The perception lab
Turn up colour, breathing surfaces, trails and geometry on a dusk meadow, your own camera or a photo. A hands-on way to see what people mean when they describe a psychedelic experience, and why it’s so hard to put into words.
This browser can’t run the lab (it needs WebGL). There’s a simpler version inside The life of an adverse event.
What you’re looking at
- Colour
- Richer saturation and contrast. Ordinary things can look newly fascinating.
- Breathing surfaces
- Walls, grass and leaves seem to ripple, flow or breathe while staying recognizably themselves.
- Tracers
- Moving things leave smeared copies behind them. Try the camera and wave a hand.
- Geometry
- Lattices and spirals settle onto textured surfaces first, then everywhere. They come from the wiring of your own visual cortex, as Seeing Things explains.
- Size distortion
- Parts of the scene swell or shrink, so size and distance feel unreliable.
- Visual snow
- A fine, constant static. Some people see it all the time, with or without drugs, and it’s one of the changes that can persist afterwards.
- Eyes closed
- Heinrich Klüver’s four "form constants" (tunnel, spiral, honeycomb, cobweb), the same shapes reported after mescaline, in migraine and in failing vision.
The levels borrow Alexander Shulgin’s rating scale, which describes what’s present rather than how strong it feels. This is an artistic approximation built from what people describe and what researchers measure. Real experiences vary enormously from person to person, and the parts that matter most are often not visual at all. For the science, and for why these effects are so hard to record in a clinical trial, read The life of an adverse event.
Good to know
- Nothing leaves your device. The camera and your photos are processed in your browser and never recorded or uploaded.
- No strobing. Motion is slow and there are no flashes. If moving patterns bother you, press Pause or lower the sliders.
- Educational, not encouragement. This isn’t a guide to using any drug. If you’re worried about visual changes that won’t go away, talk with a doctor.