There's not too much that I can say, but I noticed something the other night that I believe is worth discussing. Basically, I was really high, studying a Chemistry book, having little success at the time. Usually I can study high, but sometimes it catches up on me, and I get really spacey and disorientated. This isn't a shock, however, as I smoke cones from the minute I wake up. So, after hours of seemingly wasteful study, I gave up and fell asleep. I went back to the book the next day, in which I didn't smoke that day either. To my surprise, I remembered a fair portion of the information that I was having trouble keeping in my head for more than a couple minutes the night before. What do you guys reckon about this theory? That you can learn while high, and once the information passes from the "Short-Term" to the "Long-Term" and/or you sober up and get a good sleep, you MAY be able to recall it.
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CD Moderators: nepalnt21
Cannabis vs Short Term Memory vs Long Term Memory.
- Thread starter MatthewD
- Start date
Chainer
Bluelighter
I can tell you without a doubt I have passed/done well on almost all my college exams using information stored while high off my ass. I don't like to take the test high, though, just study lit up. I know this doesn't work for everyone as many of my friends don't get it at all.
basically your theory is that you can intake new information(learn) while stoned, but until you sleep it off and sober up you are unable to fully process this information, because your high? or something along those lines? i'm not sure if that is what is really going on here. i'm not a psychologist, but i'm pretty sure that long term memories first form in the part of the brain that stores short term memories, or atleast long term memories first start as short term memories. either way, if cannabis prevents you from remembering a list or understanding a concept because of the way it affects your short term memory, then those facts that you couldn't force into your head the night before didn't somehow become long term memories overnight. I think, perhaps, that your hours of seemingly wasteful study may not have been as entirely wasteful as you might have frustratedly thought the night before. Perhaps it might have more to do with a nights rest and a fresh start, and i'm sure less weed wouldn't hurt in the recollection process.
I'm not telling anyone how to live their life, but I know for myself when I have something to do that is mentally demanding and my performance is going to directly affect my future, I prefer not to be high. Not only does it make demanding circumstances more stressful mentally, it dimishes my ability to perform and its impossible for me to enjoy the high in such situations. that being said... once i get my shit taken care of i love being fucking stoned. stoners aren't too good for priorities. priorities are how i make sure i'm going where i want to go in life.
I'm not telling anyone how to live their life, but I know for myself when I have something to do that is mentally demanding and my performance is going to directly affect my future, I prefer not to be high. Not only does it make demanding circumstances more stressful mentally, it dimishes my ability to perform and its impossible for me to enjoy the high in such situations. that being said... once i get my shit taken care of i love being fucking stoned. stoners aren't too good for priorities. priorities are how i make sure i'm going where i want to go in life.
Spot on, that's basically what I was getting at! Studying high may seem pointless; you're forgetting things as fast as you can read them and you're off your head. But, it seems that when you wake up feeling more sober, these memories, in my case, partially come back at worst. I would not even consider taking a complex test high, but I have no qualms about studying high.
As to your first paragraph, you're on the right track. Whether or not I remember and comprehend the study from the previous night (which made no sense at the time!) because of the forming of "Long-term" memory, or just a good night sleep, it's intriguing.
Mental stress can be elevated while high it seems, so maybe that stress and anxiety contributes to a flustered feeling in the brain making it hard to clearly recall at the time; even in the pleasurable form of being high or stoned.
vyvanazepam
Greenlighter
is this really true for you guys
because with me when i learn high, i only remember it when i am stoned
so i study high,
for me to do good on the test i must be high for the test
also for if i study sober, i must take the test sober or i wont remember a thing.
accually i had the exact opposite theory as you
for when i learn a task sober and try it blazed i fail but if i learned it high i perform much better high than i do sober
there is theorys that if you replace high with drunk then the theory is basically the same
crazy shit!!!!!!
because with me when i learn high, i only remember it when i am stoned
so i study high,
for me to do good on the test i must be high for the test
also for if i study sober, i must take the test sober or i wont remember a thing.
accually i had the exact opposite theory as you
for when i learn a task sober and try it blazed i fail but if i learned it high i perform much better high than i do sober
there is theorys that if you replace high with drunk then the theory is basically the same
crazy shit!!!!!!
purple_cloud
Bluelight Crew
Fuck yes chainer, I agree. I always hear "study high, take the test high" and that is SO not true. Sometimes weed made studying more interesting...but I didn't really have many exams in my last couple years since it was grad work. Being high was good for solving problems and doing actual assignments more than for anything else, though. But yeah, studying high is one thing, I retain the information, but taking a test high? I know I get a little too distracted/lose track of time/get too hung up on little details and those little experiments were responsible for some of my uncharacteristic not-so-good grades.
cire113
Bluelighter
i guarantee you if you study sober you will be better than studying high.. weed sucks for short term memory..
as for studying high; i dont know what type of tests your taking and how/ bad your weed is but thats impossible for me
as for studying high; i dont know what type of tests your taking and how/ bad your weed is but thats impossible for me
sadaddaspie
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2011
- Messages
- 24
I'm not sure if I've ever recollected something later after seeming to fail to recollect it right after (perhaps failed) retention. My short term memory goes out the window when I'm stoned, I do know that. Sometimes I'm impressed with myself for remembering stuff in detail from when I was stoned but it's not like I gave zero memory retention when I'm high, I always remember SOMETHING. How would you even notice remembering something you didn't remember right after you learned it? Wouldn't you have forgotten it (got distracted, been thinking about other things) and then been reminded at a later point in time, by oh I don't know, something relevant like a question on a test? I know my ADD is exacerbated to the extreme when I'm high. If not for that, I would use it as a study aid because it's impossible for me to be bored while high and I'm easily amused, and often fascinated by things that would normally bore me, so studying is never boring when I'm high - but I'm very easily distracted and have no attention span what so ever - so I can't rely on myself to be productive for long while high... it can happen, but I could also go into the kitchen for some water and talk to my room mate for 2 hours then forget to get back to my studies and go out instead, because I forgot I was studying in the first place... but I digress, so I'll ask again, how could you even remember that you didn't know something?
I think you learned what you learned, forgot what you forgot, forgot that you learned what you learned, and later remembered what you learned. Happens to me all the time, even without drugs!
I think you learned what you learned, forgot what you forgot, forgot that you learned what you learned, and later remembered what you learned. Happens to me all the time, even without drugs!
Chainer
Bluelighter
I study better for tests high, I'm about done a 4 year college as a double major in Neuroscience Psychology and Existentialist / Ancient Philosophy... so really, you're just wrong. I don't know why you bothered to acknowledge it is an individual thing, and made an extremely generalized statement as well. I know a lot of kids with ADD/ADHD/Bipolar that simply cannot study without weed, in their words - it calms them down, allows them to focus on one subject for longer, and makes them think in ways they cannot usually, making word associations more easily. I also know plenty of people with the same disorders who cannot smoke because it makes them freak out.
YMMV, period.
double ewe
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2008
- Messages
- 2,143
in my experience, weed is bad for learning new information but good for synthesizing learned information.
if it's my first time looking at material, being stoned is just going to make me retain less. i simply don't have as much short-term memory. but when i'm trying to understand connections within material i've already studied, or solve problems, weed helps me synthesize knowledge and think in a more connected/bigger-picture way.
what i generally do is start off sober (with some OTC stim like red bull or 5hr energy), work for 2-3 hours, then take a break, get stoned, and look back over what i was working on.
if it's my first time looking at material, being stoned is just going to make me retain less. i simply don't have as much short-term memory. but when i'm trying to understand connections within material i've already studied, or solve problems, weed helps me synthesize knowledge and think in a more connected/bigger-picture way.
what i generally do is start off sober (with some OTC stim like red bull or 5hr energy), work for 2-3 hours, then take a break, get stoned, and look back over what i was working on.
this^
i'm studying right now blazed out of my mind, but never really had the desire to take a test stoned. i don't imagine i will get good results, and i don't plan i trying
LadyLucid
Bluelighter
I don't think I'm capable of of studying anything high unless it's liberal arts related (philosophy, etc)..
I don't intentionally do it, but I've gone through my college schooling so far by studying sober, attending classes high as hell, and taking the tests high. I feel like I do this because I seek to lower my anxiety in social situations whenever I smoke. By myself and just memorizing material it's stressful but I don't feel the same pressure to relax in that way.
My memory was way way worse when I drank regularly (I didn't even drink heavily, but my lapse of memory was terrifying), marijuana gives me clarity of mind but I would definitely not vouch for it enhancing recall
I don't intentionally do it, but I've gone through my college schooling so far by studying sober, attending classes high as hell, and taking the tests high. I feel like I do this because I seek to lower my anxiety in social situations whenever I smoke. By myself and just memorizing material it's stressful but I don't feel the same pressure to relax in that way.
My memory was way way worse when I drank regularly (I didn't even drink heavily, but my lapse of memory was terrifying), marijuana gives me clarity of mind but I would definitely not vouch for it enhancing recall
purple_cloud
Bluelight Crew
Just to echo Chainer's response...I have a Bachelor of Arts as well as a Master of Arts at this point. And, I can assure you all that Chainer and I smoke nothing but the finest green (and CD has quite the educated staff, heh.)
As a previous poster said, that's nothing more than a false statement. Describe "better" in that context; retaining information is only one aspect of what I consider studying. Smoking Marijuana affects Dopamine levels, as is well known. For people like myself, it centers my concentration, providing me with a "zoned-in", fish-eye like concentration, making me less susceptible to distraction. That being said, only in a comfortable environment, otherwise anxiety can worsen my concentration.
As for the weed, I don't mean to gloat, but it's literally world-class. Mango Haze, Super Silver Haze and Black Widow by Shantibaba, grown to its potential. You wont find many more psychedelic strains than those... Making that DEFINITELY not a factor.
Everyone must understand that everyone is affected differently. I'm not going to tell you that Weed WILL make you study better, but for myself, it's proven. As soon as I smoke, I find myself engulfed in interesting literature. I might entirely forget what I read half an hour ago, especially if I have somewhat overdone it when I smoke. Even so, when I wake up fresh(er) the next day, somehow a lot of it comes back to me, and the complex-analogies that I did make often come back to me in perfect sense. Speaking of which, EVERYTHING I have read or learned on Bluelight has been during times in which I have been high...
LogicSoDeveloped
Bluelighter
I have ADD and it helped for a while but for me personally, I was staying high all day everyday and eventually my ADD came back worse. This definitely doesn't happen to everyone but for me, I lost motivation and concentration and my grades got worse. I got busted recently and had to quit. However, if I could go back in time and change things, I could've probably chosen to use just enough to take care of my ADD symptoms without staying high as a kite. I think it def has legitimate use but I never really found out for myself, I just have read stuff online.
Lol wtf, well people are different. Very very different. Especially when it comes to taking a mix of dozens of different psychoactive substances. Pot sure puts me into a stupor, worse short term memory, worse long term memory, worse ability to focus, ruins my (excellent) math skills, was actually the reason I decided not to study math. It was pot or math. I know it's different for other people, but for me it's just heavenly smelling stupor in bud shape.
cire113
Bluelighter
Alot of this depends on how much you smoke and how stoned you are;
Couldn't agree more. People seem to underestimate this with pot.
purple_cloud
Bluelight Crew
This is pretty much what I said. I like doing lots of things high, but not absolutely stoned off my ass. There's a big difference...if you smoke daily, a couple hits isn't going to matter, but getting absolutely blazed stupid is still going to effect you. Good point. As I said, YMMV with just about everything in the drug world I've noticed.