Jake Hooper
I'm a first year doctoral student in cognitive systems neuroscience at the University of Oregon, advised by Dr. Margaret Sereno. My work focuses on visual perception, aesthetic experience, self models, and altered states of consciousness. Previously, I worked as a clinical research coordinator in the CHAOS Lab housed within the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Anschutz. There, I managed several clinical trials on substance use and cognitive impairment, with a focus on cannabis, and helped expand research into the emerging field of psychedelics.
Research
My research connects neuroscience, psychology, complexity, and aesthetics. I am especially interested in how perception becomes meaningful experience, and why some encounters with art, nature, or altered states feel transformative.
Aesthetic experience
I approach aesthetic experience through hierarchical predictive coding, asking how the brain interprets particular sets of stimulus features as emotionally meaningful.
Fractal complexity
Fractals offer a scalable, quantifiable bridge between natural patterns, visual art, neural dynamics, and psychedelic visual phenomenology.
Psychedelics and consciousness
I am interested in how altered states of consciousness can clarify mechanisms of perception, cognition, and aesthetic experience.
Selected Publications
See allPsilocybin Outside the Clinic: Public Health Challenges of Increasing Publicity, Accessibility, and Use
This review synthesizes emerging data on psilocybin use trends, product variability, co-use with other substances, and adverse event reports. It highlights parallels with the cannabis legalization trajectory, showing that potency, product diversity, and unsupervised use are increasing while regulation and public education lag behind.
Neuroaesthetics of the psychedelic state
This paper outlines neural mechanisms underlying the aesthetic experience during psychedelic states and calls for direct research.
Visual Work
See galleryAlongside my research, I also make visual artwork.
