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At the end of our last class our understanding of reality was questioned because of the existence of our blind spot. This led me to wonder what happens when someone chooses to actually use a hallucinogen and chemically distort their ability to understand and interact with reality. Some effects seem to be an inability to understand the passage of time or to understand that objects and people around you are real. In general it seems to cause your brain to interpret visual images and the world around you differently.

            Some explanations for the effect of hallucinogens on the brain are that hallucinogens have similar structures to serotonin. They disrupt the interaction of nerve cells and the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is distributed throughout the brain and is involved in the control of many systems including behavioral, perceptual, and regulatory systems. Understanding that the distortion of the serotonin system will have huge effects on the brain, I still do not entirely understand how ones ability to see things normally is distorted. What are the exact neurological effects of serotonin on the “perceptual” system and how do hallucinogens change what is going on? Does something happen to the images that you see- once the images reach your brain is your brain unable to process them as it normally would? If that is what is happening could it also be interpreted that vision has an effect on how we interpret time, since ones sense of time is also distorted when “tripping”?

http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/LSD.html