Neurosci and Art

The fact that Sigmund Freud was a cocaine addict is very interesting, because after studying about him so many times in different psychology and history classes, that fact was always left out of the textbooks. Last week, I discussed the use of Adderall, and I believe it applies here too. We can connect this to the first week animation video by Ken Robinson, where he claims the ADHD epidemic isn't real, and references the use of drugs like Adderall and Ritalin in children to help fix a broken education system. Adderall is an amphetamine, just like methamphetamine and maybe sometime in the future we will think about the use of Adderall in the same way we think of those in the past and their use of cocaine.

Continuing on the topic of drugs, Bryan Lewis Saunders, an adventurous artist, drew self portraits of himself on different drugs. One of which is found below, while he was on psilocybin mushrooms.

Check out the whole collection of this project in the number 3 citation! 

I found this piece very striking, as it shows not just the change in perception drugs have, but that individuals interpretation of their change in perception while using. It is fascinating to think that there are different worlds of perception and consciousness that the human mind is capable of while influenced by different substances, and how capable our mind is, while not forgetting how fragile the chemistry is (that such a small amount of this kind of smoke or just one or two some other pill can completely change your outlook on reality).

Finally, the lecture questions on dreams had me researching dreams until I came onto the topic of lucid dreaming. This is a state where, inside a dream, the dreamer is lucid and aware of their state in a dream, and can exercise control on their surroundings and imaginary experiences. Somewhat like the movie Inception.

When Dr. Stephen LaBerge of Stanford University studied lucid dreaming he found that the subjective experience of time was the same as waking life while in a dream, the activation of the right and left brain was the same when singing and counting, respectively, in both lucid dreaming and waking states, and that the physiological effects of lucid dreaming sex, sexual arousal and orgasm matched real life. It really calls into question what roles our conscious, sub conscious and unconscious states play on our interpretation of reality when dreams can mimic real life so well, except that we can have complete control.

Cites:
1. "Ritalin and Cocaine: The Connection and the Controversy." Ritalin and Cocaine: The Connection and the Controversy. The University of Utah, n.d. Web. 16 May 2015.
<http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/ritalin/>

2. Majoy, Benajmin. "GETTING ABILIFIED WITH BRYAN SAUNDERS | VICE | United States." VICE. Vice Media, 9 Feb. 2011. Web. 15 May 2015.
<http://www.vice.com/read/getting-abilified-with-bryan-saunders>

3. Short, April M. "30 Self-Portraits Drawn While the Artist Was Under the Influence of 30 Drugs." Alternet. N.p., 04 Apr. 2014. Web. 12 May 2015.
<http://www.alternet.org/drugs/30-self-portraits-drawn-while-artist-was-under-influence-30-drugs>

4. Blackmore, Susan J. "Lucid Dreaming: Awake in Your Sleep" Skeptical Inquirer 15 (1991): 362-370. Print. <http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/Articles/si91ld.html>

5. Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience pt3” YouTube Lecture. YouTube, 16 May 2012. Web. 15 May 2015. 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=12&v=E5EX75xoBJ0>