Scientific Reports
March 18, 2026
Jonas T. T. Schlomberg, Daniel Meling, Robin Grylka et al.
The acute subjective effects (ASEs) of psychedelic substances are assumed to play a critical role for their therapeutic and well-being enhancing benefits. However, recent work voiced critique regarding the validity and adequacy of conventional measures and modalities utilized to study ASEs of psychedelics, and call for data-driven, unbiased, and experience-based research approaches. The...
Imaging Neurosci (Camb)
September 29, 2025
Klemens Egger, Daniel Meling, Firuze Polat et al.
1 citation
Meditation, psychedelics, and brain connectivity: A randomized controlled resting-state fMRI study of N,N-dimethyltryptamine and harmine in a meditation retreat.
Universität Zürich, ZORA
September 29, 2025
Klemens Egger, Daniel Meling, Firuze Polat et al.
Both meditation and psychedelics are widely studied for their therapeutic potential in mental health. Recent research suggests potential synergies between mindfulness practice and psychedelics, though empirical studies have primarily focused on psilocybin. This study investigates the distinct and combined effects of mindfulness practice and an ayahuasca-inspired formulation containing...
September 25, 2025
Hüseyin Beyköylü, John Vervaeke, Daniel Meling
1 citation
preprint
The discipline of epistemology seeks to delineate the diverse forms of knowledge that inform our lives, from the concrete, embodied experiences that shape our everyday perceptions to the abstract, theoretical constructs that drive scientific inquiry. Cognitive science uniquely extends this project by exploring the human and non-human minds that afford knowing and understanding. Building on this...
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
June 19, 2025
Helena Aicher, Ilhui A Wicki, Daniel Meling et al.
2 citations
Mindfulness and compassion are therapeutically relevant and can be increased through different forms of meditation practices. However, meditation practice needs time and commitment. These resources are often limited in patients with mood disorders. Therefore, efficacious remedies that increase mindfulness and compassion could provide therapeutic options. This study aimed to investigate the...
Universität Zürich, ZORA
June 19, 2025
Helena Dorothea Aicher, Ilhui A Wicki, Daniel Meling et al.
Background: Mindfulness and compassion are therapeutically relevant and can be increased through different forms of meditation practices. However, meditation practice needs time and commitment. These resources are often limited in patients with mood disorders. Therefore, efficacious remedies that increase mindfulness and compassion could provide therapeutic options. This study aimed to...
Neuroimage
June 1, 2025
Dila Suay, Helena Aicher, Micheal Kometer et al.
4 citations
Psychedelics are known to profoundly alter perception and self-referential processing, yet their specific effects on face recognition -particularly with regard to the recognition of face familiarity-remain underexplored. This study investigates the effects of an ayahuasca-inspired novel DMT/HAR (N,N-dimethyltryptamine/Harmine) formulation and Harmine alone on face recognition and...
Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie
March 1, 2025
Klemens Egger, Javier Jareño Redondo, Jovin Müller et al.
14 citations
Ayahuasca, a traditional psychoactive Amazonian brew, usually contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and β-carboline (harmine, harmaline, tetrahydroharmine) monoamine oxidase inhibitors. However, the pharmacological interactions between these compounds remain incompletely understood. In this study, we developed an ayahuasca-inspired formulation containing DMT and harmine, aiming to...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
December 28, 2024
Michael J Mueller, Helena Aicher, Dario Dornbierer et al.
10 citations
Recent interest in the clinical use of psychedelics has highlighted plant-derived medicines like ayahuasca showing rapid-acting and sustainable therapeutic effects in various psychiatric conditions. This traditional Amazonian plant decoction contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and β-carboline alkaloids such as harmine. However, its use is often accompanied by distressing effects like nausea,...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
September 27, 2024
Daniel Meling, Klemens Egger, Jovin Mueller et al.
15 citations
Background: In recent years, both meditation and psychedelics have attracted rapidly increasing scientific interest. While the current state of evidence suggests the promising potential of psychedelics, such as psilocybin, to enhance meditative training, it remains equivocal whether these effects are specifically bound to psilocybin or if other classical psychedelics might show synergistic...
The Oxford Handbook of Psychedelic, Religious, Spiritual, and Mystical Experiences
May 22, 2024
Daniel Meling, Milan Scheidegger
2 citations
Abstract Two views on psychedelic experiences include realism and idealism. While a realist view suggests that psychedelic experiences reveal a pre-given world to us, an idealist view suggests they are mere projections of a pre-given mind. This chapter highlights and contrasts their common tendency towards grasping and representations. It presents a promising alternative that aims at going...
Scientific Reports
April 23, 2024
Berit Singer, Daniel Meling, Matthias Hirsch-Hoffmann et al.
The original version of this Article contained an error in the name of author Berit Singer which was incorrectly given as Singer Berit.
Psychoactives
April 16, 2024
Daniel Meling, Rebecca Ehrenkranz, Sandeep M. Nayak et al.
26 citations
Rationale: Psychedelic research re-emerged from a period of suppression into the so-called psychedelic renaissance. In parallel, most media reporting has shifted from the overstatement of the risks of psychedelics to overly positive hype. As the empirical evidence is more equivocal than frequently portrayed, the conclusions about the effectiveness of psychedelics should be considered...
Scientific Reports
March 26, 2024
Berit Singer, Daniel Meling, Matthias Hirsch-Hoffmann et al.
15 citations
In this study, for the first time, we explored a dataset of functional magnetic resonance images collected during focused attention and open monitoring meditation before and after a five-day psilocybin-assisted meditation retreat using a recently established approach, based on the Mapper algorithm from topological data analysis. After generating subject-specific maps for two groups (psilocybin...
Frontiers in Psychology
April 3, 2023
Daniel Meling, Milan Scheidegger
17 citations
Psychedelics are psychoactive substances that receive renewed interest from science and society. Increasing empirical evidence shows that the effects of psychedelics are associated with alterations in biochemical processes, brain activity, and lived experience. Still, how these different levels relate remains subject to debate. The current literature presents two influential views on the...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
2023
Helena Aicher, Michael J Mueller, Dario Dornbierer et al.
34 citations
There is growing scientific evidence for the therapeutic benefits of the Amazonian plant-based psychedelic "ayahuasca" for neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety. However, there are certain challenges when incorporating botanical ayahuasca into biomedical research and clinical therapy environments. Formulations inspired by ayahuasca, which contain specific and standardized...
Frontiers in Psychology
2022
Daniel Meling
17 citations
Within a variety of contemplative traditions, non-dual-oriented practices were developed to evoke an experiential shift into a mode of experiencing in which the cognitive structures of self-other and subject-object subside. These practices serve to de-reify the enactment of an observing witness which is usually experienced as separate from the objects of awareness. While several contemplative...
Frontiers in Psychology
August 6, 2021
Daniel Meling
20 citations
The enactive approach has become an influential paradigm in cognitive science. One of its most important claims is that cognition is sense-making: to cognize is to enact a world of meaning. Thus, a world is not pregiven but enacted through sense-making. Most importantly, sense-making is not a fixed process or thing. It does not have substantial existence. Instead, it is groundless: it springs...
Cognitive Neurodynamics
June 10, 2020
C. M. Signorelli, Daniel Meling
In the search for a sound model of consciousness, we aim at introducing new concepts: closure, compositionality, biobranes and autobranes. This is important to overcome reductionism and to bring life back into the neuroscience of consciousness. Using these definitions, we conjecture that consciousness co-arises with the non-trivial composition of biological closure in the form of biobranes and...
medRxiv
Klemens Egger, Daniel Meling, Firuze Polat et al.
preprint
Abstract Both meditation and psychedelics are widely studied for their therapeutic potential in mental health. Recent research suggests potential synergies between mindfulness practice and psychedelics, though empirical studies have primarily focused on psilocybin. This study investigates the distinct and combined effects of mindfulness practice and an ayahuasca-inspired formulation containing...