LSD - colour change visuals.

I tried to look this up to see if it was a thing but I couldn't find anything so I wanted to know if anyone else experiences this. Does anyone else when they take acid, sometimes if on mushroom drops see the colour of everything change a bit? Like back and fourth. Like someone is changing the colour temperature of a photograph? I want to know if it's a thing and if it is if anyone knows how that works. Thanks

 

Things change color all the time for me on LSD. Sometimes the color an object is will get brighter, this happens all the time with grass and plants they will look VERY green. Sometimes what is actuly red could be blue.

 

Yes many report color change, color enhancement, color alterations, etc. with LSD and psychedelics.

I think there is research suggesting that LSD affects important pathways in the visual cortex such as V1 and V4 which may likely explain some of the color changes. I am sure that the interplay with other receptors not necessarily associated with color, such as serotonin receptors (responsible for mood) may make the color effects more pronounced as is with my experience as well as others I've read. For instance, I may have a profound emotional connection with colors or they may take on new meanings for me on LSD.

This next part is completely speculation but I feel as if when I'm tripping, particularly in the daytime and there is this heightened sensitivity to colors that there are more cones or color photoreceptors activated or perhaps more rods, responsible for vision in low frequency lighting and night time vision are turned off. Maybe the homeostatic functioning of these photoreceptors is kind of disturbed during LSD trips or something however I don't seem to get as drastic an effect with colors at night.

 

Thanks guys

 

That'd be one of the desired effects yes.

As you increase the dose, it becomes more apparent

 

One of my funner moments on LSD was with my friend and I sitting on a hill at a bush party, maybe about half moon of light. We were eating skittles. She had two in her hand and they kept changing colour. I don't know how long we sat there watching the Skittles, trying to figure out what colour they really were.

Then someone came along with a lighter and gave us bright light; they were both yellow. We were disappointed that once we knew what the true colour was, we couldn't make them shift anymore.

 

Sounds interesting and your anecdote would provide more credence to my disturbed homeostatic theory.


Just did some more reading and to geek out on more neuroscience... Apparently spatial recognition affects our perception of color as well, so the primary mechanism of 5ht2a agonism with LSD, which is generally considered responsible for visual distortions and hallucinatory phenomena would likely further color changes as well.

 

:0 really?

I know for sure perception of colour affects spatial recognition, but that's just screwed my head up if it works the other way round..

 

Yah it makes sense when thinking about it in daily life but in regards to the LSD experience, the experience is so encompassing and engrossing, it's difficult to sometimes recognize that stuff 'out there'.

If you think about a scenery assuming all things equal and you see a tree closer to you and the same type of tree like on a hill in the distance, the tree closer to you is going to have colors which are much more pronounced and vibrant than the tree in the distance.

I am assuming as an artist you represent this type of thing with different shades of color?

 

Mm, the colour shift is due to the spatial change, cos there's more air in the way of something in the distance which will affect the "purity" of light.. but that's an effect of the atmosphere, and we've learned what those colour shifts mean.

So space recognition comes after colour recognition, but nvm, semantics