Self-experimentation

Self-experimentation refers to single-subject research in which the experimenter conducts the experiment on themself.

Usually this means that a single person is the designer, operator, subject, analyst, and user or reporter of the experiment.

Also referred to as Personal science or N-of-1 research,[1] self-experimentation is an example of citizen science,[2] since it can also be led by patients or people interested in their own health and well-being, as both research subjects and self-experimenters.

## Contents

* 1 Biology and medicine
* 2 Psychology
* 3 Chemistry
* 4 See also
* 5 Further reading
* 6 References

## Biology and medicine

Human scientific self-experimentation principally (though not necessarily) falls into the fields of medicine and psychology. Self-experimentation has a long and well-documented history in medicine which continues to the present day.[3]

For example, after failed attempts to infect piglets in 1984, Barry Marshall drank a petri dish of Helicobacter pylori from a patient, and soon developed gastritis, achlorhydria, stomach discomfort, nausea, vomiting, and halitosis.[4] The results were published in 1985 in the Medical Journal of Australia,[5] and is among the most cited articles from the journal.[6] He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2005.

Evaluations have been presented in the context of clinical trials and program evaluations.[7][8]

## Psychology

In psychology, the best-known self-experiments are the memory studies of Hermann Ebbinghaus, which established many basic characteristics of human memory through tedious experiments involving nonsense syllables.[9]

## Chemistry

Several popular and well-known sweeteners were discovered by deliberate or sometimes accidental tasting of reaction products. Saccharin was synthetized in 1879 in the chemistry labs of Ira Remsen at Johns Hopkins by a student scientist, Constantin Fahlberg, who noticed "curious sweet taste on his fingers while eating his dinner, [and] realized that it came from something he had spilled on his hand during the day". Fahlberg subsequently identified the active compound, ortho-benzoic sulfimide, and named it saccharin.[10][11] Cyclamate was discovered when a chemistry research student noticed a sweet taste on his cigarette that he had set down on his bench.[10] Acesulfame was discovered when a laboratory worker licked his finger.[10] Aspartame was also discovered accidentally when chemist James Schlatter spilled a solution of it on his hands, then later licked one of his fingers to pick up a piece of paper.[10][12] Sucralose was discovered by a foreign student, mishearing instructions of his supervisor, Prof. L. Hough, to "test" the compounds as to "taste" them.[10]

Leo Sternbach, the inventor of Librium and Valium, tested chemicals that he made on himself, saying in an interview, "I tried everything. Many drugs. Once, in the sixties, I was sent home for two days. It was an extremely potent drug, not a Benzedrine. I slept for a long time. My wife was very worried".[13]

Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first discovered the psychedelic properties of LSD five years after its creation, when he accidentally absorbed a small amount of the drug through his fingertips. Days later, he intentionally self-experimented with it.[14][15]

Hungarian chemist and psychiatrist Stephen Szára discovered the psychedelic effects of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) via self-experimentation in 1956.[14][16][17][18][19] He described experiencing intense euphoria at the higher DMT doses due to his excitement about the discovery.[16][17][14]

American chemist Alexander Shulgin synthesized hundreds of compounds in search of psychoactive drugs like psychedelics and entactogens, and evaluated them via careful self-experimentation together with his wife Ann Shulgin and a small research group of good friends.[14][20][21][22][23]

A great deal of additional notable self-experimentation in the area of psychoactive drugs has also been reported.[14]

## See also

* Psychonautics
* Participant observation
* Seth Roberts
* Personal science
* Human Enhancement
* Quantified self

## Further reading

* Lawrence K. Altman: Who Goes First? The Story of Self-Experimentation in Medicine. (1987) Wellingborough
* Seth Roberts & Allen Neuringer: Self-Experimentation, In: Handbook of Research Methods in Human Operant Behavior von Kennon A. Lattal & M. Perone (Eds.), S. 619–655. New York: Plenum Press (englisch).

## References

1. ↑ Martijn De Groot; Mark Drangsholt; Fernando J Martin-Sanchez; Gary Wolf (2017). "Single subject (N-of-1) research design, data processing, and personal science". Methods of Information in Medicine 56 (6): 416–418. doi:10.3414/ME17-03-0001. PMID 29582912. https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.3414/ME17-03-0001.
2. ↑ Nils B. Heyen (2020). "From self-tracking to self-expertise: The production of self-related knowledge by doing personal science". Public Understanding of Science 29 (2): 124–138. doi:10.1177/0963662519888757. PMID 31778095.
3. ↑ Who Goes First?: The Story of Self-Experimentation in Medicine by Lawrence Altman
4. ↑ Melissa Beattie-Moss (February 4, 2008). "Gut Instincts: A profile of Nobel laureate Barry Marshall". Penn State News. https://news.psu.edu/story/140921/2008/02/04/research/gut-instincts-profile-nobel-laureate-barry-marshall.
5. ↑ "Medical Journal of Australia". Mja.com.au. http://www.mja.com.au/.
6. ↑ Van Der Weyden, Martin B; Ruth M Armstrong; Ann T Gregory (2005). "The 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine". Medical Journal of Australia 183 (11/12): 612–614. PMID 16336147. http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/183_11_051205/van11000_fm.html#0_i1091639. Retrieved 2007-01-28.
7. ↑ Rebecca Ghani (12 April 2011). "Self experimenting doctors". BMJ 342: d215. doi:10.1136/bmj.d2156.
8. ↑ David E.K. Hunter, "Daniel and the Rhinoceros", Evaluation and Program Planning Volume 29, Issue 2, May 2006, Pages 180-185 (Program Capacity and Sustainability). [1]
9. ↑ Ebbinghaus, Hermann (1913). Über das Gedächtnis. Untersuchungen zur experimentellen Psychologie. NY Teachers College.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Gratzer, Walter (28 November 2002). "5. Light on sweetness: the discovery of aspartame". Eurekas and Euphorias: The Oxford Book of Scientific Anecdotes. Oxford University Press. pp. 14–. ISBN 978-0-19-280403-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=sTArAZsHejkC&pg=PT34. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
11. ↑ "The Pursuit of Sweet" (in en-US). https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-pursuit-of-sweet/.
12. ↑ Mazur, Robert H. (2020-10-28), Stegink, Lewis D.; Filer, L.J., eds., "Discovery of Aspartame" (in en), Aspartame: Physiology and Biochemistry (CRC Press): p. 4, doi:10.1201/9781003065289-2, ISBN 978-1-003-06528-9, https://books.google.com/books?id=yTH1iI9ybl4C&pg=PA3, retrieved 2024-11-29
13. ↑ Paumgarten, Nick (2003-06-08). "Little Helper" (in en-US). The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/06/16/little-helper. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 "Self-Experiments with Psychoactive Substances: A Historical Perspective". Handb Exp Pharmacol 252: 69–110. 2018. doi:10.1007/164_2018_177. PMID 30478735.
15. ↑ Shroder, Tom (2014-09-09). "'Apparently Useless': The Accidental Discovery of LSD". The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/09/the-accidental-discovery-of-lsd/379564/.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Andrew R. Gallimore; David P. Luke (3 July 2015). "DMT Research from 1956 to the Edge of Time". in Luke, David; King, Dave. Neurotransmissions: Essays on Psychedelics from Breaking Convention. London: Strange Attractor Press. pp. 291–316. ISBN 978-1-907222-43-6. https://www.buildingalienworlds.com/uploads/5/7/9/9/57999785/dmt_research_1956_edge_time_arg_dpl_final.pdf.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Gallimore, A.R. (2025). Death by Astonishment: Confronting the Mystery of the World's Strangest Drug (The DMT Book). St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-250-35776-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=H7caEQAAQBAJ. "After a series of first experiments with increasing dosages in rats, Szára was satisfied that the drug was unlikely to be toxic and was ready to begin the world’s first experiments with DMT in human volunteers. First test subject: Dr. Stephen Szára.29 [...] Although Szára was unable to recall more details of this first experience, it was perfectly obvious that this was a psychedelic of an entirely different order to the largely disappointing bufotenine: “My consciousness was completely filled by hallucinations, and my attention was firmly bound to them.”32 [...] It was clear to Szára that the afore neglected DMT was the molecule everyone else had been looking for but missed: “I remember feeling intense euphoria at the higher dose levels that I attributed to the excitement of the realization that I, indeed, had discovered a new hallucinogen.”34"
18. ↑ "DMT at fifty". Neuropsychopharmacol Hung 9 (4): 201–205. December 2007. PMID 18510265.
19. ↑ Szára, St. (1956). "Dimethyltryptamin: its metabolism in man; the relation to its psychotic effect to the serotonin metabolism". Experientia 12 (11): 441–442. doi:10.1007/BF02157378. PMID 13384414.
20. ↑ Connie Littlefield (director, writer), Siobhan Flanagan, Alexander Shulgin (subject), Ann Shulgin (subject), Paul F. Daley (subject), Myron Stolaroff (subject), Jean Stolaroff (subject), Wendy Perry Tucker (subject), Tania Manning (subject), Greg Manning (subject), Keeper Trout (subject), Earth and Fire Erowid, others (2021). Better Living Through Chemistry (Motion picture). Better Living Through Film, Incorporated. Archived from the original on November 19, 2025. Retrieved November 17, 2025.`{{cite AV media}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
21. ↑ Shulgin, A T; Shulgin, L A; Jacob, P (1986-05-01). "A protocol for the evaluation of new psychoactive drugs in man". Methods and Findings in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology 8 (5): 313–320. ISSN 2013-0155. PMID 3724306. https://europepmc.org/article/med/3724306.
22. ↑ Shulgin, Alexander; Shulgin, Ann (September 1991). PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story. Berkeley, California: Transform Press. ISBN 0-9630096-0-5. OCLC 25627628. http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal.shtml.
23. ↑ Shulgin, Alexander; Shulgin, Ann (September 1997). TiHKAL: The Continuation. Berkeley, California: Transform Press. ISBN 0-9630096-9-9. OCLC 38503252. http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/tihkal/tihkal.shtml.

\- Hanley et al 2019, "Review of Scientific Self-Experimentation: Ethics History, Regulation, Scenarios, and Views Among Ethics Committees and Prominent Scientists"

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