One of the most enjoyable experiences I've always had while smoking is the expanded visual sense that makes smoke rising from the end of a joint or rising from a pipe bowl have a mental visual sensation as though one is looking at something miles away even though it is just at arm's length. When I start to notice that, I know am getting to a high level I seek. More likely to reach that level after a t-break and if one has been smoking often may not reach that high a level regardless of how much one smokes. Our human visual system eye has about 130 million photo receptors that connect via 1.3 million axons ganglia to the rest of the brain. And those receptors are mirrored within the memory part of the brain with a like visual field. When we smoke cannabis that can magnify the awareness of all senses, it is as though when we are high, we are aware of more of those receptors than when straight. An analogy might be for those with corrected near sighted vision when they put on a pair of glasses and can suddenly see all in the distance clearer with significantly more detail. Before one puts on the glasses, looking into the distance may seem normal as one is not aware of the missing detail. But with glasses on suddenly...wow now I see much more. Things don't look different but rather just more resolution detail. The mind then can interpret that as being further away so the sensation translates to smoke rising a long ways off. One then looks at one's hand and one feels like it too is far away in space.
Lotsa cb1 receptors in the hippocampus. Hence the effects of thc on new memory formation, including place and orientation in space. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Sort of. But not really. Information is propagated from a rod or cones photoreceptor thru one or more “bipolar neurons” and/or “retinal amacrine cells”, and finally to the “retinal ganglion cells” (RGC). These are all still located in the retina. The axons (outputs) of the ganglion cells form the optic nerve. The RGC signal pass thru a couple more synaptic junctions deeper in the brain before arriving at the visual cortex. For the most part, the retinal image is mapped topographically to the visual cortex. That is, adjacent retinal photoreceptors map to adjacent neurons in the visual cortex. Technically, the retina is part of the brain. It’s a bit more complicated though. See Visual Pathways for an excellent article on the main visual information pathway. Smoke some weed first!
So it's like a camera with the picture focused on the brain instead of on film. I did know the retina is part of the brain, that's one reason our eyes are in our heads.