The experiments are described by Dr. Jonathan M. Charry of Rockefeller University and Dr. Frank B.W. Hawkinshire 5th of N.Y.U. in a recent issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The apparent effects of positive ions included increased tension and irritability as well as a slowing of reaction times. The reaction times were measured in terms of the lag between appearance of a red light and the pressing of a button by the subject.

These effects, however, were not obvious when findings from all 85 subjects were lumped together. They were evident chiefly when results from the 34 subjects with a less resilient autonomic nervous system were separately examined. The autonomic system controls reflexes, heart performance and the other involuntary functions. Its resilience can be seen, for example, in the return of heart rate to normal after a fright.

In an interview last week Dr. Charry pointed out that the study was the first conducted in this manner and its findings must be considered tentative until replicated elsewhere.

Much of the early research on this subject was conducted in Israel, where the sharav has a marked effect. It has been reported that 30 percent of the population becomes ill with migraine, nausea, vomiting, irritability, dimness of vision, respiratory symptoms and other effects.

The symptoms are said to appear a day or two before heat and dryness become severe, but when air blowing in from the desert is already laden with positive ions. Such winds in other parts of the world have also been associated with increased crime, suicide and accidents. These winds, in addition to the foehn, sharav, and Santa Ana, include the chinook of the Pacific Northwest, the sirroco of Italy, the ghibli of Libya and the zonda of the Argentine Andes.

The results of the current research derive some support from mouse experiments conducted for over two decades by Dr. Albert Paul Krueger and his colleagues at the University of Californ ia in Berkeley.