What happens to your brain without any social contact? - Terry Kupers

If you have 10 minutes do this ✨

Activity 1 : Watch the video

Activity 2: Complete the True or False below.

  • Solitary confinement usually means prisoners are locked up with others.

  • Inmates in solitary can spend up to 24 hours a day alone in a cell.

  • Prisoners are always sent to solitary for violent behaviour.

  • Some inmates spend weeks, months, or even years in solitary confinement.

  • Solitary confinement improves prisoners’ mental health over time.

  • Sensory deprivation and lack of social interaction can lead to psychological breakdowns.

If you have 20 minutes add this activity ✨

Activity 3: Match the vocabulary to the correct definition

1. Isolation

2. Sensory deprivation

3. Psychological

4. Inmate

5. Solitary confinement

6. Rehabilitation

7. Cognition

8. Mental health

9. Breakdown

10. Neuroscience

A. A prisoner or person held in a correctional facility
B.
Treatment and support to restore someone to health or normal life
C.
The science of the brain and nervous system
D.
Being kept completely alone, away from others
E.
A severe emotional or mental collapse
F.
Related to the mind or mental processes
G.
The state of someone’s emotional and psychological well-being
H.
A form of punishment involving extreme isolation
I.
Lack of input from the senses, like light, sound, or touch
J.
The process of thinking, learning, and understanding

Activity 4: Fill the blanks with the vocabulary from Activity 3
Word Bank:

isolation – sensory deprivation – psychological – inmate – solitary confinement – rehabilitation – cognition – mental health – breakdown – neuroscience


The video explains how extreme __________ can lead to hallucinations and anxiety.

  • An __________ may spend up to 23 hours a day alone in a small cell.

  • Long-term __________ confinement can severely damage a person’s emotional well-being.

  • The speaker explores the __________ effects of removing social interaction.

  • Lack of light, sound, and touch is called __________ __________.

  • Some prisoners experience a complete mental __________ after months in solitary.

  • Experts in __________ study how the brain reacts to extreme environments.

  • __________ refers to the ability to think, reason, and remember.

  • The goal of prison should include __________, not just punishment.

  • Poor __________ __________ is often made worse by being isolated for long periods.

If you have 30 minutes add this activity as well ✨

Activity 5: Choose a debate question or a reflection question and write a short paragraph (share it below) or record a voice note.

Debate Questions

  • Do you think solitary confinement should ever be used? Why or why not?

  • Is solitary confinement a form of psychological torture? Defend your view.

  • Should there be a maximum time limit for isolation in prisons? What would be fair?

  • Can rehabilitation and punishment go hand-in-hand, or are they opposing goals?

  • Some people argue that prison should be uncomfortable to deter crime. Do you agree?

Reflection Questions

  • What part of the TED Talk surprised or shocked you the most?

  • How would you personally cope with total isolation?

  • Have you ever experienced a form of isolation, even briefly? What did you learn from it?

  • Why do you think solitary confinement has remained in use despite research against it?

  • What alternatives to solitary confinement could prisons explore?

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