Attention

Summary

Psychedelics and meditation both expand awareness, but they affect attention differently. Meditation involves training attention, while psychedelics can impair attentional performance. Despite this impairment, psychedelics may also create an 'attentional surplus' that allows for greater awareness. The chapter emphasizes the need to differentiate between attentional task performance and other aspects of attention.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract This chapter presents a unifying theory of the psychedelic experiences induced by psychedelics and meditation. Both psychedelics and meditation are widely reported to 'expand’ awareness, and, given the close relationship between awareness and attention, the chapter argues that a natural target of analysis is that of the attentional system. In the case of meditation, this is especially clear since many meditative practices involve attentional training. In contrast, the case of psychedelics is less clear. This is partly due to limitations on empirical research, but more importantly, because psychedelics regularly induce impairments to attentional performance. However, the chapter argues that we need to distinguish performance on attentional tasks from other qualities of attention. The chapter then proposes that psychedelics regularly disrupt the attentional system, impairing attentional performance but, at the same time, freeing up attentional resources, thus creating an attentional surplus that facilitates expansions of awareness.