Subjective time perception is essential to everyday reality, and altered states of consciousness can change it. In shamanic ayahuasca rituals, music is a key element. This study examined how familiar versus unfamiliar music affects subjective time perception in experienced ayahuasca users (more than 60 lifetime uses in three years). Participants made time estimations for 20-second musical stimuli during rituals, before and after ayahuasca ingestion, and completed mood assessments. All participants underestimated the duration of the musical stimuli. However, unfamiliar music elicited greater underestimation compared to familiar music, indicating that both ayahuasca and musical familiarity influence the subjective experience of time.
Ayahuasca, a classic psychedelic, and the snuff rapé, both used in shamanic rituals, alter time perception. Previous studies with classic psychedelics show impaired time reproduction for intervals longer than 1.6 seconds, but the one prior ayahuasca study found different results. In a double-blind experiment, 11 healthy volunteers experienced in ayahuasca with rapé were tested under a control condition (ayahuasca dose) and an experimental condition (ayahuasca without DMT, called cipó tea) with or without rapé, using a time reproduction task and mystical experience questionnaires. Acute ayahuasca did not significantly impair reproduction of intervals longer than 1.6 seconds.