Unconscious components of the psychophysiological reactions of the participants of the experiment with 520-day isolation

Abstract

Six participants in MARS-500 were examined in an effort to gather information about intrapersonal conflicts and life spheres with high emotional tension associated with participation in the experiment with extended group isolation. The investigation was performed using the operational analogy-based neuro-semantic psychodiagnostics which allows to regard the subconscious as a semantic filter with unstructured semantic information at the input and information structured by the inner world content at the output. The results shed light on the semantic structure of subjective experience and functioning of protective mechanisms, as well as organizational levels and modality of emotional experience. Prior to and after 520-day isolation, all the participants were shown to have intrapersonal conflicts and high emotional tension in the socio-professional sphere, caused by the family/sexual and interpersonal relations and self-rating, and concerns about life and health. On the completion of isolation, the psychoemotional tension reduced quantitatively in interpersonal relations and increased in family/sexual.