tunnels and funnels, spirals, lattices

"What geometric visual hallucinations tell us about the visual cortex"

  Quote

Abstract

Many observers see geometric visual hallucinations after taking hallucinogens such as LSD, cannabis, mescaline or psilocybin; on viewing bright flickering lights; on waking up or falling asleep; in "near-death" experiences; and in many other syndromes. Klüver organized the images into four groups called form constants: (I) tunnels and funnels, (II) spirals, (III) lattices, including honeycombs and triangles, and (IV) cobwebs. In most cases, the images are seen in both eyes and move with them. We interpret this to mean that they are generated in the brain. Here, we summarize a theory of their origin in visual cortex (area V1), based on the assumption that the form of the retino-cortical map and the architecture of V1 determine their geometry. (A much longer and more detailed mathematical version has been published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 356 [2001].) We model V1 as the continuum limit of a lattice of interconnected hypercolumns, each comprising a number of interconnected iso-orientation columns. Based on anatomical evidence, we assume that the lateral connectivity between hypercolumns exhibits symmetries, rendering it invariant under the action of the Euclidean group E(2), composed of reflections and translations in the plane, and a (novel) shift-twist action. Using this symmetry, we show that the various patterns of activity that spontaneously emerge when V1's spatially uniform resting state becomes unstable correspond to the form constants when transformed to the visual field using the retino-cortical map. The results are sensitive to the detailed specification of the lateral connectivity and suggest that the cortical mechanisms that generate geometric visual hallucinations are closely related to those used to process edges, contours, surfaces, and textures.

really interesting subject and quite IDM

full article:

http://people.mbi.ohio-state.edu/golubitsky.4/reprintweb-0.5/output/papers/6120261.pdf

neat stuff -- here's another link on the same topic, little less academic though: http://plus.maths.org/content/os/issue53/features/hallucinations/index

lol @ the comments

i would prefer my hallucinations to remain mystical, if you don't mind

  Quote

 

wrong

Submitted by Anonymous on November 12, 2012.

Sorry to tell you that you are dead wrong. The geometric patterns are part of what makes up our reality. Lsd, dmt, and peyote hust make it so we can view them.

 

 

im surprised there isn't more controlled clinical studies done on a very powerful legal hallucinogen, Salvia.

I'd love a quasi scientific explanation of why salvia makes reality turn into a sheet of paper or a carpet that rolls me up inside of it

lol

  On 5/25/2013 at 6:00 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

im surprised there isn't more controlled clinical studies done on a very powerful legal hallucinogen, Salvia.

 

I'd love a quasi scientific explanation of why salvia makes reality turn into a sheet of paper or a carpet that rolls me up inside of it

well duh it's because salvia is a multidimensional communicator placed in a rare plant millenia ago by enochians, duh!

lolzzz

  On 5/25/2013 at 6:00 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

im surprised there isn't more controlled clinical studies done on a very powerful legal hallucinogen, Salvia.

 

I'd love a quasi scientific explanation of why salvia makes reality turn into a sheet of paper or a carpet that rolls me up inside of it

good luck trying to get funding for a study like that. unless your research has medical, military or commercial applications, you're out of luck.

i don't think he meant he wanted to do the research himself...

probably just the drugs.

i shouldn't have used second person pronouns in that sentence.

here's a better version: scientists cannot get funding for research on psychedelic drugs because they have little medical, military or commercial applications that we know of. if a scientist's research cannot make someone money, they won't be getting money either.

indeed. truly a wonderful setup.

looks like MAPS has a bit of salvia research listed though, so maybe john will get his wish http://www.maps.org/research/