signal filtering in the brain

[fairychild]

i've read now many times about a specific filter between thalamus and cerebrum that prevents the brain of too much incoming signals. this shall include signals that are not necessarry for humans to survice and reproduce. the more incoming impulses the more it is filtered because everything incoming flows from the cerebrum back to thalamus preventing more to enter.. sort of

 

so-called "psychedelic" susbtances like lsd, psilocin, mescaline, ... are capable of removing this filter (i assume due to their serotonine blocking) and let everything get in..

 

i have not found true scientific reports about this matter, so i give it a try here. has anyone heard about this?

[YT2095]

the action of LSD to this day, Still isn`t entirely known. you may have difficulty getting any ONE source of data about it, and probably after conflicting data sorting, you`ll still have to peice bits together like a jigsaw.

 

Good Luck and enjoy your trip

[fairychild]

yea there are tons of sources which arent scientific at all.. especially when it comes to mysticcal, spiritual or religious topics. even huxley writes in his doors of perception that potentially the human brain is capable of being aware of "everything happening somewhere in the universe" - which is totally nonsense and prooves at the same time that what he writes there in his book shouldnt be taken for granted.

 

what i am looking for is a scientific, serious study of LSD and similar substances. not some popular scientific crap..

[JesuBungle]

I would have to say that there is no proof LSD or other psychadelics can remove this filter. If anything, they can make it worse. When you do a psychadelic, you are subjecting your brain to more than it can handle. Think of your brain as a computer. When you take a psychadelic drug, the detail of the "game" increases but the framerate decreases. And in extreme cases, it doesn't have to be on a drug but can happen from a traumatic incident such as a car accident, your mind will seperate itself from your body for a short period of time because there is more information than you can handle. This is called an out of body experience, and many people have them on these drugs. So in my opinion, anything that causes that could only increase the filtering.

[sunspot]

There are two aspects of the mind. A conscious aspect and an unconscious aspect. The unconscious aspect does not use the filter. The conscious aspect is more limited in capacity and requires a filter to help it focus. With hypnosis, one can recall things that were filtered but which nevertheless were recorded by the unconscious part of the brain. That is the supercomputer part of the brain. The conscious mind is more like a PC terminal to the super computer. It can only handle smaller tasks in real time, or larger tasks over extended time.

[ashennell]

i've read now many times about a specific filter between thalamus and cerebrum that prevents the brain of too much incoming signals. this shall include signals that are not necessarry for humans to survice and reproduce. the more incoming impulses the more it is filtered because everything incoming flows from the cerebrum back to thalamus preventing more to enter.. sort of

 

Transfer of information to the cortex is certainly not just a feed-forward process, it does indeed dependant on modulation by information flowing back from the cortex to the thalamus. However, the idea that it acts as a filter in the way you describe is too simplistic to be meaningful.

 

If anything, hallucinogens must relax the rules by which we interpret new input. We reduce the importance we place on sensory evidence for determining the state of our world.

[badchad]

If you're interested in hallucinogens, I highly recommend the following review as a starting point:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14761703&query_hl=5&itool=pubmed_docsum

 

As far as "filters" are concerned, one would have to ask whether we are (for lack of a better term) "removing" or "lessening" a filter with a hallucinogen, or does the chemical itself exogenously stimulate our brains to "add" some sort of stimuli that isn't there?

[JesuBungle]

I'd suggest doing a little background check of your family's mental health first. You can never be too careful when experimenting with hallucinagenic drugs. I found this out the hard way. The negative side effects are a lot more common than erowid.org lets on. The disclaimer, everyone reacts differently to different substances.

[Peels]

Hallucination is not a result of the brain having "too much incoming signals". It is the opposite. Without external stimulations, all human brain will start to hallucinate.

 

The brain filter theory of hallucination doesn't fit the facts. Just take a look about how we induce the dreaming state; also do a search about John Lilly's isolation tank.