Snapshot · Conspiracy Theories
While Dr. Donald Hebb's voluntary study capped out at 6 days, Cameron kept patients in sensory deprivation for over a month, sometimes combining it with psychic driving tapes.
Where this was said
At 21:00 · chapter starts 17:40
Before the CIA targets Cameron, they are watching his colleague Dr. Donald Hebb, whose voluntary sensory deprivation studies at McGill are producing startling results [1] — Carter Roy "Dr. Donald Hebb paid student volunteers $20 a day to lie in a plywood sensory deprivation box. After about 3 days, they began hallucinating…" 17:40 . Hebb pays student volunteers $20 a day to lie in a plywood box in near-total sensory isolation. After about three days, hallucinations begin. No one lasts more than six days. The CIA finds Hebb insufficiently willing to push the envelope, and their investigation leads them to Cameron — who has already been doing his own, far darker version. Cameron keeps his patients in sensory deprivation for over a month, combining it with psychic driving tapes so the only input patients receive is their own distorted voices. CIA head psychologist John Gittinger sends an undercover agent to persuade Cameron to apply for funding through the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology — a front organisation. Cameron applies immediately, and his work becomes Subproject 68 of MKUltra, one of the programme's largest subprojects. Carter Roy notes it is quite possible Cameron never knew who was actually bankrolling him. In 1957, Cameron signs a contract with the Society, proposing to continue psychic driving and to introduce a new, far darker technique — depatterning.
Dr. Donald Hebb paid student volunteers $20 a day to lie in a plywood sensory deprivation box. After about 3 days, they began hallucinating — and none lasted more than 6 days. Cameron looked at Hebb's humane, voluntary work and saw an opportunity to go much, much further.
The Sleep Room was so feared that patients would press against the opposite wall just to pass it in the hallway. Inside, patients were kept in drug-induced comas for 21 to 22 hours a day, woken only for meals, bathroom breaks, and repeated high-voltage electroshock — sometimes for two months straight.
Spencer Greenberg and Jeremy Stevenson analyzed almost 500 self-improvement techniques and found they all reduce to just 12 underlying psychological drivers.
Cold exposure has good short-term alertness benefits but the evidence base for long-term health benefits is much weaker than popularly believed.
In a randomized study of 20 habit-formation techniques run on hundreds of people, almost none of the techniques produced statistically meaningful results.
People given a tiny-habit fallback option (e.g. 10 squats instead of gym) were actually MORE successful at completing the full habit, not less.
The most effective habit-formation technique was 'habit reflection' — recalling a past successful habit, writing down what helped, then applying those lessons to a new habit.
A study found that simply scheduling enjoyable activities was as effective as standard cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, leading to its own therapy called behavioral activation.
The 'worry time' technique — deferring all worries to a designated time of day — helps people realize they have more control over worry than they thought and reveals it is less useful than it feels.
A study found that participants told to try to stay awake while in bed fell asleep faster than participants told to try to sleep — illustrating the paradox of direct effort.
Spencer Greenberg reduced his severe social anxiety dramatically in roughly 6 months through a structured exposure therapy hierarchy, culminating in asking strangers for hugs.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.