What An Acid Trip Reveals About How The Brain Creates Meaning

When tripping on acid, people often say that everyday objects become drenched with deep meaning and significance.  In The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley famously wrote of becoming utterly captivated by the folds in his gray flannel pants during his first-ever psychedelic experience. “I looked down by chance, and went on passionately staring by choice, at my own crossed legs,” the writer and philosopher recollected. “Those folds in the trousers ― what a labyrinth of endlessly significant complexity! And the texture of the gray flannel ― how rich, how deeply, mysteriously sumptuous!”   An enhanced sense of meaning is one of the hallmarks of the psychedelic experience. People who have been under the influence of drugs like LSD, mescaline or hallucinogenic mushrooms often describe finding profound significance in even the most prosaic objects and sensations. LSD dramatically changes the way people perceive the environment and themselves, often blurring the boundaries between the two. But the brain changes underlying these dramatic shifts in consciousness haven’t been entirely clear.  A University of Zurich study, published recently in the journal Current Biology, traces the effect of heightened meaning-making back to certain important neurochemicals and receptors in the brain that are activated by the drug. The findings highlight what’s going on in the brain to create a sense of personal meaningfulness ― ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news