Communications Biology
March 11, 2025
Juan Ignacio Piccinini, Yonatan Sanz Perl, Carla Pallavicini et al.
6 citations
The transition towards the brain state induced by psychedelic drugs is frequently neglected in favor of a static description of their acute effects. We use a time-dependent whole-brain model to reproduce large-scale brain dynamics measured with fMRI from 15 volunteers under 20 mg intravenous N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a short-acting psychedelic. To capture its transient effects, we...
bioRxiv
February 8, 2025
Mona Irrmischer, Marco Aqil, Lisa Luan et al.
4 citations
preprint
ABSTRACT Psychedelics profoundly alter subjective experience and brain dynamics. Brain oscillations express signatures of near-critical dynamics, relevant for healthy function. Alterations in the proximity to criticality have been suggested to underlie the experiential and neurological effects of psychedelics. Here, we investigate the effects of a psychedelic substance (DMT) on the criticality...
February 6, 2025
Rosalind McAlpine, Merve Utanğaç, Joanna Kuć et al.
2 citations
preprint
The potential of meditation as a preparatory tool for psychedelic experiences lacks empirical investigation. We surveyed experienced practitioners (N=123) with substantial histories in both meditation and psychedelic use to examine meditation’s role in psychedelic preparation. Respondents expected meditation training to primarily enhance acceptance and present-moment focus during psychedelic...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2025
Christopher Timmermann, James W. Sanders, David Reydellet et al.
19 citations
5-MeO-DMT is a short-acting psychedelic that is anecdotally reported to induce a radical disruption of the self and a paradoxical quality of aroused, waking awareness that is nevertheless devoid of any specific perceptual contents. Here, we conducted an exploratory observational study of the phenomenological and neuronal effects of this compound. We collected micro-phenomenological interviews,...
International review of neurobiology
2025
Kate Godfrey, Lisa Luan, Christopher Timmermann
1 citation
This chapter reviews the effects of classic psychedelics on human oscillatory brain activity, as measured by resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). Across moderate to high doses of LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca, and DMT, a consistent reduction in alpha power (8-13 Hz) emerges, particularly in occipital regions. Below 30 Hz, desynchronization is typical,...
PsyArXiv
December 29, 2024
James W. Sanders, Raphaël Millière, Zachary G. Daily et al.
4 citations
preprint
DMT reliably induces profound experiences of immersion in other worlds and encounters with seemingly autonomous presences, yet the lived qualities and unfolding of these experiences remain poorly understood. Using micro-phenomenological interviews with twenty-three healthy participants who received DMT during fMRI scanning, this study explores how these experiences arise and develop in...
Neuroimage
December 14, 2024
Avijit Chowdhury, Marta Bianciardi, Eric Chapdelaine et al.
14 citations
Multimodal neurophenomenology of advanced concentration absorption meditation: An intensively sampled case study of Jhana.
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
October 1, 2024
Valerie Bonnelle, Amanda Feilding, Fernando E. Rosas et al.
16 citations
Non-ordinary states of consciousness induced by psychedelics can be accompanied by so-called "peak experiences," characterized at the emotional level by their intensity and positive valence. These experiences are strong predictors of positive outcomes following psychedelic-assisted therapy, and it is therefore important to better understand their biology. Despite growing evidence that the...
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,...
EClinicalMedicine
September 23, 2024
David Erritzøe, Tommaso Barba, Kyle T. Greenway et al.
46 citations
The Alexander Mosley Charitable Trust and by the founding partners of Imperial College London's Centre for Psychedelic Research.
JAMA Netw Open
July 1, 2024
Leor Roseman, David Erritzøe, David Nutt et al.
12 citations
This quality improvement study investigates the association of interruptions during psychedelic therapy with ratings of intensity of experience.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
May 31, 2024
Jakub Vohryzek, Selen Atasoy, Gustavo Deco et al.
8 citations
preprint
Exploring the intricate relationship between brain's structure and function, and how this affects subjective experience is a fundamental pursuit in neuroscience. Psychedelic substances offer a unique insight into the influences of specific neurotransmitter systems on perception, cognition and consciousness. Specifically, their impact on brain function propagates across the structural...
National Science Review
May 1, 2024
Jakub Vohryzek, Joana Cabral, Christopher Timmermann et al.
13 citations
The human brain is a complex system, whose activity exhibits flexible and continuous reorganization across space and time. The decomposition of whole-brain recordings into harmonic modes has revealed a repertoire of gradient-like activity patterns associated with distinct brain functions. However, the way these activity patterns are expressed over time with their changes in various brain states...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
April 12, 2024
Joseph Peill, Miriam Marguilho, David Erritzøe et al.
16 citations
Background: Reference to an intrinsic healing mechanism or an ‘inner healer’ is commonplace amongst psychedelic drug-using cultures. The ‘inner healer’ refers to the belief that psychedelic compounds, plants or concoctions have an intrinsically regenerative action on the mind and brain, analogous to intrinsic healing mechanisms within the physical body, for example, after sickness or injury....
ACS Chemical Neuroscience
February 7, 2024
Pedro A. M. Mediano, Fernando E. Rosas, Christopher Timmermann et al.
60 citations
Recent findings have shown that psychedelics reliably enhance brain entropy (understood as neural signal diversity), and this effect has been associated with both acute and long-term psychological outcomes, such as personality changes. These findings are particularly intriguing, given that a decrease of brain entropy is a robust indicator of loss of consciousness (e.g., from wakefulness to...
Scientific Reports
February 7, 2024
Christopher Timmermann, Richard J. Zeifman, David Erritzøe et al.
37 citations
Abstract Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic, is being increasingly researched in clinical studies for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. The relatively lengthy duration of oral psilocybin’s acute effects (4–6 h) may have pragmatic and cost-effectiveness limitations. Here, we explored the effects of intravenous (IV) N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a closely related, but faster-acting...
bioRxiv
January 29, 2024
Juan Ignacio Piccinini, Yonatan Sanz Perl, Carla Pallavicini et al.
preprint
Abstract The transition towards the brain state induced by psychedelic drugs is frequently neglected in favor of a static description of their acute effects. We used a time-dependent whole-brain model to reproduce large-scale brain dynamics measured with fMRI from 15 volunteers under 20 mg intravenous N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a short-acting psychedelic. To capture its transient effects, we...
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
2024
Lisa Luan, Emma Eckernäs, Michael Ashton et al.
41 citations
N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a serotonergic psychedelic that induces a rapid and transient altered state of consciousness when inhaled or injected via bolus administration. Its marked and novel subjective effects make DMT a powerful tool for the neuroscientific study of consciousness and preliminary results show its potential role in treating mental health conditions. In a within-subjects,...
Brain
2024
Andrea I. Luppi, Manesh Girn, Fernando E. Rosas et al.
25 citations
Integrating independent but converging lines of research on brain function and neurodevelopment across scales, this article proposes that serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR) signalling is an evolutionary and developmental driver and potent modulator of the macroscale functional organization of the human cerebral cortex. A wealth of evidence indicates that the anatomical and functional organization...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2024
Charlotte Martial, Robin Carhart-Harris, Christopher Timmermann
9 citations
Abstract Mystical-like states of consciousness may arise through means such as psychedelic substances, but may also occur unexpectedly during near-death experiences (NDEs). So far, research studies comparing experiences induced by serotonergic psychedelics and NDEs, along with their enduring effects, have employed between-subject designs, limiting direct comparisons. We present results from an...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
2024
David Wyndham Lawrence, Alex P DiBattista, Christopher Timmermann
3 citations
This study investigated the sense of familiarity attributed to N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) experiences. 227 naturalistic inhaled-DMT experiences reporting a sense of familiarity were included. No experiences referenced a previous DMT or psychedelic experience as the source of the familiarity. A high prevalence of concomitant features discordant from ordinary consciousness were identified:...
Neuroimage
December 1, 2023
Stefano Delli Pizzi, Piero Chiacchiaretta, Carlo Sestieri et al.
27 citations
The role of the thalamus in mediating the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was recently proposed in a model of communication and corroborated by imaging studies. However, a detailed analysis of LSD effects on nuclei-resolved thalamocortical connectivity is still missing. Here, in a group of healthy volunteers, we evaluated whether LSD intake alters the thalamocortical coupling in a...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
November 9, 2023
Fernando E. Rosas, Pedro A. M. Mediano, Christopher Timmermann et al.
14 citations
preprint
A growing body of work shows that autonomic signals provide a privileged evidence-stream to capture various aspects of subjective and neural states. This work investigates the potential for autonomic markers to track the effects of psychedelics — potent psychoactive drugs with important scientific and clinical value. For this purpose, we introduce a novel Bayesian framework to estimate the...
CPT: pharmacometrics & systems pharmacology
October 1, 2023
Emma Eckernäs, Jeroen Koomen, Christopher Timmermann et al.
1 citation
N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a psychedelic compound that is being studied as a therapeutic option in various psychiatric disorders. Due to its short half-life, continuous infusion of DMT has been proposed to extend the psychedelic experience and potential therapeutic effects. The primary aim of this work was to design an infusion protocol for DMT based on a desired level of psychedelic...
bioRxiv
August 21, 2023
Jakub Vohryzek, Joana Cabral, Christopher Timmermann et al.
7 citations
preprint
Abstract The human brain is a complex system, whose activity exhibits flexible and continuous reorganisation across space and time. The decomposition of whole-brain recordings into harmonic modes has revealed a repertoire of gradient-like activity patterns associated with distinct brain functions. However, the way these activity patterns are expressed over time with their changes in various...