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Abstract

Drugs and the Music Industry: How the Neurological and Visual Effects of LSD and Psilocybin Impact Creativity and Songwriting Abilities

Ammar Jawad, Depts. of Biology and Chemistry, with Prof. Mary Boyes, VCU Honors College

The 5-hydroxy-tryptamine 2A receptor, 5-HT2A, is a G protein-coupled receptor that belongs to a subtype of receptors known as serotonergic receptors. The 5-HT2A receptor plays a wide variety of roles that are pivotal in the optimal functionality of the brain, such as mediating the neurological, visual, and auditory pathways of the central nervous system. Typical agonists of the 5-HT2A receptor include psychedelic or hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, and N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Psychedelic drugs in particular have been a means for many artists and musicians to further enhance their creativity, leading to a subgenre of music and instrumentation known as psychedelic music, or psychedelia. Typically, psychedelic music is characterized by feelings of depersonalization and derealization, and artists who’ve experimented with drugs such as LSD and psilocybin claim to have an expanded imagination, along with a heightened sense of creativity and mesmerism. The research presented in this study explores the overlap between music and psychedelic drugs, namely LSD and psilocybin, and how the 5-HT2A receptor engages and mediates the neurological as well as the biological effects of these substances. This study has concluded that further research is necessary to explore the possibility of activating the 5-HT2A receptors with substances that do not carry the harmful effects that drugs such as LSD and psilocybin do.

Publication Date

2020

Faculty Advisor/Mentor

Prof. Mary Boyes

Sponsorship

Virginia Commonwealth University. Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program

Is Part Of

VCU Undergraduate Research Posters

Rights

© The Author(s)

Drugs and the Music Industry: How the Neurological and Visual Effects of LSD and Psilocybin Impact Creativity and Songwriting Abilities

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