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The Big & Dandy Psychedelic Synaesthesia Thread

^^ that great man, i might have a go at turning it into a vector image later today, then it can be scaled to any size.
 
Mr. White said:
^^ that great man, i might have a go at turning it into a vector image later today, then it can be scaled to any size.
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Cool! If it helps, here are the original scans of the four (overlapping) quarters of the poster, before my partially bungled attempt to neatly piece them together: Bottom Left; Bottom Right; Top Left; and Top Right.
 
invert said:
Ah, interesting! Can you describe what you are seeing... are these patterns coloured?
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No, no colour changes.

I just mean in the sense of an optical illusion, staring at the picture causes it to slightly morph and some patterns stand out (Like an an 8-ball track, things that look like snakes wrapped around the eyes etc etc). Do other people get this also? 8o I can just stare at it for a while and just keep seeing different things.

It also appears to have a certain depth to it.

It is an interesting picture.

Edit-

Depending on how you look at it, the whole picture is made out of stars! It is funny how it can shift between two different things.
 
Rahcookiemonster said:
No, no colour changes.

I just mean in the sense of an optical illusion, staring at the picture causes it to slightly morph and some patterns stand out (Like an an 8-ball track, things that look like snakes wrapped around the eyes etc etc). Do other people get this also? 8o I can just stare at it for a while and just keep seeing different things.

It also appears to have a certain depth to it.
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Ah yes, these are illusory properties of the picture that I can see when sober too: the chromatic effects had led me not to think so much of these, but they are most cool. There is so much 'good continuation' (in the Gestalt sense) in so many directions in this picture that perceptual grouping shifts all the time. Spirals, waves, circles, even - I've just noticed - a big cobra's-head-like structure. 8o

It is an interesting picture.
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*nods* Indeed it is.

Edit-

Depending on how you look at it, the whole picture is made out of stars! It is funny how it can shift between two different things.
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Heh! There's an aspect of the picture I'd never noticed before. :)
 
Wow. Under the influence of cannabis (Quite strongly). The picture truly looks different when high.

It took a while but I did notice it. It is subtle but I can see colouring of purple and green around the centre.

Sit back a bit and stare for a while.
 
Yay for replication! I think the best viewing distance (for me anyway) is at a distance from the picture of about 5 or 6 times its height (this applies both with cannabis-induced - I should perhaps say cannabinoid-induced, since I first experienced these visual effects under the influence of a suspected atypical cannabinoid in a proprietary smoking blend - and phenethylamine-induced effects).

ETA: I've been fiddling with certain parameters (just brightness etc, thus far), and I think this faded version brings out the colour effects slightly better, and these black-white reversed versions - though not having the same effect - are buzzing with life in their own special way, in my view: http://www.divshare.com/download/5651762-2b3 and http://www.divshare.com/download/5651766-2cd
 
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invert said:
Heh, it reminded me and my friends of blood vessels and cell structures. Certainly something quite biological about it... But it was a thing of pure delight (well, delight and bewilderment) to us when under 2C-B and MDMA.


Good luck with that, I'm fairly sure it's not on the net, but I'll try to get my arse into gear with making a better (and bigger) version of the scan later (although the effect is stronger, the smaller the image is on one's retina, I think; up to a certain point anyway). It should also be possible (and more effective than scanning the poster) to generate the pattern by programming it. I should think a fairly simple algorithm would generate it. (ETA: And I'll certainly figure out how to program it at some point, so that I can vary the parameters systematically to see what aspects of the pattern are needed to produce the illusion - it seems to me there must be something special about the pattern, 'cos nothing else in my environment gets all colourful like that on moderate doses of THC or low doses of 2CB.)


I'd guess so...


:D I don't get it... why?
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cuz their mad spaced out and tiny
 
permanent synesthesia?

has anyone been able to hold onto synesthesia *after* the effects of a psychadelic wore off? on one occassion i've been able experience music --> color. i'm assuming (based on minimal research) that i was able to make some kind of temporary bridge while under the influence, but i can only assume that making that kind of bridge over and over could lead to a permanent "rewiring" of neurotransmitters.


anybody had luck with this?
 
I've had pretty much permanent effects from psychedelic drugs that I can't say are negative at all, and synaesthesia is one of them. Although I can't say that the drugs are entirely due to it as I make psychedelic video to go with music with a large amount of my spare time, meaning I could just be developing conditioned synaesthesia.

I guess through making psychedelic art constantly, looking closely at the structures in nature and the universe to try to notice real but subtle patterns, and making effort to reinforce the aesthetic cues of the psychedelic experience as a permanent part of perception, as well as practicing certain activities like meditation, I think I have effectively re-wired my brain, yes. But it did take some effort. I am pretty much on a sort of constant, mild psychedelic trip. Not so much a psychosis, or "HPPD" because I don't consider it a disorder or entirely the result of drugs, and I am often fairly rational (I hope) but a sustained, aesthetically heightened state of trippiness.
 
kaib0rg said:
has anyone been able to hold onto synesthesia *after* the effects of a psychadelic wore off? on one occassion i've been able experience music --> color. i'm assuming (based on minimal research) that i was able to make some kind of temporary bridge while under the influence, but i can only assume that making that kind of bridge over and over could lead to a permanent "rewiring" of neurotransmitters.


anybody had luck with this?
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I doubt one would be able to spend enough time in a psychedelic state to "rewire" any neural networks. This doesn't mean one can't access mental states first experienced under the influence of a psychedelic, it happens quite commonly. And most anecdotal evidence i've run across is fairly positive or neutral.
 
My girlfriend suffers from this, although it's unclear wether it was brought upon by psychedelics or wether it was always present. I've performed tests by playing various sounds, mostly styles of music, and she'll explain the color she see's while it's being played.
 
My mother recently claims to have developed synaesthesia. She's never sampled a psychedelic substance though. Would love a bit of synaesthesia in sober life but I've never been able to hold on to it.

Derek Tastes of Earwax - good documentary about synaesthesia :)
 
Synaesthesia is not all that uncommon for normal people whom have never taken a psychedelic, I think particularly grapheme synaesthesia, the one where letters and numbers have a specific colour to them. But it is possible that psychedelics can bring on synaesthesia.
 
^people sometimes experience synaesthesia during migraine auras. A friend of mine who has never experienced a psychedelic-induced synaesthesia despite having taken many trips did have one happen from the onset of a migraine attack to pop tunes in a convenience store. According to him, he doesn't experience very much at all in terms of visuals from psychedelics.

Migranous conditions in many cases seem to be related to problems with the serotonin system, as evidenced by the triptans and ergolines used to treat them and occasional but fairly rare psychedelic-like perceptual glitches experienced in migraine auras. Sometimes there are associated episodic mood disorders like manias and depression associated with migraine attacks too.
 
That documentary is cool! I have synaesthesia, unrelated to psychedelic use. I also taste and feel the texture of words.

Incidentally, "Derek" tastes and feels like Russian beet soup. It's strange to me that it tastes like ear wax to him...
 
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I can sometimes even when I'm sober access states of synesthesia that I have experienced while on psychedelics. Then I "know" that a C is red or yellow, while a C# is more like lime-yellow or green, etc... and I can attribute shapes to sounds, like a certain sound is round or square... they don't always correlate with waveforms though...

Mostly I just attribute sounds to emotions, like a certain sound is sad, lonely, happy or angry... disharmonic sounds are usually either nervous or painful... triangle waves are warm and fuzzy like kittens, low saw-waves are humorous, while higher saw waves are aggressive... and on and on...

My synaesthetics have mostly to do with sounds. I saw a documentary recently of a guy who attributed colours to tastes... that would probably be extremely annoying.
 
There was a special on the science channel about people who were born with various manifestations of synesthesia (seeing words, tasting music, etc), no drugs involved. The amazing thing is that those who have had it from birth seem to enjoy it and would not be willing to get rid of it given the option...

I'll have to see if I can find a link to it tonight, its an hour but well worth watching:)
 
I wouldn't want to be rid of it! It's strange and fascinating, and I can put the feelings and tastes of food in my mouth at will...
 
I believe Richard David James (Aphex Twin) has synesthesia (so he claims, he's also used lots of LSD from his music/titles) and it reflects in his songs, such as the Selected Ambient Works 2 album where he tried to recreate his experiences. Would be nice to experience it while sober though, doesn't seem like a bad thing.
 
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