European isolation and confinement study. Ethological analysis of spatial behavior.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate through an ethological approach the behavioral consequences of confinement and isolation in the restricted space of a hyperbaric chamber at low pressure on six subjects for a period of 28 days. The quantitative analysis consisted in tracing the use of space, minute by minute (i.e., groupings of positions and displacement trajectories) and counting the motor activity (i.e., collateral acts) of the crew members while performing various tasks (meeting, preparing dinner, dinner, leisure time) within the main chamber as a function of the time spent in confinement (days 2, 9, 19, 28). The data reveal a change in the timing of collective tasks in the course of the experiment, a dispersal of the social group during the middle period, and a stability of the spatial behavior at the beginning and at the end of the isolation period. Other behavioral strategies observed are the necessity of body mobility in a reduced space, the decrease of an intimate space as defined by Hall, with the predominance of a social space first and a personal space later with increasing time of confinement. Consequently, the crew members appear to adapt by means of these behavioral strategies. In that way, the reduction in the number of collateral activities can be taken as an index of the adaptation of the subjects to these extreme conditions.