Sean Noah was fascinated by synesthesia and the impact drugs, including psychedelics, had on generating visual images for non-synesthetes. This led him to study psychology and neuroscience and eventually collaborate with Erowid to analyze a large dataset of trip reports to understand the visual effects of psychedelics. The goal of their model is to identify visual effects in a bottom-up approach, allowing the data to speak for itself. Surprisingly, less than 5% of report sentences are about visual effects, with psychedelics having the highest percentage. The research aims to provide insights into how psychedelics affect visual perception and cognition.
https://themicrodose.substack.com/p/what-do-people-see-when-theyre-tripping