Music sounds better under the influence of cannabis. Why?

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• Listening to music is enriched by the effect of medical cannabis
• The subjective feeling of improved listening comes about because several brain centres are affected at once
• Most recreational users and patients treated with cannabis agree in this regard

You close your eyes, put on your headphones and begin sensually drawing in the vapour of your favourite strain through your brand-new vaporiser. You have heard this album countless times, but this time you somehow feel every key, every flow of rhythm and every unfolding melody, which resonates with you on a completely different level than ever before.

“When you work on one track for several hours at a stretch and then light a joint during a break, it is as if you heard the track differently - again and, at the same time, for the first time.”

This is how Lindsey Buckingham, a member of the American-British rock band Fleetwood Mac, describes his relationship with cannabis and music. The interconnection of music and medical cannabis dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century and the birth of jazz, and it is associated with icons of this then-fresh improvisational genre, such as Louis Armstrong or Dizzy Gillespie. The history of cannabis and its connection with music is very rich, and the true beginning of the partnership between these two phenomena could certainly be debated.

How is it possible that music sounds better under the influence of cannabis?

Studies focusing directly on this question are very scarce; nevertheless, there are several hypotheses attempting to explain the mechanism of this delightful duo.

Some of the theories point to the effect of cannabis on the perception of time and timing, which is so important for musicians in particular and is connected with both rhythm and the flow of melody. (More in the article “Cannabis slows down the perception of time”)

One of the studies examining this phenomenon showed that the subjective perception of time of individuals under the influence of cannabis, using the example of a 15-second time interval, is extended by almost 2 seconds on average. “If you look at all the literature on cannabis and time perception, it appears that brain systems under the influence of cannabis create a type of perception in which the countdown runs more slowly,” explains Jorg Fachner, Professor of Music, Health and the Brain at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

“You can imagine it as your internal units of time being slightly inflated, enlarged. Under the influence of cannabis, musicians therefore have a little more time during musical improvisation to plan the next note and find rhythmic threads more easily.”

This would certainly make sense, for example, with jazz musicians, who can thus “squeeze” more notes into a given musical section without disrupting the rhythm or melody. Musicians also praise the greater “richness of the resulting production” under the influence of cannabis. However, these views are still purely subjective and have not been proven by any official study.

Concentration and attention

“The moment your perception of time changes, the function of attention and concentration changes too,” Fachner explains further. “You put on your headphones, play your favourite track and while listening you are able to perceive certain auditory information much more selectively - some more than usual and some less. As a result, individual tones, rhythms and melodies come across more intensely.”

According to Fachner, it is precisely the enhanced ability to perceive “the pauses between notes” that makes music more vivid and distinct under the influence of cannabis.

These unofficial, subjective feelings of cannabis users are also supported by some observed neurological changes that occur under the influence of medical cannabis.

In 2002, Professor Fachner conducted his own study in which he examined changes in the brain while listening to music under the influence of cannabis. To measure brain activity he used an EEG – electroencephalogram, an instrument capable of detecting even very small changes in the electrical activity of neurons. During the study, Fachner first measured the brain activity of sober subjects during moments of silence and while listening to music, and then repeated the same when the participants were under the influence of cannabis.

Fachner also decided to conduct the experiment in a comfortable living room so that the subjective experience would not be disturbed by a laboratory environment, which would subsequently distort the results. After the first listening and a subsequent thirty-minute break, participants were given medical cannabis containing 20% THC and the whole experiment was repeated while listening to the same tracks.

The results showed that after the administration of cannabis, the participants' brain activity increased mainly in the right temporal and left occipital lobes – areas of the brain responsible for regulating concentration and processing sound and information about the surrounding space. “One interpretation of this observation is that under the influence of cannabis it is possible to concentrate better on the flow of music without requiring as much mental energy. Listening is therefore ultimately an easier and much more relaxing process.”

Changes in visual processes under the influence of cannabis

Also interesting are the changes in the left occipital area of the brain, which is normally responsible for spatial perception and processing visual information. “When you listen to music, there is always a sensory spatial element present,” Fachner explains further.

“During evolution, our senses developed in such a way that we are able to recognise where all the surrounding sounds come from and which way they travel. This mechanism is processed simultaneously by both the auditory and visual circuits of the brain.”

Changes in the way the brain processes visual and auditory information lead in certain cases to a feeling of these senses mixing or merging. “Some of the people who use medical cannabis before listening to music say that they are able to imagine the music better and, in a certain way, even watch it,” Fachner adds.

Some other studies from the seventies of the last century also mention people under the influence of cannabis who experience “a sensation of louder sounds, especially sounds at higher frequencies, which also increases the chance of auditory hallucinations.”

Memory functions

According to Fachner, another potential and interesting one is the hypothesis of temporary changes in the memory of cannabis users.

Because cannabis, while it is taking effect, mainly disrupts short-term, working memory, the user experiences music in a way that ultimately makes them more present in the moment. “Emptying short-term memory results in, let us say, a ‘compressed’ version of memory, which is ultimately reflected in feelings of greater presence and more detailed recognition of the individual tones of the music.”

In other words, “because of the disruption of short-term memory, a person to some extent loses contact with the past and the future and is therefore much more settled in the present moment, which is perceived as longer or timeless, freed from the continuous passage of time,” comments Frederick Melges, a psychiatrist working at Stanford University.

So, to sum it all up, while listening to music under the influence of cannabis, the following occur:

• Changes in the perception of acoustic space
• Changes in the perception of the temporal course of music
• A different strategy of the brain in concentrating on individual tones
• Changes in the perception of frequencies

Future research and applications

Based on the knowledge currently available from Fachner's research, it appears that medical cannabis could potentially also be used to improve auditory functions in people with hearing impairments. Fachner himself hopes that in some cases it might be possible to fine-tune the perception of sound frequencies or to recognise better where a sound is coming from spatially.

“Thanks to better perception of higher tones and improved ability to recognise acoustics, you receive more information about the origin of sounds, for example in a given room,” Fachner explains his point.

So whatever the neural circuits responsible for the exceptional nature of listening to music under the influence of cannabis may be, most recreational cannabis users and patients treated with this versatile herb agree that music and cannabis simply go very well together.

Source: leafly.com

Author: Adam Hoffman

Translation: Filip Maral

Images: /img/gallery-1466601100-gettyimages-185958878.jpg