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.

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]

Chemist Alexander Shulgin synthesized tens of molecules in search of psychoactive materials, and evaluated them via careful self-experimentation together with his wife Ann Shulgin and a small research group of good friends.^[15]^[16]^[17]

References

^ 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. S2CID 4387788.
^ 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. PMC 7323767. PMID 31778095. S2CID 208335554.
^ Who Goes First?: The Story of Self-Experimentation in Medicine by Lawrence Altman
^ Melissa Beattie-Moss (February 4, 2008). "Gut Instincts: A profile of Nobel laureate Barry Marshall". Penn State News.
^ "Medical Journal of Australia". Mja.com.au. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
^ 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. Retrieved 2007-01-28.
^ Rebecca Ghani (12 April 2011). "Self experimenting doctors". BMJ. 342: d215. doi:10.1136/bmj.d2156. S2CID 80314766.
^ 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]
^ Ebbinghaus, Hermann (1913). Über das Gedächtnis. Untersuchungen zur experimentellen Psychologie. NY Teachers College.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e 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. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
^ "The Pursuit of Sweet". Science History Institute. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
^ Mazur, Robert H. (2020-10-28), Stegink, Lewis D.; Filer, L.J. (eds.), "Discovery of Aspartame", Aspartame: Physiology and Biochemistry (1 ed.), CRC Press, p. 4, doi:10.1201/9781003065289-2, ISBN 978-1-003-06528-9, retrieved 2024-11-29
^ Paumgarten, Nick (2003-06-08). "Little Helper". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Archived from the original on 2024-05-20. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
^ Shroder, Tom (2014-09-09). "'Apparently Useless': The Accidental Discovery of LSD". The Atlantic. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
^ 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.
^ Shulgin, Alexander; Shulgin, Ann (1990). PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story. Berkeley: Transform Press. ISBN 9780963009609.
^ Shulgin, Alexander; Shulgin, Ann (1997). TiHKAL: The Continuation. Berkeley: Transform Press.

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

[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. S2CID 4387788.

[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. PMC 7323767. PMID 31778095. S2CID 208335554.

[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.

[5] "Medical Journal of Australia". Mja.com.au. Retrieved 2010-03-02.

[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. Retrieved 2007-01-28.

[7] Rebecca Ghani (12 April 2011). "Self experimenting doctors". BMJ. 342: d215. doi:10.1136/bmj.d2156. S2CID 80314766.

[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.

[Gratzer2002-10] 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. Retrieved 1 August 2012.

[11] "The Pursuit of Sweet". Science History Institute. Retrieved 2024-03-24.

[12] Mazur, Robert H. (2020-10-28), Stegink, Lewis D.; Filer, L.J. (eds.), "Discovery of Aspartame", Aspartame: Physiology and Biochemistry (1 ed.), CRC Press, p. 4, doi:10.1201/9781003065289-2, ISBN 978-1-003-06528-9, retrieved 2024-11-29

[13] Paumgarten, Nick (2003-06-08). "Little Helper". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Archived from the original on 2024-05-20. Retrieved 2024-12-01.

[14] Shroder, Tom (2014-09-09). "'Apparently Useless': The Accidental Discovery of LSD". The Atlantic. Retrieved 7 December 2016.

[15] 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.

[16] Shulgin, Alexander; Shulgin, Ann (1990). PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story. Berkeley: Transform Press. ISBN 9780963009609.

[17] Shulgin, Alexander; Shulgin, Ann (1997). TiHKAL: The Continuation. Berkeley: Transform Press.

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Self-experimentation

Biology and medicine

Psychology

Chemistry

See also

Further reading

References

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