Psilocybin-induced spiritual experiences and insightfulness are associated with synchronization of neuronal oscillations

Kometer, Michael; Pokorny, Thomas; Seifritz, Erich; Volleinweider, Franz X.

doi:10.1007/s00213-015-4026-7

Cited by 128 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…Scores of the spiritual experiences subscale of the 5D-ASC questionnaire were also associated with increased lagged phase synchronization of d oscillations between parahippocampal regions and the RSC. Kometer et al, (2015) speculate that the neuronal network processes they identified may constitute a crucial pathway that can be modulated by serotonergic receptors to regulate mental health, a conclusion that would be consistent with some of the potential positive mental health outcomes discussed earlier in this section.…”

Section: Psychedelics Can Engender Ecstatic States With Persistentsupporting

confidence: 75%

“…These findings of Kometer et al (2015) provide further evidence that decreased ongoing oscillations below 20 Hz, particularly u/a oscillations, may be a common mechanism of action of psychedelics. The decrease in lower frequency oscillations was found to be localized within an extended network that included the PCC, RSC, ACC, and parahippocampal regions, a network that strongly overlaps with the default mode network (DMN).…”

Section: Psychedelics Can Engender Ecstatic States With Persistentsupporting

confidence: 57%

“…Lower frequency oscillations, particularly in the a range, mediate rhythmic cortical inhibition of neuronal ensembles (see references in Kometer et al, 2015). The marked decrease in lower frequency oscillations observed in this study may indicate that psilocybin induces a shift of the resting excitation/inhibition balance toward excitation, which would be expected to disrupt the ordinary temporal structure of neuronal processes within the extended DMN.…”

Section: Psychedelics Can Engender Ecstatic States With Persistentmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…Kometer et al (2015) studied the neuronal basis of spiritual experiences and insightfulness after administration of psilocybin to human subjects. They conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study and administered psilocybin (170 or 215 mg/kg, p.o.)…”

Section: Psychedelics Can Engender Ecstatic States With Persistentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychedelics

2016

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Section: Psychedelics Can Engender Ecstatic States With Persistentsupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Psychedelics Can Engender Ecstatic States With Persistentsupporting

confidence: 57%

Section: Psychedelics Can Engender Ecstatic States With Persistentmentioning

confidence: 59%

Section: Psychedelics Can Engender Ecstatic States With Persistentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychedelics

2016

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“…Moreover, an especially strong relationship was found between PH-RSC decoupling and ego-dissolution (see also ref. 10). Thus, in the same way the neurobiology of psychedelicinduced visual hallucinations can inform on the neurobiology of visual processing, so the neurobiology of psychedelic-induced egodissolution can inform on the neurobiology of the "self" or "ego" (37), and the present results extend our understanding in this regard, implying that the preservation of DMN integrity, PH-RSC communication, and regular oscillatory rhythms within the PCC may be important for the maintenance of one's sense of self or ego.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural correlates of the LSD experience revealed by multimodal neuroimaging

Carhart‐Harris

Muthukumaraswamy

Roseman

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

653

844

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Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is the prototypical psychedelic drug, but its effects on the human brain have never been studied before with modern neuroimaging. Here, three complementary neuroimaging techniques: arterial spin labeling (ASL), blood oxygen leveldependent (BOLD) measures, and magnetoencephalography (MEG), implemented during resting state conditions, revealed marked changes in brain activity after LSD that correlated strongly with its characteristic psychological effects. Increased visual cortex cerebral blood flow (CBF), decreased visual cortex alpha power, and a greatly expanded primary visual cortex (V1) functional connectivity profile correlated strongly with ratings of visual hallucinations, implying that intrinsic brain activity exerts greater influence on visual processing in the psychedelic state, thereby defining its hallucinatory quality. LSD's marked effects on the visual cortex did not significantly correlate with the drug's other characteristic effects on consciousness, however. Rather, decreased connectivity between the parahippocampus and retrosplenial cortex (RSC) correlated strongly with ratings of "ego-dissolution" and "altered meaning," implying the importance of this particular circuit for the maintenance of "self" or "ego" and its processing of "meaning." Strong relationships were also found between the different imaging metrics, enabling firmer inferences to be made about their functional significance. This uniquely comprehensive examination of the LSD state represents an important advance in scientific research with psychedelic drugs at a time of growing interest in their scientific and therapeutic value. The present results contribute important new insights into the characteristic hallucinatory and consciousness-altering properties of psychedelics that inform on how they can model certain pathological states and potentially treat others.is a potent serotonergic hallucinogen or "psychedelic" that alters consciousness in a profound and characteristic way. First synthesized in 1938, its extraordinary psychological properties were not discovered until 1943 (1). LSD would go on to have a major effect on psychology and psychiatry in the 1950s and 1960s; however, increasing recreational use and its influence on youth culture provoked the drug's being made illegal in the late 1960s. As a consequence, human research with LSD has been on pause for half a century. However, inspired by a revival of research with other psychedelics, such as psilocybin and ayahuasca, a small number of new reports on the psychological effects of LSD have recently been published (2-6).LSD has a high affinity for a range of different neurotransmitter receptors, but its characteristic psychological effects are thought to be mediated by serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT 2A R) agonism (7). Previous neurophysiological research with LSD is limited to electroencephalography (EEG) studies in the 1950s and 1960s. These reported reductions in oscillatory power, predominantly in the lower-frequency bands, and an increase i...

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LSD‐induced entropic brain activity predicts subsequent personality change

Lebedev

Kaelen

Lövdén

et al. 2016

Human Brain Mapping

269

204

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Personality is known to be relatively stable throughout adulthood. Nevertheless, it has been shown that major life events with high personal significance, including experiences engendered by psychedelic drugs, can have an enduring impact on some core facets of personality. In the present, balanced-order, placebo-controlled study, we investigated biological predictors of post-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) changes in personality. Nineteen healthy adults underwent resting state functional MRI scans under LSD (75µg, I.V.) and placebo (saline I.V.). The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) was completed at screening and 2 weeks after LSD/placebo. Scanning sessions consisted of three 7.5-min eyes-closed resting-state scans, one of which involved music listening. A standardized preprocessing pipeline was used to extract measures of sample entropy, which characterizes the predictability of an fMRI time-series. Mixed-effects models were used to evaluate drug-induced shifts in brain entropy and their relationship with the observed increases in the personality trait openness at the 2-week follow-up. Overall, LSD had a pronounced global effect on brain entropy, increasing it in both sensory and hierarchically higher networks across multiple time scales. These shifts predicted enduring increases in trait openness. Moreover, the predictive power of the entropy increases was greatest for the music-listening scans and when "ego-dissolution" was reported during the acute experience. These results shed new light on how LSD-induced shifts in brain dynamics and concomitant subjective experience can be predictive of lasting changes in personality. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3203-3213, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Psilocybin-induced spiritual experiences and insightfulness are associated with synchronization of neuronal oscillations

Cited by 128 publications

References 97 publications

Psychedelics

Psychedelics

Neural correlates of the LSD experience revealed by multimodal neuroimaging

LSD‐induced entropic brain activity predicts subsequent personality change

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