This open-label study (n=61 of which 21 control group) on those who participated in a two-week ayahuasca retreat found that they had more creative (divergent, ‘high originality’, ‘phosphenes’) responses after the retreat. The participants, however, also had a higher baseline on this creativity measure.
Abstract of Enhancement of Creative Expression and Entoptic Phenomena as After-Effects of Repeated Ayahuasca Ceremonies
“Studying the effect of psychedelic substances on expression of creativity is a challenging problem. Our primary objective was to study the psychometric measures of creativity after a series of ayahuasca ceremonies at a time when the acute effects have subsided. The secondary objective was to investigate how entoptic phenomena emerge during expression of creativity. Forty individuals who were self-motivated participants of ayahuasca rituals in Brazil completed the visual components of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking before and the second day after the end of a two-week long ceremony series. Twenty-one comparison subjects who did not participate in recent psychedelic use also took the Torrance tests twice, two weeks apart. Repeated ingestion of ayahuasca in the ritual setting significantly increased the number of highly original solutions and phosphenic responses. However, participants in the ayahuasca ceremonies exhibited more phosphenic solutions already at the baseline, probably due to the fact that they had more psychedelic experiences within six months prior to the study than the comparison subjects did. This naturalistic study supports the notion that some measures of visual creativity may increase after ritual use of ayahuasca, when the acute psychoactive effects are receded. It also demonstrates an increased entoptic activity after repeated ayahuasca ingestion.“
Authors: Ede Frecska, Csaba E. Móré, András Vargha & Luis E. Luna
Notes on Enhancement of Creative Expression and Entoptic Phenomena as After-Effects of Repeated Ayahuasca Ceremonies
Entoptic activity: visual effects whose source is within the eye itself (wiki)
Summary of Enhancement of Creative Expression and Entoptic Phenomena as After-Effects of Repeated Ayahuasca Ceremonies
Creative thinking involves generating new ideas, associations between existing ideas, and the use of specific knowledge to achieve a single, correct solution to a problem.
Psychedelic (hallucinogenic) substances have a controversial effect on creative expression, but there are many anecdotal accounts of increased creative capacity as perceived by artists, writers, designers, computer programmers, and other users who self-administered psychedelic substances.
Jeremy Narby interviewed three molecular biologists who reported that they acquired relevant information and insight about their research during their first ayahuasca experiences in the Peruvian Amazon. Benny Shanon documented intellectual-philosophical insights attained by ayahuasca drinkers without prior formal education.
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https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2012.703099
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Cite this paper (APA)
Frecska, E., Móré, C. E., Vargha, A., & Luna, L. E. (2012). Enhancement of creative expression and entoptic phenomena as after-effects of repeated ayahuasca ceremonies. Journal of psychoactive drugs, 44(3), 191-199.
Study details
Compounds studied
Ayahuasca
Topics studied
Creativity
Study characteristics
Open-Label
Participants
40
Humans