During an eight-week retreat in Mexico hosted by the Qualia Research Institute, researchers evaluated how non-standard states of consciousness impact classic visual illusions. Subjects administered the legal compound experienced a vanishing of the typical 10 to 20 percent size distortion seen in the Ebbinghaus illusion. Unlike traditional psychedelics that heavily warp imagery, this fast-acting compound, which was vaporized in 3.4 mg doses, flattened visual fields while temporarily restoring accurate size judgment.
Key points
The substance acts primarily as a 5-HT1a agonist rather than targeting the 5-HT2a recepto…: The substance acts primarily as a 5-HT1a agonist rather than targeting the 5-HT2a receptors common to classical psychedelics.
Visual effects from this compound focus on intensified colors and flattened fields instea…: Visual effects from this compound focus on intensified colors and flattened fields instead of the complex hallucinations caused by LSD.
Evaluating optical illusions during non-ordinary states helps scientists identify the mat…: Evaluating optical illusions during non-ordinary states helps scientists identify the mathematical and computational properties that govern human perception.
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Psychedelics produce all sorts of visual distortions: from breathing walls and geometric patterns to complex visual landscapes populated by full-blown entities. Sometimes people claim to see the Truth on them — but it’s typically spiritual, emotional or personal truth.
But can psychedelics make you see the world more clearly in the most literal sense? Amid the sea of visual distortions they produce, might some patterns be perceived more clearly than they are in our normal, sober waking state?
At least sometimes, the answer appears to be yes. On 5-MeO-DMT, a powerful psychedelic, I experienced a near-complete cancellation of the Ebbinghaus illusion.
The Ebbinghaus Illusion
The two orange circles above are physically the same size, but the surrounding grey circles make the one on the right appear larger.
This illusion was discovered by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909) and popularised by Edward B. Titchener in a 1901 textbook on experimental psychology.
Different people perceive the illusion to different degrees. To me, the circle on the right looks about 10–20% larger, depending on my distance from the screen and the size at…
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