An idea to explain the "melting" visual effect of psychedelics

[Aetherius Rimor]

So I was outside smoking a cigarette, and something caught my eye. It was a very "full" blossoming tree (full visual occlusion from branches/leaves/flowers) that was moving back and forth slightly in a small breeze.

The pattern of the movement of all the leaves/flowers was almost identical to the "melting" movement patterns I have seen while tripping, hence the movement drawing my attention.

So this made me wonder, could the actions of psychedelics with visual distortions of a melting type effect be caused by the stimulation of motion recognition related receptors/processors of the brain?

Originally I believed it was due to some interruption/corruption of the blind spot visual field "filling in" routine of the brain, which caused individual frames of the vision to not align properly to previous frames, but after seeing this and the youtube videos that induce the same visual distortion relying on black/white spirals moving in a specific fashion I've come to a different conclusion.

Anyone else have any ideas or information on this aspect?

 

[Natureverse]

Been looking into how ''morphing'' visuals form as well, and came to a conclusion, that at least for swim the morphing has something to do with the kaleidoscope that's seen on lsd. It is like swim is looking through a filter of kaleidoscopes which are constantly moving, and swims vision is moving in order with the kaleidoscope (since that is the ''filter'' ), and that's how objects ''melt'' . Try noticing it next time and tell me if you see the same. I'm wondering if it's just swim.

But then what causes the kaleidoscope...?

 

[jdub42035]

Did ya know SwIMers usually drown :O
True story

 

[whoseanb]

Been looking into how ''morphing'' visuals form as well, and came to a conclusion, that at least for swim the morphing has something to do with the kaleidoscope that's seen on lsd. It is like swim is looking through a filter of kaleidoscopes which are constantly moving, and swims vision is moving in order with the kaleidoscope (since that is the ''filter'' ), and that's how objects ''melt'' . Try noticing it next time and tell me if you see the same. I'm wondering if it's just swim.

But then what causes the kaleidoscope...?

What the fuck is a swim?

 

[TheAppleCore]

[...] but after seeing this and the youtube videos that induce the same visual distortion relying on black/white spirals moving in a specific fashion I've come to a different conclusion.

I assume that the effect caused by the YouTube videos is due to your brain expecting a particular motion in your field of vision (due to having recently observed it for an extended duration), and trying to "compensate" for the motion by applying motion in the reverse direction, so as to "still" the image, allowing you to analyze it more effectively.

If this is true, and our brains apply "reverse motion" to moving parts of our visual field, in order to negate the motion to allow for easier interpretation of the visual field, then perhaps psychedelics are indeed causing those wavey / rippling / melting effects by stimulating the "reverse motion" reaction, sans any detected motion in the first place?

 

[countyourculture]

The visual cortex is arranged in a structurally distinct manner from the retina, and we can use a specific mathematical technique to map between the two (complex log transform).

If you assume there is random noise in color/hue values and then transform this noise, you get the classic "spinning vortex" style visual, aka form constants.

If you assume there is random noise in depth values and then transform this noise, you get the "breathing walls" visual.

I've collected a bit of work here: http://countyourculture.com/psychedelic-visuals/

I think this is the generator of many visuals - random noise twisted by existing biological visual processing pathways.

 

[Aetherius Rimor]

AppleCore and CountYourCulture... thank you!

These are the exact type of ideas I was looking for.

I think AppleCore's idea and CountYourCultures proof of concept in random noise in depth values are probably pretty close to the true cause.

The wind moving the leaves/flowers would have been triggering changes in depth perceived throughout the whole structure due to being able to see different parts of the tree at different depths of leaves/flowers when the ones closest to my field of view would no longer occlude ones behind it. That sentence is a horrible run on and I hope it makes sense.

Now I'm just wondering if it's pure coincidence that both of these possibilities produce similar results. The movement in youtube videos leading to an "auto-correction" type effect that produces similar distortion as the random noise in depth perception, or if the youtube videos are actually themselves triggering a disruption in depth perception.

I suppose it could be possible that the youtube video is triggering a disruption in depth perception due to over stimulation of the visual field... would that be possible?

That would allow us to explain both results with one answer, if it's a plausible explanation? Not knowledgeable enough in that area to confirm though... only speculate.

 

[Axed]

Someone posted this in PD a while back: http://tripzine.com/pit/signal_theory_poster.pdf

I found it really interesting & informative.