Discussion»Questions»Emotions» Does marijuana delay thinking so that thougts you have are afflicted by after the fact realizations like a perpetual loop of incompletene
I think it delays the realisation that your thoughts were not as brilliant as you thought they were when you came up with the solution to all world problems.
There's been some recent studies on this and they are reaching similar conclusions. There is a psychological concept called priming. Where one idea or word primes the mind to diverge into other thoughts. There seems to be an effect with cannabis that readies the mind into a state of hyper-priming where the brain more easily and becomes more prone to divergent thinking. Example. If we are stoned and I say something about tofu being not appetizing say. The increased tendency for divergent thinking is hyper-primed to run with it on other topics that are somewhat related, but not really tangible to the original statement. The mention of tofu might lead to discussions about soybeans, soybeans to farming, farming to the ethical complications of GMO's and factory farming. So on the surface it may seem the user is going off on unrelated topics, but not really, tofu may lead to farming and farming ethics in the example, but not life forms being discovered in the oceans depths say. There is a linked pattern, not just wild and random changes of the topic. Interestingly this effect of hyper priming and divergent thinking also seems to be elevated in marijuana users in general and not just when they are high. It seems to be somewhat residual even when the intoxication is over. So it's not so much that marijuana delays thinking, it may actually do quick the opposite just with a more divergent style of thinking due to this hyper-priming state.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at November 30, 2016 11:20 AM MST
Ahh see that's another story. The effect on short term memory.
The assumption that smoking pot makes one less able to learn or has dire effects on education. Not true. It effects short term memories like "where did I just put my keys" not the long term memory center that remembers actual learned data and concepts.
I really recommend googleing marijuana and hyper-priming/ divergent thinking. Some of the studies and research is very interesting and raises insights into a lot more than just the effects of marijuana.
Right amazing! And the corollary thought I had you stated as it speeds thoughts up and kind of trip over each other in a progressive way. Marijuana is definitely progressive because you learn faster. Philosophical topics mostly. Now study Salvia and learn to astral project. I never can finish that trip. I cop out fearing for my egos safety. I am very bedeviled about doing anything on weed. I ca nt!
I don't like salvia at all. I've tried it many, many times. Even have a few Salvia D plants I keep as houseplants. I personally don't find it to be an enlightening or positive experience at all. Too narcotic IMHO Now Vilca seeds, cappi vine, and chacruna leaves are a different story.
While Glis touched on the subject a bit, I'm going to give the basic science of cannabinoids as I understand it.
A great deal of what we call "thinking" boils down to selection. Our brains are constantly bombarded with far more input than we can hope to thoroughly process, so our brain has mechanisms for determing what to pay attention to and what to encode in memory.
The active ingredients in marijuana disrupt the function of those attention and memory selection circuits, so what was once a slice of ordinary pizza one would wolf down while vaguely acknowledging it was "good" becomes a culinary adventure with every subtle nuance of its flavor consuming one's thoughts. While one is focusing on the amazing flavor complexity of pizza, the brilliant idea being expressed by one's friend is neglected, so the words are neither processed for semantic content, nor stored in working memory for easy retrieval. Hence the, "Dude..wait. What?" phenomenon.
Sure makes me okay with the sh*tty state of things, as long as I've got weed. That's why I don't smoke it anymore; it's been about six months without it. I cry a lot now, and I'm always uncomfortable, but I'm actually changing, even though the changes seem so slow... I know I could run up to the store and get comfortably numb really quickly, but that wouldn't do me any good. I never cried when I got stoned, and after smoking it so long, I wasn't really high anymore, I was just neutral. Considering I can't thrive the way I'm living now, I need to feel, and I need to change. So. I'm sure I'll smoke it again, but I'm not buying it, or I'll just go back to the same old state of things.
Benedict Arnold 