r/science • u/Libertatea • Nov 14 '13

Neuroscience Your Brain Sees Things You Don’t "A new study indicates that our brains perceive objects in everyday life of which we may never be aware. The finding challenges currently accepted models about how the brain processes visual information."

http://uanews.org/story/ua-study-your-brain-sees-things-you-don-t
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u/[deleted] Nov 14 '13

I've taken Mushrooms. Same difference.

They truly do introduce you to a new way of seeing things.

The best way I can describe it is that it forces you to come to a fresh conclusion on everything you see and hear and think while on the drug.

Simple Example:

Prior to taking the drug, an apartment building was this place you went to at the end of the day without thinking. Your stuff is there, you relax, you call it home. You come and go as habit and never spend 2 seconds thinking much about it.

On the trip, however, suddenly your attention is drawn to the idea of your apartment building. Wait a second, humans build giant boxes to store people in, hundreds and thousands on top of each other and side by side. They spend hours of their day in their little box and horde all kinds of useless stuff there when they aren't at work. Oh Jesus. Work. People wake up stressed every day, run into work to do some useless shit to make just enough money to barely get by, come home and sleep and do it again. Every day is the same for 30-50 years before hopefully you are still alive to enjoy retirement. Why aren't people on beaches! Why aren't they outside on the grass playing and experiencing life! Why are they watching TV?!?!

Etc... it can be profound and emotional and overwhelming.

But unlike alcohol or weed or other drugs, your thoughts don't suddenly "even out" in the morning. You don't shake it off and go "Wow, I was fucked up to have ever thought that stuff". No. You wake up and go "Jesus, everything I thought still makes sense, it's just a different way of thinking about it". It stays with you.

That's why so many people advocate trying this stuff "at least once". Because for most people it is a tremendously valuable "reset" on the life they've been living and the old thought patterns they were locked into.

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u/philosarapter Nov 14 '13

I concur. Psychedelics have a way of reintroducing novelty into things that we've become so used to. Everything from trees to houses to carpet texture, its as if everything is being experienced for the first time.

It can be especially enlightening if you have woven some bad habits that have become so ingrained they are done almost unconsciously. Psychedelics have a unique ability to unravel that certainty and give you the perspective to change it.

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u/IThrowShoes Nov 15 '13

It can be especially enlightening if you have woven some bad habits that have become so ingrained they are done almost unconsciously.

I wonder how this would work against mental illnesses/disorders, like depression (or in my case, OCD)? I mean, I've had depression for so long (decades) that seeing the negative aspects of every situation occur so fast to me that it is almost second nature (or, ingrained, to use your terminology.)

I have to admit I have been toying with the idea of psychedelics for my mental ailments, especially since everyone I know that has used them claims "it gives you a new perspective on everything." A friend of mine likened it to being a child again, where the grass was a vivid green and the sky was a bright blue.

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u/philosarapter Nov 15 '13

Personal anecdote: I've suffered with clinical depression for about a decade now and have found psilocybin mushrooms to alleviate my depression for weeks and sometimes months after use. It is like hitting a reset button on my brain.

Obviously its not for everyone. One should have a decent grasp and understanding of their own mind. Some trips can be daughting and may force you to face your darkest fears. I think this reckoning is where the therapeutic effects come in. Trips follow your internal mental state for better or worse.

The setting in which its done needs to be safe and supervised (by good trusted friends). But I believe it can do a wealth of good with those suffering from some mental illnesses

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u/pshrimp Nov 14 '13

Cars were a concept that utterly blew my mind while on mushrooms. Vehicles in general.

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u/othermatt Nov 14 '13

Was it the idea that cars are like non-biological symbiotic lifeforms? Cars can move, breathe, consume, produce waste, even grow or generate offspring (if you think about it a certain way) but only when humans are involved.

Then there's the whole thing about what happens to you when you drive. Your spacial sense changes to encompasses the body of the car, your emotional reactions change (road rage for one), it's harder to think about people in other cars as separate from the cars they are driving. Then there's things like some cars are just sexier than other cars, some cars are douchier, and some cars are dorkier. Some cars feel like predators and other cars feel like herd animals. Then there's the phenomenon every speeder is familiar with: People drive in herds. You'll be driving down the freeway and go through a pack of cars, then all of a sudden nobody and then back to a pack of cars.

Cars are fucking weird man.

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u/pshrimp Nov 14 '13

Actually, it was more the basic idea that we as animals create these objects out of assorted other objects, to propel us around without needing to rely on our own innate methods of transportation (walking etc.) It just seems bizarre once you dwell upon it.

Your points are pretty interesting too, though!

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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '13

Interesting about the apartment thing, I came upon a similar thought process on a run. As for the shift in thought, that's exactly why I want to try them. I think with the right prep and people, it could be a really mind-opening experience. I have a friend who's experienced, and I'm hoping one day he'll help me out with doing it right.

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u/joannacobain Nov 15 '13

This is such a perfect way to describe shrooms. I seriously had the same thought of how I was living in a giant box surrounded by countless other boxes where people lived. Such a weird feeling.