mescaline

n. a hallucinogen derived from the peyote cactus and long used by indigenous peoples of the southwestern United States and Central America as part of certain religious ceremonies. Its effects often include nausea and vomiting as well as visual hallucinations involving lights and colors; they have a slower onset than those of LSD and usually last 1 to 2 hours. Mescaline is the oldest classic hallucinogen known to Western science; its pharmacology was defined in 1896, and its structure was verified by synthesis in 1919. It is a substituted phenylethylamine, and its likely mechanism of action is via serotonin and dopamine receptors. Mescaline is classified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule I controlled substance (see scheduled drug).

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

February 23rd 2025

inbreeding

n. the mating of individuals that are closely related. Inbreeding increases the risk of perpetuating certain genetic defects in the family, as in consanguineous marriages. Inbreeding within small populations, such as geographically isolated populations, leads to increased frequency of particular mutations within such groups. This fact has been used to demonstrate the founder effect for certain cancers and other disorders. Inbreeding studies have contributed to efforts to identify and test for mutations predisposing to disease in some groups of people. Compare outbreeding.