Week Seven

This week’s blog was not very interesting to me until Professor Vesna mentioned the whole drug aspect of neuroscience and how these drugs like LSD and Cocaine played a vital role in some of the art and literature from people like Sigmund Freud (Vesna Lecture 3). Cocaine was a key player in the ability for Freud to write his book The Interpretation of Dreams. Cocaine is a drug that gives people an extreme happiness high. Cocaine enters the synapse and blocks the reuptake valves so dopamine continues to roam around in the synaptic cleft for a longer time. This long exposure to the dopamine is what gives people the “high” known from cocaine (Phelan Lecture 15). Sigmund Freud even wrote a whole series of papers called “Cocaine Papers” which was a series of studies/ideas from Freud on Cocaine and the effects of it. I had the chance to look up some of these papers and read an excerpt from them, and I must say some of them are insane.  

Example of a Neuron and Synapse Effected by Cocaine

Another man named Dr. Albert Hoffman, pioneered the study of LSD and the effects of it. He is known as the ‘father of LSD… [he was] the first person to experience the effects of LSD on the body and mind… helping to introduce the powers of LSD into the public’s consciousness” (Vesna Lecture 3). On this drug, people can dive into a new world of colors, shapes, and sights. This drug alters people’s perceptions and almost debilitates them completely. Artists like to use this drug to help them while creating art because it opens their minds to a whole new side of art not normally reached without the drug. Artists like Chance the Rapper have openly admitted to using LSD. This and other drugs effect the neurons in the brain and make them fire off in an abnormal way. Neurons affected by drugs affect the part of the brain that helps creativity.

MRI Scan of the Brain on LSD

LSD Tab Art. Demonstrates the Hallucinations Possible

It has been a norm that “artists have frequently experimented with mind-altering substances to determine whether they enhance or diminish creativity” (Frazzetto P.819). Nowadays, we have seen a shift from people relying on drugs to make art to artists using art to alert people about drugs. People want to avoid A Brave New World disaster where everyone is dependent on drugs but it seems already that “we have become neurochemical selves” (Frazzetto P.818).

Aldous Huxely Cover of Brave New World

Cover for Chance the Rapper's "Acid Rap"

Works Cited

"A History Of The Illegal World Of Psychedelic LSD Art." So Bad So Good RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2017. <http://sobadsogood.com/2015/07/22/history-illegal-world-psychedelic-lsd-art/

Abuse, National Institute on Drug. "How Does Cocaine Produce Its Effects?" NIDA. NIDA, n.d. Web. 16 May 2017. <https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/cocaine/how-does-cocaine-produce-its-effects>.

Anker, Suzanne. "Neuroculture." Neuroscience. By Giovanni Frazzetto. Vol. 10. N.p.: Nature Reviews, 2009. 815-21. Print

Chance The Rapper. "Chance The Rapper – Acid Rap [Tracklist + Album Art]." Genius. Genius, n.d. Web. 16 May 2017. <https://genius.com/Chance-the-rapper-acid-rap-tracklist-album-art-annotated>.

Griffin, Andrew. "LSD Makes the Brain More 'complete', Scientists Say as They Claim to Have Unlocked Secrets of Hallucinogenic Drugs." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 11 Apr. 2016. Web. 16 May 2017. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/lsd-makes-the-brain-more-complete-scientists-say-as-they-claim-to-have-unlocked-secrets-of-a6979571.html>.

Huxley, Aldous. "Brave New World: Aldous Huxley: Books." Amazon.com: Brave New World: Aldous Huxley: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2017. <https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0060850523>.

Phelan, Jay. "Cocaine and Other Drugs." Life Science 15. La Kretz 110, Los Angeles. 16 Mar. 2017. Lecture.

Vesna, Victoria. "Neuroscience Pt3." YouTube. UCOnline, 16 May 2012. Web. 16 May 2017. <https://youtu.be/E5EX75xoBJ0>