Michael Montagne - Evaluating Google's Ngram Analytic Tool Applied to Psychedelic Drug Literature

Google's Ngram Viewer serves as a functional tool for investigating the cultural and historical presence of specific terms within digitized literature. By charting the frequency of words in various corpora over time, researchers can map shifting societal interests and language trends regarding psychedelic substances. This quantitative methodology provides insights into the historical emergence and ebb of specific concepts in both scientific, popular, and underground texts, even if the digitized corpus does not represent the entirety of available literature. Nuanced interpretation remains essential when engaging with these datasets, as word popularity often captures broad cultural associations rather than strictly medical or academic discourse. For example, prominent spikes in usage may correlate with broader social movements, media sensations, or specific historical contexts rather than shifts in clinical application. Understanding these limitations is critical for researchers looking to accurately reconstruct the social construction and archival history surrounding prominent psychedelic compounds and key historical figures within the field.