Self-experimentation
Encyclopedia
Self-experimentation refers to the very special case of single-subject scientific experimentation in which the experimenter conducts the experiment
on her- or himself. Usually this means that the designer, operator, subject, analyst, and user or reporter of the experiment are all the same. It is a special case of single-subject research
.
of Padua
was probably the first documented case of self-experimentation—living on a balance for 30 years in the early 17th century, weighing himself, his daily food, liquids, and combined excretions, leading him toward the discovery of metabolism
Human scientific self-experimentation principally (though not necessarily) falls into the fields of medicine and psychology, broadly conceived. Self-experimentation has a long and well-documented history in medicine which continues to the present. In psychology, the best known self-experiments are the memory studies of Hermann Ebbinghaus
, establishing many basic characteristics of human memory through tedious experiments involving nonsense syllables.
Recently, Dr. Seth Roberts
and Dr. Allen Neuringer
have advocated the broader use of self-experimentation, arguing that its low-cost and ease (compared to traditional large-sample experiments with human subjects) facilitate conducting a very large number of experiments, testing many treatments and measuring many things at once
. This allows considerable trial and error and can lead to the generation and testing of many ideas. Self-experimentation provides superior evidence to mere anecdotal evidence, because the entire experimental is explicitly designed to test a hypothesis, but is subject to observer bias. Self-experimentation could be considered a useful adjunct to large-sample experiments in scientific research.
recorded his self-experiment of successively devoting his attention for a week to one of thirteen "Virtues", "leaving the other Virtues to their ordinary Chance, only marking every Evening the Faults of the Day." In Self-change: Strategies for solving personal problems, M. J. Mahoney suggested that self-experimentation be used as a method of psychological treatment. He recommended that clients be taught basic scientific methods, in order that the client become a "personal scientist."
s to taste
newly prepared compounds. The purpose was to provide an additional characteristic for identification
, taking advantage of the selective chemical receptor
s that form this sense. However, as one might guess, this practice also led to numerous fatalities and near-fatalities. Surprisingly, it was not recognition of the risk of this self-experimentation that led to its extinction, but rather the advent of instrumentation capable of exacting physical characterization of compounds (particularly spectrometer
s with infrared
, ultraviolet
, NMR
and mass
selectivity). The routine tasting of new compounds by chemists of bygone times is, in fact, the main source of knowledge of the human toxicity
for certain chemicals.
This practice had positive and negative aspects. It probably contributed to the death of Carl Wilhelm Scheele
from apparent mercury poisoning. Joseph Priestley
discovered soda water while experimenting with carbon dioxide and tasting the results. Dr. Albert Hofmann
discovered the psychedelic properties of LSD
by accidentally absorbing it—and later intentionally ingesting it—in a self-experiment.
developed the use of sodium cromoglycate as a remedy for asthma
, based on khella, a traditional Middle Eastern remedy, with experiments on himself.
saturation triggered a fit which resulted in him suffering crushed vertebrae. In his decompression chamber experiments, Haldane and his volunteers suffered perforated eardrums, but, as Haldane stated in What is Life, "the drum generally heals up; and if a hole remains in it, although one is somewhat deaf, one can blow tobacco smoke out of the ear in question, which is a social accomplishment."
After failed attempts to infect piglets in 1984, Barry Marshall
drank a petri-dish of the Helicobacter pylori from a patient, and soon developed gastritis, achlorhydria
, stomach discomfort, nausea, vomiting, and halitosis
, fulfilling Koch's postulates
. The results were published in 1985 in the Medical Journal of Australia, and is among the most cited articles from the journal. He was awarded the Nobel Prize
in Physiology or Medicine in 2005.
studied the effects of electricity on animals and humans, and wrote The Effects of Electric Shock on Man, a book in which he explains the effects of different amounts of electricity on human subjects. He carried out experiments on human subjects including himself. He also invented the ground-fault circuit interrupter or GFCI, based on his understanding of electric shock in humans.
In 1998 a British scientist, Kevin Warwick
, became the first human to test an RFID as an implant to control surrounding technology. In 2002 he went on to have an array of 100 electrodes fired into the median nerve
of his left arm during a 2-hour neurosurgical operation. With this implant in place, over a 3-month period, he conducted a number of experiments including the first direct electronic communication between the nervous systems of two humans.
and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In each case the scientist's unorthodox theories lead to permanent change and ultimately to self-destruction.
Self-experimentation is a common trait amongst mad scientist
s and evil genius
es in more contemporary fiction and is part of the creation story of many comic book
supervillain
s, and some superhero
es. For example, the Spider-Man
villain, The Lizard
, was Dr. Curt Connors, who lost his arm in a war (other versions vary), and experimented with reptilian DNA to try and grow it back; but the therapy caused him to mutate into a half-human-half-reptile creature. On the hero side, the Fantastic Four
were created when they were testing Reed Richards new prototype rocket and were exposed to cosmic rays, giving them super powers. Other cases include the Man-Bat
, the Ultra-Humanite
, the Green Goblin
, and the animated Justice League version of Cheetah.
Experiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
on her- or himself. Usually this means that the designer, operator, subject, analyst, and user or reporter of the experiment are all the same. It is a special case of single-subject research
Single-subject research
Single-subject research is a group of research methods that are used extensively in the experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis with both human and non-human participants. Four principal methods in this type of research are: changing criterion, reversal , alternating...
.
History
SanctoriusSanctorius
Santorio Santorio , also called Santorio Santorii, Sanctorius of Padua, and various combinations of these names, was an Italian physiologist, physician, and professor. From 1611 to 1624 he was a professor at Padua where he performed experiments in temperature, respiration and weight...
of Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
was probably the first documented case of self-experimentation—living on a balance for 30 years in the early 17th century, weighing himself, his daily food, liquids, and combined excretions, leading him toward the discovery of metabolism
Human scientific self-experimentation principally (though not necessarily) falls into the fields of medicine and psychology, broadly conceived. Self-experimentation has a long and well-documented history in medicine which continues to the present. In psychology, the best known self-experiments are the memory studies of Hermann Ebbinghaus
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Hermann Ebbinghaus was a German psychologist who pioneered the experimental study of memory, and is known for his discovery of the forgetting curve and the spacing effect. He was also the first person to describe the learning curve...
, establishing many basic characteristics of human memory through tedious experiments involving nonsense syllables.
Recently, Dr. Seth Roberts
Seth Roberts
Seth Roberts is a Professor of Psychology at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of the bestselling book The Shangri-La Diet...
and Dr. Allen Neuringer
Allen Neuringer
Allen Neuringer is an American psychologist. He is a highly published and well recognized scientist in the field of the experimental analysis of behavior pioneered by B.F. Skinner...
have advocated the broader use of self-experimentation, arguing that its low-cost and ease (compared to traditional large-sample experiments with human subjects) facilitate conducting a very large number of experiments, testing many treatments and measuring many things at once
. This allows considerable trial and error and can lead to the generation and testing of many ideas. Self-experimentation provides superior evidence to mere anecdotal evidence, because the entire experimental is explicitly designed to test a hypothesis, but is subject to observer bias. Self-experimentation could be considered a useful adjunct to large-sample experiments in scientific research.
Psychology
The self-experimental approach has long and often been applied to practical psychological problems. Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
recorded his self-experiment of successively devoting his attention for a week to one of thirteen "Virtues", "leaving the other Virtues to their ordinary Chance, only marking every Evening the Faults of the Day." In Self-change: Strategies for solving personal problems, M. J. Mahoney suggested that self-experimentation be used as a method of psychological treatment. He recommended that clients be taught basic scientific methods, in order that the client become a "personal scientist."
Chemistry
Until recently, it was common practice among synthetic chemistChemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
s to taste
Taste
Taste is one of the traditional five senses. It refers to the ability to detect the flavor of substances such as food, certain minerals, and poisons, etc....
newly prepared compounds. The purpose was to provide an additional characteristic for identification
Analytical chemistry
Analytical chemistry is the study of the separation, identification, and quantification of the chemical components of natural and artificial materials. Qualitative analysis gives an indication of the identity of the chemical species in the sample and quantitative analysis determines the amount of...
, taking advantage of the selective chemical receptor
Sensory receptor
In a sensory system, a sensory receptor is a sensory nerve ending that responds to a stimulus in the internal or external environment of an organism...
s that form this sense. However, as one might guess, this practice also led to numerous fatalities and near-fatalities. Surprisingly, it was not recognition of the risk of this self-experimentation that led to its extinction, but rather the advent of instrumentation capable of exacting physical characterization of compounds (particularly spectrometer
Spectrometer
A spectrometer is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify materials. The variable measured is most often the light's intensity but could also, for instance, be the polarization...
s with infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
, ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
, NMR
NMR
NMR may refer to:Applications of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance:* Nuclear magnetic resonance* NMR spectroscopy* Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance* Protein nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy* Proton NMR* Carbon-13 NMR...
and mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
selectivity). The routine tasting of new compounds by chemists of bygone times is, in fact, the main source of knowledge of the human toxicity
Toxicology
Toxicology is a branch of biology, chemistry, and medicine concerned with the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms...
for certain chemicals.
This practice had positive and negative aspects. It probably contributed to the death of Carl Wilhelm Scheele
Carl Wilhelm Scheele
Carl Wilhelm Scheele was a German-Swedish pharmaceutical chemist. Isaac Asimov called him "hard-luck Scheele" because he made a number of chemical discoveries before others who are generally given the credit...
from apparent mercury poisoning. Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
discovered soda water while experimenting with carbon dioxide and tasting the results. Dr. Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann
Albert Hofmann was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide . He authored more than 100 scientific articles and a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child...
discovered the psychedelic properties of LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
by accidentally absorbing it—and later intentionally ingesting it—in a self-experiment.
Pharmaceuticals
Roger AltounyanRoger Altounyan
Roger Edward Collingwood Altounyan was an Armenian physician and pharmacologist who pioneered the use of sodium cromoglycate as a remedy for asthma...
developed the use of sodium cromoglycate as a remedy for asthma
Asthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
, based on khella, a traditional Middle Eastern remedy, with experiments on himself.
Biology
JBS Haldane, a notable British biologist, is yet another example of a scientist who conducted experiments upon himself. Haldane was a keen experimenter, and was more than willing to expose himself to danger in order to obtain the desired data. One such experiment involving elevated levels of oxygenOxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
saturation triggered a fit which resulted in him suffering crushed vertebrae. In his decompression chamber experiments, Haldane and his volunteers suffered perforated eardrums, but, as Haldane stated in What is Life, "the drum generally heals up; and if a hole remains in it, although one is somewhat deaf, one can blow tobacco smoke out of the ear in question, which is a social accomplishment."
After failed attempts to infect piglets in 1984, Barry Marshall
Barry Marshall
Barry James Marshall, AC, FRS, FAA is an Australian physician, Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine, and Professor of Clinical Microbiology at the University of Western Australia. Marshall is well-known for proving that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori Barry James Marshall, AC, FRS, FAA...
drank a petri-dish of the Helicobacter pylori from a patient, and soon developed gastritis, achlorhydria
Achlorhydria
Achlorhydria or hypochlorhydria refers to states where the production of gastric acid in the stomach is absent or low, respectively. It is associated with various other medical problems.-Signs and symptoms:...
, stomach discomfort, nausea, vomiting, and halitosis
Halitosis
Halitosis is a term used to describe noticeably unpleasant odors exhaled in breathing. Halitosis is estimated to be the third most frequent reason for seeking dental aid, following tooth decay and periodontal disease.- General :...
, fulfilling Koch's postulates
Koch's postulates
Koch's postulates are four criteria designed to establish a causal relationship between a causative microbe and a disease. The postulates were formulated by Robert Koch and Friedrich Loeffler in 1884 and refined and published by Koch in 1890...
. The results were published in 1985 in the Medical Journal of Australia, and is among the most cited articles from the journal. He was awarded the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in Physiology or Medicine in 2005.
Electricity
Charles DalzielCharles Dalziel
Charles Dalziel was a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciencesat UC Berkeley. According to volume 54 of UCB's Blue and Gold, Dalziel graduated with a Mechanics degree in 1927 and was from Santa Maria, CA...
studied the effects of electricity on animals and humans, and wrote The Effects of Electric Shock on Man, a book in which he explains the effects of different amounts of electricity on human subjects. He carried out experiments on human subjects including himself. He also invented the ground-fault circuit interrupter or GFCI, based on his understanding of electric shock in humans.
In 1998 a British scientist, Kevin Warwick
Kevin Warwick
Kevin Warwick is a British scientist and professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom...
, became the first human to test an RFID as an implant to control surrounding technology. In 2002 he went on to have an array of 100 electrodes fired into the median nerve
Median nerve
The median nerve is a nerve in humans and other animals. It is in the upper limb. It is one of the five main nerves originating from the brachial plexus....
of his left arm during a 2-hour neurosurgical operation. With this implant in place, over a 3-month period, he conducted a number of experiments including the first direct electronic communication between the nervous systems of two humans.
In fiction
Examples in classic fiction include the tales of The Invisible ManThe Invisible Man
The Invisible Man is a science fiction novella by H.G. Wells published in 1897. Wells' novel was originally serialised in Pearson's Weekly in 1897, and published as a novel the same year...
and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In each case the scientist's unorthodox theories lead to permanent change and ultimately to self-destruction.
Self-experimentation is a common trait amongst mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
s and evil genius
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
es in more contemporary fiction and is part of the creation story of many comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
s, and some superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
es. For example, the Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
villain, The Lizard
Lizard (comics)
The Lizard is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe and enemy of Spider-Man. The Lizard first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #6 , and was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko...
, was Dr. Curt Connors, who lost his arm in a war (other versions vary), and experimented with reptilian DNA to try and grow it back; but the therapy caused him to mutate into a half-human-half-reptile creature. On the hero side, the Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
were created when they were testing Reed Richards new prototype rocket and were exposed to cosmic rays, giving them super powers. Other cases include the Man-Bat
Man-Bat
Man-Bat is a fictional comic book character appearing in books published by DC Comics, usually as a supervillain and adversary of Batman, though occasionally depicted as a heroic character. He first appeared in Detective Comics #400 and was created by Frank Robbins and Neal Adams...
, the Ultra-Humanite
Ultra-Humanite
The Ultra-Humanite is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Action Comics #13 , and was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster...
, the Green Goblin
Green Goblin
The Green Goblin is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 ....
, and the animated Justice League version of Cheetah.