Open MIND
July 6, 2026
Iris Liu, Jeremy I Skipper
We aim to explore and qualitatively compare individuals’ experiences of mental imagery during waking and dreaming consciousness in order to understand how these states are similar and different in phenomenological structure, focusing on the sensory modalities that are different or common between states. Additionally, we seek to better understand how absent or low waking visual imagery might...
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
July 1, 2026
Marcus J. Glennon, Catherine Bird, Prateek Yadav et al.
2 citations
Setting up a psychedelic study can be a long, arduous, and Kafkaesque process. Researchers are faced with a host of challenges in this rapidly evolving field, necessitating a range of considerations that remain largely unstandardised. Many of the complexities inherent to psychedelic research also challenge existing assumptions around, for example, approaches to psychiatric prescribing, the...
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
June 22, 2026
Jeremy I Skipper, Daniel R Lametti, David W Green
Aberrations of inner speech have been linked to psychotic symptoms such as thought insertion and auditory verbal hallucinations. These symptoms may reflect failures of prediction and source monitoring. Normally, efference copies of speech motor commands are sent to auditory cortices and suppressed, helping distinguish self-generated from external input. If suppression malfunctions, predicted...
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
May 23, 2026
Joanna Kuć, Rosalind McAlpine, Amelia Sellers et al.
5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT), a potent, short-acting psychedelic, induces profound shifts in cognition, affect, and self-awareness. Because language explicitly expresses these domains and voice implicitly conveys them, both may serve as potential 'biomarkers' of behavioural change. This study introduces a novel framework for analysing baseline language and vocal features, pre-...
BMJ Open
March 12, 2026
Rosalind McAlpine, Magdalena Jaglinska, Krisztina Jedlovszky et al.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy shows promise for treating various mental health conditions; however, its reliance on intensive psychological preparation limits its broader application. Digital health interventions have the potential to address this limitation by providing structured, accessible and scalable preparation solutions. This randomised controlled feasibility trial aims to evaluate the...
Open Science Framework
October 20, 2025
Natalia Fernandez‐Vinson, Roger Atkins, Marcus J. Glennon et al.
This study examines the existence and mechanistic underpinnings of lasting neural, cognitive, and behavioural plasticity in response to N-N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in a hazardous drinking population. It combines behavioural, neuroimaging, ecological momentary and qualitative data to gain a holistic understanding of potential mechanisms of therapeutic change following DMT. Primarily, we test...
Cell Reports
July 22, 2025
George Blackburne, Rosalind McAlpine, Marco S. Fabus et al.
10 citations
5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a psychedelic drug known for its uniquely profound effects on consciousness; however, it remains unknown how it affects the brain. We collected electroencephalography (EEG) data of 29 healthy individuals before and after inhaling a high dose (12-mg) of vaporized synthetic 5-MeO-DMT. We replicate results from rodents showing amplified low-frequency...
bioRxiv
April 21, 2025
Joanna Kuć, Rosalind McAlpine, Amelia Sellers et al.
preprint
Abstract 5-MeO-DMT, a potent, short-acting psychedelic, induces profound shifts in cognition, affect, and self-awareness. Because language explicitly expresses these domains and voice implicitly conveys them, both may serve as potential ‘biomarkers’ of behavioural change. This study introduces a novel framework for analysing baseline language and vocal features, pre- to post-psychedelic...
arXiv Preprint Archive
March 28, 2025
Marcus J. Glennon, Catherine Bird, Prateek Yadav et al.
Setting up a psychedelic study can be a long, arduous, and kafkaesque process. This rapidly-developing field poses several unique challenges for researchers, necessitating a range of considerations that have not yet been standardised. Many of the complexities inherent to psychedelic research also challenge existing assumptions around, for example, approaches to psychiatric prescribing, the...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
October 7, 2024
George Blackburne, Rosalind McAlpine, Marco S. Fabus et al.
8 citations
preprint
Abstract 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a psychedelic drug known for its uniquely profound effects on subjective experience, reliably eradicating the perception of time, space, and the self. However, little is known about how this drug alters large-scale brain activity. We collected naturalistic electroencephalography (EEG) data of 29 healthy individuals before and after...
arXiv (Cornell University)
September 30, 2024
Jeremy I Skipper, Joanna Kuć, Gregory M. Cooper et al.
How is language related to consciousness? Language functions to categorise perceptual experiences (e.g., labelling interoceptive states as 'happy') and higher-level constructs (e.g., using 'I' to represent the narrative self). Psychedelic use and meditation might be described as altered states that impair or intentionally modify the capacity for linguistic categorisation. For example,...
May 2, 2024
Jeremy I Skipper, George Fejer, Matthieu Koroma et al.
preprint
This interview explores the intimate relationship between language and consciousness, drawing insights from aphasia phenomenology, psychedelic experiences, and neuroscientific theories. Jeremy I. Skipper, a cognitive neuroscientist, argues that language is not merely a tool for reporting conscious experiences but plays a generative role in shaping and sustaining consciousness itself. He...
Scientific Reports
January 29, 2024
Oris Shenyan, Matteo Lisi, John A. Greenwood et al.
13 citations
Visual hallucinations can be phenomenologically divided into those of a simple or complex nature. Both simple and complex hallucinations can occur in pathological and non-pathological states, and can also be induced experimentally by visual stimulation or deprivation-for example using a high-frequency, eyes-open flicker (Ganzflicker) and perceptual deprivation (Ganzfeld). Here we leverage the...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
August 13, 2023
Oris Shenyan, Matteo Lisi, John A. Greenwood et al.
preprint
Abstract Hallucinatory experiences, defined as perception in the absence of external stimuli, can occur in both pathological and non-pathological states and can be broadly phenomenologically divided into those of a simple and a complex nature. Non-pathological visual hallucinations can be induced experimentally using a variety of stimulation conditions. To assess whether these techniques drive...
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
September 1, 2022
Jeremy I Skipper
Most research on the neurobiology of language ignores consciousness and vice versa. Here, language, with an emphasis on inner speech, is hypothesised to generate and sustain self-awareness, i.e., higher-order consciousness. Converging evidence supporting this hypothesis is reviewed. To account for these findings, a 'HOLISTIC' model of neurobiology of language, inner speech, and consciousness is...
George Blackburne, Alberto Liardi, Jeremy I Skipper et al.
preprint
The relationship between subjectivity and its substrate can be understood via the notion of compatibilist emergence, accounting for the plurality of ways nature can host new dynamical laws at higher scales. We discuss how the autopoietic character of life may require and promote the kind of emergence necessary, albeit not sufficient, for consciousness.
Jeremy I Skipper, Christopher Timmermann, Rosalind McAlpine et al.
Consciousness is often studied by asking whether particular brain regions or systems are privileged. We tested a distributed, decentred and context-sensitive alternative using 579 consciousness-focused neuroimaging studies. Semantic clustering of titles and abstracts identified seven domains whose corrected meta-analytic maps showed limited overlap and no invariant cross-domain core. These maps...