WEBVTT - The Artifact Revisited: The Psychedelic Blindfold

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of

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<v Speaker 1>iHeart Radio. Hi, my name is Joe McCormick, and this

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<v Speaker 1>is the Artifact, a short form series from Stuff to

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<v Speaker 1>Blow Your Mind, focusing on particular objects, ideas, and moments

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<v Speaker 1>in time. It's well known that visual hallucinations can be

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<v Speaker 1>induced by psychedelic compounds like LSD, d MT, mescaline, and psilocybin.

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<v Speaker 1>But according to a now copious body of research, there's

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<v Speaker 1>a fairly reliable and less chemically exotic way to make

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<v Speaker 1>people with otherwise typical vision see things that aren't there

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<v Speaker 1>deprive the eyes of light and weight. One example. In

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<v Speaker 1>two thousand four, a study was published in the Journal

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<v Speaker 1>of neuro Optomology by Lotvie Marabet, Denise McGuire, Aisling Ward,

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<v Speaker 1>Karen Alterescu, Robert Stickle, and Alvaro pascual leone called visual

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<v Speaker 1>hallucinations during prolonged blindfolding insided subjects. This study actually took

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<v Speaker 1>place within the bounds of a larger study about learning

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<v Speaker 1>and brain plasticity under sensory deprivation. A couple of the

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<v Speaker 1>test groups of that larger study required subjects to wear

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<v Speaker 1>a blindfold for ninety six hours straight. Now, this wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>just a strip of cloth tied around the eyes. It

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<v Speaker 1>was a sort of power blindfold that prevented any light

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<v Speaker 1>perception whatsoever. Quote It was held in place by a

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<v Speaker 1>velcro strap and further secured by ace bandages. The blindfold

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<v Speaker 1>permitted full motion of the eyes, as well as opening

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<v Speaker 1>and closing of eyelids. Potential tampering with the blindfold by

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<v Speaker 1>the subjects was controlled with the use of a piece

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<v Speaker 1>of photographic paper attached to the inside of the blindfold.

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<v Speaker 1>All subjects were issued a handheld microcassette recorder with automatic

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<v Speaker 1>date times stamping, and directed to report their thoughts, feelings,

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<v Speaker 1>and perceptions related to the experiment throughout the day as

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<v Speaker 1>frequently as they desired. Now, what was so interesting about

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<v Speaker 1>these micro cassette diaries is that, without prompting, out of

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<v Speaker 1>thirteen subjects total, ten reported experiencing visual hallucinations on average

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<v Speaker 1>after about a day of blindfolding. These visions varied a lot,

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<v Speaker 1>from simple perceptions of flashing lights known as phosphenes, to

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<v Speaker 1>complex imagery like people, environments, and ornate objects. Subject four,

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<v Speaker 1>a twenty three year old man, reported seeing a strange

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<v Speaker 1>assortment of vivid geometrical shapes, warping jigsaw puzzle pieces, a

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<v Speaker 1>triangle with bold dots at each vertex, and quote a

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<v Speaker 1>large X with a light shining underneath it. Subject eight,

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<v Speaker 1>a twenty year old woman saw cities, skies, kaleidoscopes, lions,

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<v Speaker 1>and a butterfly that became a sunset. Quote if there

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<v Speaker 1>is a sunset or a sunrise, I couldn't look at

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<v Speaker 1>the sun because it was too bright. It would seem

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<v Speaker 1>like all of this light would just collect where the

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<v Speaker 1>sun was, and I just could not look there. Subject six,

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<v Speaker 1>a thirty four year old man reported intricate visual hallucinations

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<v Speaker 1>while listening to music, particularly Mozart. First he saw skulls

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<v Speaker 1>and ceremonial masks, then the image of an old woman

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<v Speaker 1>sitting in an airplane seat whose face transformed into the

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<v Speaker 1>face of a rodent. Subject to A twenty four year

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<v Speaker 1>old man saw all kinds of imagery, flashing lights, lamps, trees,

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<v Speaker 1>mirrors and full landscapes, ornate buildings of green, white marble,

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<v Speaker 1>and cartoon figures, but he also perceived obstacles in his

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<v Speaker 1>path while walking from place to place, believing while walking

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<v Speaker 1>outside that he saw ditches in the dirt stones and

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<v Speaker 1>streams of water. One interesting variation was that some of

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<v Speaker 1>the hallucinations were context appropriate. Subject one, a twenty nine

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<v Speaker 1>year old woman, experienced one hallucination twelve hours after the

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<v Speaker 1>blindfolding began. She stood in front of a mirror which

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<v Speaker 1>she knew was there, but of course couldn't see, and

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<v Speaker 1>suddenly a face appeared where her reflection should have been.

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<v Speaker 1>Only it wasn't her face, but quote a green face

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<v Speaker 1>with big eyes. Subject three, a twenty four year old woman,

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<v Speaker 1>had been napping when her sister arrived to visit. As

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<v Speaker 1>her sister entered the room, the subjects saw quote a

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<v Speaker 1>splotch of light in the exact form of Elvis Presley.

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<v Speaker 1>In both of these cases, the brain saw a human

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<v Speaker 1>figure where it knew by a combination of memory and

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<v Speaker 1>other senses that one could be found, only it didn't

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<v Speaker 1>see the correct human figure. But other visions of this

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<v Speaker 1>kind were more accurate. Subject five, a twenty nine year

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<v Speaker 1>old woman, reported, on the second day, quote, I have

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<v Speaker 1>the sensation and that I can see my hands in

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<v Speaker 1>my arms moving when I moved them, and leaving an

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<v Speaker 1>illuminated trail when she reached out to pick up an object.

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<v Speaker 1>She realized she could see her hands doing what they

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<v Speaker 1>were doing, even though there was no light reaching her eyes.

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<v Speaker 1>Subject ten, a twenty one year old woman, experienced something

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<v Speaker 1>similar as she was eating a meal. She reached out

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<v Speaker 1>to a water pitcher to pour herself a drink and

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<v Speaker 1>suddenly reported that she could see what she was doing. Quote,

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<v Speaker 1>I felt like I was seeing the pitcher while I

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<v Speaker 1>was pouring the water. These last variations about context dependent

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<v Speaker 1>hallucinations were the most interesting part of the study to me,

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<v Speaker 1>since they might cause us to question what we mean

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<v Speaker 1>when we distinguish hallucination from real sight. The fact that

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<v Speaker 1>our eyes receive no light might not mean that we

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<v Speaker 1>can't see. This type of lightless vision of one's own

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<v Speaker 1>body has been observed in other contexts. Just one example,

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<v Speaker 1>spelunk is in the total darkness of a deep cave

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes report that they can see their own hands and

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<v Speaker 1>arms and the movements of their own body. This is

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes known as the spelunkers illusion. The eyes sense light,

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<v Speaker 1>but seeing happens in the brain, and it turns out

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<v Speaker 1>the visual cortex can not only mistakenly see things that

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<v Speaker 1>aren't actually present in the case of a hallucination, it

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<v Speaker 1>can also see things that are present accurately when the

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<v Speaker 1>brain is informed of them by sources other than light,

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<v Speaker 1>such as hearing, touch, appropriate reception, and memory, which is

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<v Speaker 1>in fact consistent with lots of research showing that people

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<v Speaker 1>with permanent blindness often recruit the visual cortex of the

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<v Speaker 1>brain to do things like make mental maps of environments,

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<v Speaker 1>even though those maps are not based on light perceived

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<v Speaker 1>through the eyes. So what does it mean to see?

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<v Speaker 1>Tune into new editions of the artifact each week, hosted

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<v Speaker 1>by the Robert or myself as always, You can email

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<v Speaker 1>us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of I

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