Psychology: in an experiment, 15 people are trapped in a cave for 40 days without a sense of time

Would you agree to live in a cave for 40 days, surrounded by complete strangers and without access to a phone, watch, or natural light, just for the sake of science?

An extreme ‘world first’ experiment is to see 15 people do just that, to investigate the effects on the human body of long-term isolation without a sense of time.

The French volunteers, who are not reimbursed for their participation, are between 27 and 50 years old and include a biologist, a jeweler and a math teacher.

Located in the Lombrives Cave in Ariège, the team has four tons of supplies to live on, along with water from the cave and a pedal-driven dynamo for electricity.

Mission leader Christian Clot, who is one of the participants, was inspired to conduct the test after seeing how the COVID-19 pandemic brought isolation into our lives.

However, the explorer has received some criticism in the French press for taking the title of ‘researcher’ while having no formal scientific training.

The ‘Deep Time’ experiment began on Sunday, March 14 at 8 p.m. local time and, if all goes according to plan, will end on April 22.

The project’s findings may be relevant to future space missions, submarine crews, mine teams, and other environments where people are trapped for long periods of time.

Deep Time follows in the footsteps of the French geologist Michel Siffre, who spent several long periods underground, including a six-month period in 1972.

He discovered that the human body’s circadian cycle can vary in duration if it is not exposed to the stimuli of natural light.

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“Time loss is the biggest disorientation out there, and it is this aspect that the Deep Time mission wants to better understand,” the team said on their website.

“During certain events, our perception of time changes – it seems to go very slowly or very quickly, unrelated to the reality of each passing second.”

‘What happens then? How do you like the sense of time? What are the links between cognitive and biological time, between the brain and genetic cells? ‘

‘What is the relationship between observed time and normative time, that of our watches? How does our brain perceive time? ‘

To answer these questions, the project leaders said the 15 participants will be followed by a team of dozens of surface scientists using data collected by an assortment of sensors.

One of the participants – 29-year-old Arnaud Burel – told Oddity Central that he agreed to take part in the unusual experiment to “ taste this timeless life, which is impossible outside with our computers and cell phones constantly reminding us. of our agreements and obligations. ‘

However, the biologist added that he agreed it wouldn’t be easy to spend nearly six weeks in a cave with 14 strangers and that he felt communication would be key to making sure their time together runs smoothly.

In the Lombrives – Europe’s largest cave by volume – the team will be forced to adjust to the constant temperature of 54 ° F (12 ° C) and 95 percent humidity.

Inside the cave, “three separate living areas have been set up – one for sleeping, one for living, and one for researching the topography of the site, particularly its flora and fauna,” Clot told Le Parisian.

The experiment has been funded with a total of € 1.2 million (£ 1 million) from both public and private funding sources.

“This experiment is a world first,” neuroscientist Etienne Koechlin of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris told Belgian news site 7sur7.

“Until now, all missions of this type have focused on the study of the physiological rhythms of the body, but never on the impact of this type of transient break on the cognitive and emotional functions of humans,” he added.

More information about the experiment can be found on the Deep Time website.