Researchers in Toronto are delving deeper into how cannabis enhances users’ musical experiences with a new study set to run through early 2025. Building on their 2023 findings that marijuana boosts enjoyment of music, the team has partnered with Club Lit, a downtown cannabis consumption lounge, to survey consumers in a real-world setting. The goal is to assess how cannabis directly impacts the way people engage with music while under the influence.
The study follows a previous project where participants were asked to recall past experiences of listening to music while high. This time, researchers are able to directly measure how cannabis affects music absorption and enjoyment as it happens in real-time. Chi Yhun Lo, a research associate at Toronto Metropolitan University’s SMART Lab, emphasized the opportunity to capture first-hand data about how cannabis influences listeners’ emotional and cognitive engagement with music.
“The big difference here is that we’re now observing people in the moment, rather than relying on retrospective reports,” Lo explained. “This gives us a unique chance to see what’s happening when they’re actually consuming cannabis and listening to music.”
The study is expected to involve 1,000 participants, with music genres ranging from pop, rock, and jazz, to reggae, R&B, and electronic. Researchers aim to explore whether cannabis alters listeners’ preferences or opens them up to new genres, along with how it influences cognitive processes like attentiveness, interpretation of lyrics, and emotional reactions.
One interesting focus is how cannabis may affect musical anhedonia, a condition where individuals lose their ability to enjoy music. The findings could potentially lead to therapeutic applications for conditions like musical anhedonia and other forms of sensory processing issues.
Participants will take short surveys during their visit to Club Lit, with QR codes available for them to fill out questionnaires about their musical engagement and emotional responses to the tracks being played. Researchers are particularly interested in how cannabis might alter perceptions of time, emotion, and embodiment, which could explain why some users feel more immersed in music while high.
The team is also testing whether different music genres affect cannabis users’ experience, aiming to gain a better understanding of the relationship between cannabis and musical enjoyment in a social setting.
“Music and cannabis go hand in hand for many people, but until now, there’s been little scientific data on why or how they intersect,” Lo said. “We’re just at the beginning of exploring what these effects could mean for therapeutic purposes.”
The collaboration with Club Lit, which is one of the few legally operating cannabis consumption lounges in Canada, is an essential part of the study’s design. Al Shefsky, the lounge’s founder, shared his excitement about contributing to groundbreaking research that could help deepen the understanding of cannabis’s effects on sensory experiences.
The findings from this research could not only deepen our understanding of the psychological impact of cannabis on music perception but also offer new insights into potential therapies for mental and emotional well-being.
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