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...
ABSTRACT Self-transcendent experiences (STEs) represent profound shifts in cognition and consciousness, possessing significant transformative potential. With growing scientific interest in these phenomena, we propose the cognitive continuum as a unifying framework. Grounded in enactive cognitive science and complex dynamic systems perspectives, this approach takes the embodied person, embedded...
Meditation, psychedelics, and brain connectivity: A randomized controlled resting-state fMRI study of N,N-dimethyltryptamine and harmine in a meditation retreat.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...