minute
and 57 seconds of boredom
for Jamison's mind to go
from, "Never again,"
to "Sure, I'll give myself
an electric shock
to relieve boredom."
Sometimes stimulation,
any stimulation
is perceived
as better than none at all.
This guy doesn't like
being bored.
Can he resist touching it
a second time?
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[device buzzes]
- [grunts, laughing]
- We're social animals.
Whether it's another human
or a volleyball
or an electric-shock button,
you'll make friends
with whatever you need to.
Jamison?
I'm Michael.
Thanks for coming in today.
- Sure.
- So tell me a little bit
about what you've been up to
here in this room.
- I've been sitting
in this room with a button.
- Yeah.
- And despite saying
I didn't want to press it again,
I pressed it twice.
- Why?
- I was just bored
in this room, I suppose, so...
- Really?
- Yeah.
- Did that hurt?
- Yes.
- The hypothesis
is that when left alone
with a very negative stimulus,
people will go ahead
an re-experience it
just because
it's something to do.
- I'm one of them.
- [laughs]
We dislike being bored so much,
sometimes physical pain
is preferable.
But intentionally putting
yourself
into what would seem to be
the most boring environment
possible
can be useful.
It's called
sensory deprivation.
♪ ♪
Psychologists
have conducted experiments
in sensory deprivation
since the 1930s.
During the Cold War,
the military used
sensory deprivation
for both training
and interrogation.
In the 1970s, the activity
became recreational,
with soundproof,
lightproof flotation tanks
that keep you buoyant
with salt water
that is the same temperature
as your body.
♪ ♪
All right, so I'm on my way
to a subterranean float lab.
This company
sells sensory deprivation.
This will be
sort of a training session
for my three days in isolation,
and I'm getting guidance
from an expert.
Hey, Dominic.
How are you?
- Hey.
What's up, Michael?
- You know Dominic Monaghan
from "Lord of the Rings"
and the TV series "Lost."
- Now, this is
your first time, right?
- This is my first time.
I'm a little nervous.
I've never been alone
without any stimulation.
- One of my favorite things
about floating is,
there's nothing else
going on.
- Okay.
- You can't see anything.
You can't hear anything.
You can't do anything.
You just have
to look at you.
And for some people,
that's scary.
It's like looking
in a mirror for hours.
This flotation tank
is a really good way
of getting him prepped
for the isolation chamber,
but I also think he needs to be
okay with the fact
that it's gonna put him outside
of his comfort zone.
The mind is a good thing
to lose every so often.
- All right,
let's take a peek.
♪ ♪
Oh.
So this is the room.
This is where I will be floating
for the next hour,
alone with nothing to do
but listen to my thoughts.
♪ ♪
I'll see you on the other side.
♪ ♪
- The mind is a good thing
to lose every so often.
You have to remind fear that
you're in the driver's seat."
- Hey.
- Hey, Dominic.
- How was it?
- It was really good.
- Yeah?
- Can we sit down?
- Yeah, let's do it.
- My initial thought when
I laid down was,
"Wow, this is buoyant."
And then I just...
started thinking about errands
and tasks,
but at some point...
well, it was like dreams.
- Uh-huh.
- But my eyes were open.
Like, it was sort of like
half-dreams you have
either when you're about to fall
asleep
or when you're waking up.
- That's when it gets
interesting.
You're allowing your brain
to be free.
You're just floating
in space.
You're just atoms that are on
the top of this pool,
floating in space.
So now you've done this,
and you're doing
this isolation booth.
Do you think that that
was in some way helpful
or a hindrance?
- It made me more...
unhappy
about what's coming up.
72 hours is quite a bit
different than one hour.
♪ ♪
Some people choose isolation
to learn about isolation.
As we prepare
to explore other planets,
we're faced
with a little issue.
Stuff in outer space
is really,
really far apart.
Within our own solar system,
even a trip to Mars
would take months
in each direction.
That's a long time to spend cut
off from the rest of humanity,
stuck in a tiny spaceship.
To get ready for those journeys,
we have subjected some people
to extreme conditions
here on Earth.
In 1989, a young Italian
interior designer
named Stefania Follini
volunteered
for a NASA experiment
to help study the effects
of isolation
associated with space travel.
She spent 130 days alone
in a plexiglass cell
in a cave 30 feet underground
in New Mexico.
In the absence of timepieces
and any sign of day or night,
Ms. Follini's body
was thrown out of wack.
Her menstrual cycle stopped,
and her sleep-wake cycle
changed radically.
She tended to stay away
for 20 to 25 hours at a time,
sleeping about 10 hours.
When she finally emerged,
she mistakenly believed
she'd only been underground
about half as long
as she actually had.
As difficult
as Stefania's experience was,
at least she had books
to read.
In my isolation chamber,
I will only have white walls
to stare at.
♪ ♪
Alone time--
what a pleasure.
Checking out,
getting away from it all,
relaxing...
banishment from society,
the silent treatment,
solitary confinement.
[dramatic music]
Solitude isn't always nice.
♪ ♪
What happens when isolation
is not voluntary?
William Brown
has firsthand knowledge
of solitary confinement.
So, William,
how much of your life
have you spent in prison?
- Probably, like, 16 years.
- That's, like,
almost half your life.
- Yeah, basically,
almost half my life,
'cause I want to jail
when I was 18
for armed bank robbery.
This right here...
This was my home, off and on,
about two years...
♪ ♪
The hole.
- What was the longest stretch
of consecutive time?
- It was, like,
five months total.
- I'll tell you
what really amazes me.
This feels so much worse
than a jail cell.
This doesn't have bars,
letting in light or a view.
- Not at all.
- Would you have
a mattress at least?
That would be the only thing.
In this particular cell, that
would be the only thing in here.
You would just have a mattress,
and other than that,
you would have nothing more.
This light
will constantly stay on,
so there will be, you know...
- That light's always on?
- That light is always on.
- Even at night?
- Even at night.
That light is always on.
You're left in here
with your thoughts,
and that's it.
♪ ♪
I would sit--
like, say, for example, sit
in this corner right here.
- Like, facing the corner
or facing out?
- No, I would face out,
and I would just sit
and just concentrate
on breathing.
You don't know.
It's like you're in limbo.
You never know when
they're gonna open the door.
I've known guys that have served
consecutive years
inside this same
little box.
- How does that change them?
- Mentally,
it scars them for life.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- This is what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna put myself in a room
like one of these,
and I won't have a clock...
- Anything at all.
- No way to tell time.
What I'm nervous about is,
when that door closes...
- Mm-hmm.
- The awareness,
the sudden awareness
of how much time I have.
- See, that's the thing
about it,
'cause once this door
right here closes,
it's, like, it's final.
This is almost a coffin.
- Really?
♪ ♪
Even more extreme than isolation
from other people
is isolation from other people
and stimuli.
That's what I'm going
to be doing inside this room.
♪ ♪
This is about as boring
as a room can get.
It's soundproof, and this light
will never turn off.
I do have a small bed,
but there will be
no interruptions.
I will have no way
to tell what time it is.
No meals will be delivered,
because all the meals
are inside the room already--
white containers of Soylent.
I do have plenty of water,
and I have a wash basin
with a white bar of soap,
and I've got myself
a tiny, little toilet.
There's nothing to do
but be completely alone
with myself and my thoughts.
Now, psychologists say
that fewer than three days
in a room like this
can lead to brain damage.
I will be staying in this room
for three days...
a full 72 hours.
♪ ♪
- So I'm gonna take
your vitals first.
Michael is basically turning
himself into a lab rat.
What we want to to is see
what might change with Michael
before and after his time
in isolation--
what's gonna happen
to his blood pressure,
what's gonna happen to
his pulse, his basic reflexes.
- Are there actually any medical
concerns you would have?
I'm just gonna be
in this room.
- You got a really
bright light on there.
The circadian rhythm,
which is your natural
wake and sleep cycle
is going to be
completely disrupted
by this really bright light.
And once your
circadian rhythm gets off,
a lot of other things
fall apart--
hormone cycles,
cognitive ability,
metabolic processes.
So, you know, it's kind of like
you're giving yourself jet lag.
- Oh, great.
- I think it's important to test
his cognitive ability
to gauge any mental decline
that might happen during his
72 hours of isolation.
Let's try the reaction time.
- Okay, do...
This is pretty fun.
Can I bring this into the room
with me?
So what's gonna happen
to my brain in there?
- Well, one of the issues
that might worry me
is how calm versus neurotic
you might be.
Where would you put yourself
on that spectrum?
- Closer to neurotic. I mean...
- Uh-huh.
- Yeah.
- And so I wonder
if that might be amplified.
- That is how my brain
will work.
- Right. Of course.
- It'll snowball.
I'm scared.
I'm not gonna be able to deal
with the monotony
and the lack
of a sense of time,
and I'm gonna have
a panic attack.
- In an extreme situation,
people can have
massive hallucinations,
be dissociated from reality,
have tremendous anxiety,
psychotic types of episodes.
- Marnie, Jake...
- Yes.
- I'm gonna be gone
for three days.
- The danger signs to look out
for are extreme agitation,
where it doesn't appear that
he's aware of his own agitation.
That's when I think
I might intervene.
- I'm not worried
for him physically.
Like, I think, you know,
he's safe in there.
But I think that he's gonna
struggle in there.
He's gonna be really bored.
- I love you.
- I love you, too.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye.
♪ ♪
- Oh, my God.
- Bye.
♪ ♪
Ah, forgot to ask what time it
was when I came in.
♪ ♪
- [laughs]
- It's just gonna be
a horrible 72 hours.
- I'm actually pretty tired.
I've been standing
a bunch today.
Normally, when I change
into more comfortable clothes
and I'm, like, ready for bed,
I lay down,
and then I pick up my phone,
or I pick up a book
or something,
but I don't have that.
- If he succeeds
in going to sleep
for any length of time
that's substantial,
it's gonna be
interesting to see
what time he thinks it is
when he wakes up.
- Right.
♪ ♪
- I was able to sleep.
And I woke up
maybe one or two times
in the night.
So I think it's probably,
you know, 8:00 a.m.
Thursday morning,
maybe closer to 9:00 a.m.
I guess I should have
some breakfast.
♪ ♪
One...
two...three...
- I've known Michael
for three years,
and I've never seen him
do a push-up.
- Six...
♪ ♪
Z, Y, X, W, V,
U, T, S, R, Q,
P, O, N, M, L, K...
- I think he's come up
with some good ideas
for mental stimulation.
I wonder if, as time goes by,
he's gonna come up
with some more creative ones,
or he's gonna start
to get less creative.
- I've done 200 steps now--
8 more hundreds to go,
and I'll be at 1,000.
One, two...
- Why is it that so many people
turn to counting
to stay sane when they're
in these isolated environments?
- Well, our minds
want to remain active.
They're naturally active.
The healthiest people
who survive
in these types of environments
will do something
to self-stimulate.
They'll count. They'll sing.
They'll do physical exercise.
- 97, 98, 99, 100.
300 steps and then some change
that I just took right there.
That's just a little bonus
for my body, for my health.
♪ ♪
It's amazing how hard it is
to tell what time of day it is
just based on your body.
I think it's...
about 7:00 or 7:30 p.m.
on Thursday.
I think I'm gonna have
dinner now.
- He's already quite off
on his perception of time.
- I was actually surprised
at how quick that happened.
- I was, too.
- You know, if you're using
hunger as your gauge,
that's out the window, too,
because the shifts
in hormones
are going to change
your appetite.
You know,
they look at lab rats
who have had their
circadian rhythm destroyed,
and they overeat.
- 12, 13...
At the moment, I'm feeling...
♪ ♪
Bored but obviously
nothing dramatic.
If I had to guess,
it would be...
24 hours now
since I first came in.
One day down, two to go.
- If he gets
a full sleep cycle in,
he'll wake up not knowing
where he is.
- Right.
♪ ♪
- Good morning.
I don't know
if I slept for eight hours
or if I slept for three.
If you think
it's bedtime, it is...
so long as you go to bed.
If you think
it's breakfast time,
it is if you're having
breakfast.
What am I looking forward to
the most?
Uh...
seeing my family and friends.
It's not even
that I want a meal.
It's actually that I just want
to have a meal with people.
I just want to talk
to some people.
I just want some other words
coming in to me
than the ones that come
out of my own mouth.
- He enjoys sharing things
with people,
and to have no one, just nothing
coming back for three days,
might be difficult.
- I am the only person
I'm hanging out with.
- If you're
in true isolation,
literally, part of your brain
is generating
some kind of companion
that you can converse with.
- I think having you here...
makes a big difference.
- He's entertained himself
in a sense,
you know, talking
to the camera,
and that's been helpful
for him.
It's really kept him
cognitively aware.
- I just feel like I've really
lost all connection to time,
but I'm guessing
it's, you know, 8:00 p.m....
maybe 9:00 p.m. on Friday.
A good time
to get some shut-eye
when there's not
much else to do.
♪ ♪
[groans]
I think it's Saturday,
about 9:00 a.m.
Saturday, the day I get out.
[chuckles]
- So his dissociation with
the actual time has doubled now.
- Right. He wakes up, and
there's this bright light,
and he's thinking,
"Oh, it must be morning."
- I've spent a lot of time
being entertained
by my memories,
and I'm thinking of the people
and the places
and the events
and how I miss them
and how I treasure
those moments.
There's a sort of cinema
in my brain,
a cinema of those memories
that's kept me
from being very bored.
So I think...
it's 8:00 p.m.
on Saturday.
So, in about a couple hours,
I should see that door open.
- He's not even close,
and I wonder how he's gonna
respond to that.
[clock ticking]
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- I don't think
I'm getting out today.
A fear I have right now
is that it's just Friday
and that there's still
a lot of time left.
There were other times
during this
that I was definitely more Zen
about everything.
Now I'm upset.
[sighs]
♪ ♪
I can't believe the color
of the light isn't changing.
In the mornings,
when I wake up,
it's so much more yellow.
- Without some type
of stimulation,
the mind wants to stimulate
itself anyway
and will begin
to hallucinate
and begin
to play all sorts of tricks.
- Absolutely.
- My thoughts
are really incoherent.
It's hard for me even
to remember what I just thought.
712, 713, 714,
715, 7...
15, 716, 717...
- In a way, our brains
are kind of
a "use it or lose it" thing.
He's going to have
a definite decrease
in his cognitive ability,
a decrease in his overall sense
of well-being.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- How many bottles of water
have I drank?
Is there one more...
laying around here
that I've lost?
♪ ♪
'Cause there are only six here.
But then down here
there are...
Did I...
♪ ♪
All of the dreams I've had
that I remember
have been about this room.
They've been
about me being in this room
and about...
♪ ♪
- He wakes up,
and then he's in the room,
and it's difficult for him
to discern the difference
between reality
and dreaming sometimes.
So that's a real dissociation
for him.
- S, R, Q...
L, M, N, O, P...
- I actually feel
kind of worried about him now,
because when he first went
in there,
he was, like, bored like someone
waiting for a bus, you know.
Now he looks
actually depressed.
♪ ♪
- The soap is really unique.
It's not a kind of soap
I've ever used before,
and I really dislike the smell.
And I keep smelling it
'cause it's just sitting there.
♪ ♪
- Clearly, Michael
is not happy right now.
He looks, like, you know,
on the border of misery.
♪ ♪
- Really aggravated
by how uncomfortable I am.
This seems like a very,
very long three days.
♪ ♪
- He was just laying there.
When I walked in,
I thought he'd be,
you know, sitting on the bed.
You know, this was something
he wanted to do, but...
I expected him to be bored...
terribly bored,
but I thought
he'd still be talking and...
trying to entertain himself.
♪ ♪
- [inhales deeply]
[groans]
- It seems like Michael woke up
from some kind of dream.
♪ ♪
He looks confused.
♪ ♪
- [mouths words]
♪ ♪
- Okay.
I'm really confused.
Wait.
Did...
♪ ♪
I guess not.
I guess I just dreamt it.
- [crying softly]
- I am so confused.
[knock at door]
Is 72 hours over?
- It's 72 hours, Michael.
You can come out.
- All right, I'm coming out.
♪ ♪
- Wow.
- Hey.
both: Congratulations.
- Thank you very much.
- Oh, my gosh,
it's bright in there.
- It's really bright in there.
I hadn't really noticed,
but now that you mention it...
- Congratulations.
- Hey.
That knock scared me.
- Did it startle you?
- Yeah.
Every little noise
has been startling me.
- Okay. You seem
very with it right now.
- It's excited energy
by coming out.
At first, I thought it was
that I want to communicate,
but, actually,
I need this direction, too.
Even if it's just nods and
stuff, that's so much better.
- Let me just check your vitals
before you see your family.
♪ ♪
155 over 95,
so that's quite a jump
in your blood pressure.
- [grunts]
- Your pulse is also higher.
I think that's 'cause
you're excited to be out.
I think this is a huge rush.
I'm interested to see now
how you do with
some of the more cognitive
tests.
- 3-18-09-72-72?
[ding]
- There you go.
I would say you did actually
a little bit better this time.
- Oh, wow. Okay.
- Although we had hypothesized
you would be worse
at all of these tests,
I think the rush of adrenaline
that you got
from finally being out and being
to able to communicate
actually had you more focused,
more aware,
and that's why you performed
better.
I find it interesting that the
test you did the worst on
is probably the most to do with
the use of the verbal language
and you've had definitely a lack
of that over the last 72 hours.
- It was just me with myself
for three days.
It was only me.
Hey. How are you?
- Hi.
- I'm good.
- Oh, good. I missed you.
Let me say hi to my mom.
- [laughing]
- Hi.
- Oh.
Glad you survived that.
- In the room,
I was fine being alone.
This is where
I've been living.
But then near the end,
as I started to anticipate
coming out
and being able to talk to people
and share my experience,
I realized
how important that was.
If you only have
your own experiences,
you're not fully having them.
You have to have someone else
to listen to them
and react to them,
and then you've
fully experienced them.
Anyway, I've moved.
I don't live there anymore.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
When I was in isolation,
I was surprised most
by two things--
how easy it was to be separated
from distractions,
like entertainment and phones,
and how difficult it was
to be separated
from things we humans evolved
alongside--
the Earth and other people.
I was amazed
by how uncomfortable,
confusing, and scary it was
to have nothing but myself.
You know, I used to be
a really big fan of the saying,
"He who travels fastest
travels alone."
I think I liked it
because it made me feel better
about how I preferred
to be independent
and to be left
to my own devices.
But now I appreciate
the full phrase better.
It may be true that he who
travels fastest travels alone,
but he who travels furthest
travels with others.
And as always,
thanks for watching.
♪ ♪
This season on "Mind Field"...
♪ ♪
Ready?
Ready.
Hold the drug in your mouth
until we say "swallow."
- There have been
some audio/visual distortions.
- Ow!
- You may see some images
behind your eyes.
- Ooh.
- Ow! [bleep]!
You [bleep] dick!
Why don't you come in here and
[bleep] talk to me in person?
- [grunting loudly]
- How does it feel
to be known
as the Ken and Barbie
of real life?
It isn't a breakfast
for champions.
It's a breakfast for sheeple.
Bachelor number two
is an online chatbot.
- What in the world?
♪ ♪
[electricity crackles]
- [grunts]
Beautiful.
Welcome to "Mind Field."
[electronic music]
♪ ♪
to a 10-by-10-foot room
in complete isolation.
No timekeeping devices,
no phones, no books,
nothing to write on,
no windows.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
Psychologists say that fewer
than three days
in a room like this
can lead to brain damage.
I will be staying in this room
for three days.
♪ ♪
- Clearly, he is on the border
of misery.
[electronic music]
♪ ♪
- Even in a city
surrounded by people,
it's possible to feel lonely
or bored.
Your brain
is like a hungry sponge.
It's constantly absorbing
information.
It thrives when stimulated.
Between smartphones and books
and movies
and friends and family,
thousands of sensations
are constantly going
into our heads.
But what if it all
got cut off?
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
What is boredom?
Well, it's believed to be
an emotion
that's a less intense form
of disgust.
A visual representation
of emotions
developed by Robert Plutchik
shows them all on a wheel.
Notice that boredom
shares a spoke
with disgust and loathing.
They are different intensities
of the same emotion.
You see, boredom pushes us away
from low-stimulus situations
because variety and stimulation
literally lead
to neurogenesis--
brain-cell growth.
We are here today
doing what we do
because boredom has guided us
toward greater
and greater challenges
and bigger
and more complex brains.
So what is it like
to be deprived
of the sensations
and social interactions
so many of us take for granted?
♪ ♪
A landmark study at Harvard
and Virginia Universities
found that students prefer
to experience physical pain
over 15 minutes of boredom.
To demonstrate
the surprising lengths
people will go to
to avoid boredom,
we brought in
an unsuspecting subject
for what he believes to be
a focus group.
We begin by introducing
a set of stimuli,
one of which
is very unpleasant.
[device buzzes]
- Oh, shit.
- What?
- Shocked the shit out of me.
Touch it.
[device buzzes]
- [grunts]
It did shock me.
- No, it didn't.
Did it really?
- Yeah, it did.
- He doesn't like it.
- That really shocked me.
- Our fake focus test
continues.
- So let's start
with the shock button.
Jamison, would you choose
to experience this again?
- I don't want
to do that again.
- Why wouldn't you?
- 'Cause it shocked me,
and I can still feel it
going down my forearm.
- Now it's time
for Jamison's true test--
the test of boredom.
- You will be in the room
for 30 minutes.
Please remain in your chair.
Feel free to re-experience
the electric-shock button...
- Okay. Okay.
- Or not.
- All right,
the moment of truth.
[door closes]
When the only two options
are boredom or painful shock,
which will
our subject choose?
He's not even looking
at the button.
Oh.
It hasn't even been
a minute yet,
and already Jamison
is restless.
[pensive music]
With 29 minutes to go
and no other stimulation
in the room,
the shock button
is a tempting object
to occupy Jamison's mind.
♪ ♪
Remember what Jamison said
a few minutes ago.
- I don't want
to do that again.
- But will he desire stimulation
so strongly,
he just goes ahead
and pushes that button?
♪ ♪
[device buzzes]
- [grunts]
- It took exactly one minute
and 57 seconds of boredom
for Jamison's mind to go
from, "Never again,"
to "Sure, I'll give myself
an electric shock
to relieve boredom."
Sometimes stimulation,
any stimulation
is perceived
as better than none at all.
This guy doesn't like
being bored.
Can he resist touching it
a second time?
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[device buzzes]
- [grunts, laughing]
- We're social animals.
Whether it's another human
or a volleyball
or an electric-shock button,
you'll make friends
with whatever you need to.
Jamison?
I'm Michael.
Thanks for coming in today.
- Sure.
- So tell me a little bit
about what you've been up to
here in this room.
- I've been sitting
in this room with a button.
- Yeah.
- And despite saying
I didn't want to press it again,
I pressed it twice.
- Why?
- I was just bored
in this room, I suppose, so...
- Really?
- Yeah.
- Did that hurt?
- Yes.
- The hypothesis
is that when left alone
with a very negative stimulus,
people will go ahead
an re-experience it
just because
it's something to do.
- I'm one of them.
- [laughs]
We dislike being bored so much,
sometimes physical pain
is preferable.
But intentionally putting
yourself
into what would seem to be
the most boring environment
possible
can be useful.
It's called
sensory deprivation.
♪ ♪
Psychologists
have conducted experiments
in sensory deprivation
since the 1930s.
During the Cold War,
the military used
sensory deprivation
for both training
and interrogation.
In the 1970s, the activity
became recreational,
with soundproof,
lightproof flotation tanks
that keep you buoyant
with salt water
that is the same temperature
as your body.
♪ ♪
All right, so I'm on my way
to a subterranean float lab.
This company
sells sensory deprivation.
This will be
sort of a training session
for my three days in isolation,
and I'm getting guidance
from an expert.
Hey, Dominic.
How are you?
- Hey.
What's up, Michael?
- You know Dominic Monaghan
from "Lord of the Rings"
and the TV series "Lost."
- Now, this is
your first time, right?
- This is my first time.
I'm a little nervous.
I've never been alone
without any stimulation.
- One of my favorite things
about floating is,
there's nothing else
going on.
- Okay.
- You can't see anything.
You can't hear anything.
You can't do anything.
You just have
to look at you.
And for some people,
that's scary.
It's like looking
in a mirror for hours.
This flotation tank
is a really good way
of getting him prepped
for the isolation chamber,
but I also think he needs to be
okay with the fact
that it's gonna put him outside
of his comfort zone.
The mind is a good thing
to lose every so often.
- All right,
let's take a peek.
♪ ♪
Oh.
So this is the room.
This is where I will be floating
for the next hour,
alone with nothing to do
but listen to my thoughts.
♪ ♪
I'll see you on the other side.
♪ ♪
- The mind is a good thing
to lose every so often.
You have to remind fear that
you're in the driver's seat."
- Hey.
- Hey, Dominic.
- How was it?
- It was really good.
- Yeah?
- Can we sit down?
- Yeah, let's do it.
- My initial thought when
I laid down was,
"Wow, this is buoyant."
And then I just...
started thinking about errands
and tasks,
but at some point...
well, it was like dreams.
- Uh-huh.
- But my eyes were open.
Like, it was sort of like
half-dreams you have
either when you're about to fall
asleep
or when you're waking up.
- That's when it gets
interesting.
You're allowing your brain
to be free.
You're just floating
in space.
You're just atoms that are on
the top of this pool,
floating in space.
So now you've done this,
and you're doing
this isolation booth.
Do you think that that
was in some way helpful
or a hindrance?
- It made me more...
unhappy
about what's coming up.
72 hours is quite a bit
different than one hour.
♪ ♪
Some people choose isolation
to learn about isolation.
As we prepare
to explore other planets,
we're faced
with a little issue.
Stuff in outer space
is really,
really far apart.
Within our own solar system,
even a trip to Mars
would take months
in each direction.
That's a long time to spend cut
off from the rest of humanity,
stuck in a tiny spaceship.
To get ready for those journeys,
we have subjected some people
to extreme conditions
here on Earth.
In 1989, a young Italian
interior designer
named Stefania Follini
volunteered
for a NASA experiment
to help study the effects
of isolation
associated with space travel.
She spent 130 days alone
in a plexiglass cell
in a cave 30 feet underground
in New Mexico.
In the absence of timepieces
and any sign of day or night,
Ms. Follini's body
was thrown out of wack.
Her menstrual cycle stopped,
and her sleep-wake cycle
changed radically.
She tended to stay away
for 20 to 25 hours at a time,
sleeping about 10 hours.
When she finally emerged,
she mistakenly believed
she'd only been underground
about half as long
as she actually had.
As difficult
as Stefania's experience was,
at least she had books
to read.
In my isolation chamber,
I will only have white walls
to stare at.
♪ ♪
Alone time--
what a pleasure.
Checking out,
getting away from it all,
relaxing...
banishment from society,
the silent treatment,
solitary confinement.
[dramatic music]
Solitude isn't always nice.
♪ ♪
What happens when isolation
is not voluntary?
William Brown
has firsthand knowledge
of solitary confinement.
So, William,
how much of your life
have you spent in prison?
- Probably, like, 16 years.
- That's, like,
almost half your life.
- Yeah, basically,
almost half my life,
'cause I want to jail
when I was 18
for armed bank robbery.
This right here...
This was my home, off and on,
about two years...
♪ ♪
The hole.
- What was the longest stretch
of consecutive time?
- It was, like,
five months total.
- I'll tell you
what really amazes me.
This feels so much worse
than a jail cell.
This doesn't have bars,
letting in light or a view.
- Not at all.
- Would you have
a mattress at least?
That would be the only thing.
In this particular cell, that
would be the only thing in here.
You would just have a mattress,
and other than that,
you would have nothing more.
This light
will constantly stay on,
so there will be, you know...
- That light's always on?
- That light is always on.
- Even at night?
- Even at night.
That light is always on.
You're left in here
with your thoughts,
and that's it.
♪ ♪
I would sit--
like, say, for example, sit
in this corner right here.
- Like, facing the corner
or facing out?
- No, I would face out,
and I would just sit
and just concentrate
on breathing.
You don't know.
It's like you're in limbo.
You never know when
they're gonna open the door.
I've known guys that have served
consecutive years
inside this same
little box.
- How does that change them?
- Mentally,
it scars them for life.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- This is what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna put myself in a room
like one of these,
and I won't have a clock...
- Anything at all.
- No way to tell time.
What I'm nervous about is,
when that door closes...
- Mm-hmm.
- The awareness,
the sudden awareness
of how much time I have.
- See, that's the thing
about it,
'cause once this door
right here closes,
it's, like, it's final.
This is almost a coffin.
- Really?
♪ ♪
Even more extreme than isolation
from other people
is isolation from other people
and stimuli.
That's what I'm going
to be doing inside this room.
♪ ♪
This is about as boring
as a room can get.
It's soundproof, and this light
will never turn off.
I do have a small bed,
but there will be
no interruptions.
I will have no way
to tell what time it is.
No meals will be delivered,
because all the meals
are inside the room already--
white containers of Soylent.
I do have plenty of water,
and I have a wash basin
with a white bar of soap,
and I've got myself
a tiny, little toilet.
There's nothing to do
but be completely alone
with myself and my thoughts.
Now, psychologists say
that fewer than three days
in a room like this
can lead to brain damage.
I will be staying in this room
for three days...
a full 72 hours.
♪ ♪
- So I'm gonna take
your vitals first.
Michael is basically turning
himself into a lab rat.
What we want to to is see
what might change with Michael
before and after his time
in isolation--
what's gonna happen
to his blood pressure,
what's gonna happen to
his pulse, his basic reflexes.
- Are there actually any medical
concerns you would have?
I'm just gonna be
in this room.
- You got a really
bright light on there.
The circadian rhythm,
which is your natural
wake and sleep cycle
is going to be
completely disrupted
by this really bright light.
And once your
circadian rhythm gets off,
a lot of other things
fall apart--
hormone cycles,
cognitive ability,
metabolic processes.
So, you know, it's kind of like
you're giving yourself jet lag.
- Oh, great.
- I think it's important to test
his cognitive ability
to gauge any mental decline
that might happen during his
72 hours of isolation.
Let's try the reaction time.
- Okay, do...
This is pretty fun.
Can I bring this into the room
with me?
So what's gonna happen
to my brain in there?
- Well, one of the issues
that might worry me
is how calm versus neurotic
you might be.
Where would you put yourself
on that spectrum?
- Closer to neurotic. I mean...
- Uh-huh.
- Yeah.
- And so I wonder
if that might be amplified.
- That is how my brain
will work.
- Right. Of course.
- It'll snowball.
I'm scared.
I'm not gonna be able to deal
with the monotony
and the lack
of a sense of time,
and I'm gonna have
a panic attack.
- In an extreme situation,
people can have
massive hallucinations,
be dissociated from reality,
have tremendous anxiety,
psychotic types of episodes.
- Marnie, Jake...
- Yes.
- I'm gonna be gone
for three days.
- The danger signs to look out
for are extreme agitation,
where it doesn't appear that
he's aware of his own agitation.
That's when I think
I might intervene.
- I'm not worried
for him physically.
Like, I think, you know,
he's safe in there.
But I think that he's gonna
struggle in there.
He's gonna be really bored.
- I love you.
- I love you, too.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye.
♪ ♪
- Oh, my God.
- Bye.
♪ ♪
Ah, forgot to ask what time it
was when I came in.
♪ ♪
- [laughs]
- It's just gonna be
a horrible 72 hours.
- I'm actually pretty tired.
I've been standing
a bunch today.
Normally, when I change
into more comfortable clothes
and I'm, like, ready for bed,
I lay down,
and then I pick up my phone,
or I pick up a book
or something,
but I don't have that.
- If he succeeds
in going to sleep
for any length of time
that's substantial,
it's gonna be
interesting to see
what time he thinks it is
when he wakes up.
- Right.
♪ ♪
- I was able to sleep.
And I woke up
maybe one or two times
in the night.
So I think it's probably,
you know, 8:00 a.m.
Thursday morning,
maybe closer to 9:00 a.m.
I guess I should have
some breakfast.
♪ ♪
One...
two...three...
- I've known Michael
for three years,
and I've never seen him
do a push-up.
- Six...
♪ ♪
Z, Y, X, W, V,
U, T, S, R, Q,
P, O, N, M, L, K...
- I think he's come up
with some good ideas
for mental stimulation.
I wonder if, as time goes by,
he's gonna come up
with some more creative ones,
or he's gonna start
to get less creative.
- I've done 200 steps now--
8 more hundreds to go,
and I'll be at 1,000.
One, two...
- Why is it that so many people
turn to counting
to stay sane when they're
in these isolated environments?
- Well, our minds
want to remain active.
They're naturally active.
The healthiest people
who survive
in these types of environments
will do something
to self-stimulate.
They'll count. They'll sing.
They'll do physical exercise.
- 97, 98, 99, 100.
300 steps and then some change
that I just took right there.
That's just a little bonus
for my body, for my health.
♪ ♪
It's amazing how hard it is
to tell what time of day it is
just based on your body.
I think it's...
about 7:00 or 7:30 p.m.
on Thursday.
I think I'm gonna have
dinner now.
- He's already quite off
on his perception of time.
- I was actually surprised
at how quick that happened.
- I was, too.
- You know, if you're using
hunger as your gauge,
that's out the window, too,
because the shifts
in hormones
are going to change
your appetite.
You know,
they look at lab rats
who have had their
circadian rhythm destroyed,
and they overeat.
- 12, 13...
At the moment, I'm feeling...
♪ ♪
Bored but obviously
nothing dramatic.
If I had to guess,
it would be...
24 hours now
since I first came in.
One day down, two to go.
- If he gets
a full sleep cycle in,
he'll wake up not knowing
where he is.
- Right.
♪ ♪
- Good morning.
I don't know
if I slept for eight hours
or if I slept for three.
If you think
it's bedtime, it is...
so long as you go to bed.
If you think
it's breakfast time,
it is if you're having
breakfast.
What am I looking forward to
the most?
Uh...
seeing my family and friends.
It's not even
that I want a meal.
It's actually that I just want
to have a meal with people.
I just want to talk
to some people.
I just want some other words
coming in to me
than the ones that come
out of my own mouth.
- He enjoys sharing things
with people,
and to have no one, just nothing
coming back for three days,
might be difficult.
- I am the only person
I'm hanging out with.
- If you're
in true isolation,
literally, part of your brain
is generating
some kind of companion
that you can converse with.
- I think having you here...
makes a big difference.
- He's entertained himself
in a sense,
you know, talking
to the camera,
and that's been helpful
for him.
It's really kept him
cognitively aware.
- I just feel like I've really
lost all connection to time,
but I'm guessing
it's, you know, 8:00 p.m....
maybe 9:00 p.m. on Friday.
A good time
to get some shut-eye
when there's not
much else to do.
♪ ♪
[groans]
I think it's Saturday,
about 9:00 a.m.
Saturday, the day I get out.
[chuckles]
- So his dissociation with
the actual time has doubled now.
- Right. He wakes up, and
there's this bright light,
and he's thinking,
"Oh, it must be morning."
- I've spent a lot of time
being entertained
by my memories,
and I'm thinking of the people
and the places
and the events
and how I miss them
and how I treasure
those moments.
There's a sort of cinema
in my brain,
a cinema of those memories
that's kept me
from being very bored.
So I think...
it's 8:00 p.m.
on Saturday.
So, in about a couple hours,
I should see that door open.
- He's not even close,
and I wonder how he's gonna
respond to that.
[clock ticking]
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- I don't think
I'm getting out today.
A fear I have right now
is that it's just Friday
and that there's still
a lot of time left.
There were other times
during this
that I was definitely more Zen
about everything.
Now I'm upset.
[sighs]
♪ ♪
I can't believe the color
of the light isn't changing.
In the mornings,
when I wake up,
it's so much more yellow.
- Without some type
of stimulation,
the mind wants to stimulate
itself anyway
and will begin
to hallucinate
and begin
to play all sorts of tricks.
- Absolutely.
- My thoughts
are really incoherent.
It's hard for me even
to remember what I just thought.
712, 713, 714,
715, 7...
15, 716, 717...
- In a way, our brains
are kind of
a "use it or lose it" thing.
He's going to have
a definite decrease
in his cognitive ability,
a decrease in his overall sense
of well-being.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- How many bottles of water
have I drank?
Is there one more...
laying around here
that I've lost?
♪ ♪
'Cause there are only six here.
But then down here
there are...
Did I...
♪ ♪
All of the dreams I've had
that I remember
have been about this room.
They've been
about me being in this room
and about...
♪ ♪
- He wakes up,
and then he's in the room,
and it's difficult for him
to discern the difference
between reality
and dreaming sometimes.
So that's a real dissociation
for him.
- S, R, Q...
L, M, N, O, P...
- I actually feel
kind of worried about him now,
because when he first went
in there,
he was, like, bored like someone
waiting for a bus, you know.
Now he looks
actually depressed.
♪ ♪
- The soap is really unique.
It's not a kind of soap
I've ever used before,
and I really dislike the smell.
And I keep smelling it
'cause it's just sitting there.
♪ ♪
- Clearly, Michael
is not happy right now.
He looks, like, you know,
on the border of misery.
♪ ♪
- Really aggravated
by how uncomfortable I am.
This seems like a very,
very long three days.
♪ ♪
- He was just laying there.
When I walked in,
I thought he'd be,
you know, sitting on the bed.
You know, this was something
he wanted to do, but...
I expected him to be bored...
terribly bored,
but I thought
he'd still be talking and...
trying to entertain himself.
♪ ♪
- [inhales deeply]
[groans]
- It seems like Michael woke up
from some kind of dream.
♪ ♪
He looks confused.
♪ ♪
- [mouths words]
♪ ♪
- Okay.
I'm really confused.
Wait.
Did...
♪ ♪
I guess not.
I guess I just dreamt it.
- [crying softly]
- I am so confused.
[knock at door]
Is 72 hours over?
- It's 72 hours, Michael.
You can come out.
- All right, I'm coming out.
♪ ♪
- Wow.
- Hey.
both: Congratulations.
- Thank you very much.
- Oh, my gosh,
it's bright in there.
- It's really bright in there.
I hadn't really noticed,
but now that you mention it...
- Congratulations.
- Hey.
That knock scared me.
- Did it startle you?
- Yeah.
Every little noise
has been startling me.
- Okay. You seem
very with it right now.
- It's excited energy
by coming out.
At first, I thought it was
that I want to communicate,
but, actually,
I need this direction, too.
Even if it's just nods and
stuff, that's so much better.
- Let me just check your vitals
before you see your family.
♪ ♪
155 over 95,
so that's quite a jump
in your blood pressure.
- [grunts]
- Your pulse is also higher.
I think that's 'cause
you're excited to be out.
I think this is a huge rush.
I'm interested to see now
how you do with
some of the more cognitive
tests.
- 3-18-09-72-72?
[ding]
- There you go.
I would say you did actually
a little bit better this time.
- Oh, wow. Okay.
- Although we had hypothesized
you would be worse
at all of these tests,
I think the rush of adrenaline
that you got
from finally being out and being
to able to communicate
actually had you more focused,
more aware,
and that's why you performed
better.
I find it interesting that the
test you did the worst on
is probably the most to do with
the use of the verbal language
and you've had definitely a lack
of that over the last 72 hours.
- It was just me with myself
for three days.
It was only me.
Hey. How are you?
- Hi.
- I'm good.
- Oh, good. I missed you.
Let me say hi to my mom.
- [laughing]
- Hi.
- Oh.
Glad you survived that.
- In the room,
I was fine being alone.
This is where
I've been living.
But then near the end,
as I started to anticipate
coming out
and being able to talk to people
and share my experience,
I realized
how important that was.
If you only have
your own experiences,
you're not fully having them.
You have to have someone else
to listen to them
and react to them,
and then you've
fully experienced them.
Anyway, I've moved.
I don't live there anymore.
[laughter]
♪ ♪
When I was in isolation,
I was surprised most
by two things--
how easy it was to be separated
from distractions,
like entertainment and phones,
and how difficult it was
to be separated
from things we humans evolved
alongside--
the Earth and other people.
I was amazed
by how uncomfortable,
confusing, and scary it was
to have nothing but myself.
You know, I used to be
a really big fan of the saying,
"He who travels fastest
travels alone."
I think I liked it
because it made me feel better
about how I preferred
to be independent
and to be left
to my own devices.
But now I appreciate
the full phrase better.
It may be true that he who
travels fastest travels alone,
but he who travels furthest
travels with others.
And as always,
thanks for watching.
♪ ♪
This season on "Mind Field"...
♪ ♪
Ready?
Ready.
Hold the drug in your mouth
until we say "swallow."
- There have been
some audio/visual distortions.
- Ow!
- You may see some images
behind your eyes.
- Ooh.
- Ow! [bleep]!
You [bleep] dick!
Why don't you come in here and
[bleep] talk to me in person?
- [grunting loudly]
- How does it feel
to be known
as the Ken and Barbie
of real life?
It isn't a breakfast
for champions.
It's a breakfast for sheeple.
Bachelor number two
is an online chatbot.
- What in the world?
♪ ♪
[electricity crackles]
- [grunts]
Beautiful.
Welcome to "Mind Field."
[electronic music]
♪ ♪