Literary Excerpt: Why Marijuana Makes Music Sound Better

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Curious as to why music and marijuana make such a good combination? Here's an explanation by neurobiologist, music producer and McGill professor Daniel J Levitin:
guy listening to music

"Music combined with marijuana tends to produce feelings of euphoria and connectedness to the music and the musicians. THC - the active ingredient, is known to stimulate the brain's natural pleasure centers, while also disrupting short-term memory. The disruption of short-term memory thrusts listeners into the moment of the music as it unfolds; unable to explicitly keep in mind what has just been played, or to think ahead to what might be played, people stoned on pot tend to hear music from note to note. Subconsciously all of the usual processes of expectation formation are still occurring, but consciously, the music creates what many people describe as a time-standing-still phenomenon. They live for each note, completely in the moment."

-from The World in Six SongsDaniel J Levitin

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2 comments

  • Comment Link bill albert Monday, 25 October 2010 23:07 posted by bill albert

    that is why i can not golf and smoke. I can not remember where I hit the ball

  • Comment Link Leah Adams Wednesday, 27 October 2010 15:35 posted by Leah Adams

    Well, that explains it then. The disruption of our short-term memory centers explains why nothing seems to matter and a hazy sense of well-being settles over everything. That gives me food for thought.

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