International Journal of Psychology
July 14, 2026
Anastasia Ruban, Paweł Orłowski, Michał Bola et al.
ABSTRACT The present study examined the relationship between naturalistic psychedelic use and two distinct forms of grandiose narcissism: admiration and rivalry . Using data from an online survey, we compared psychedelic users ( N = 630), non‐users ( N = 100) and individuals planning to use psychedelics in the future ( N = 141) on levels of admiration and rivalry. Additionally, we explored how...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
April 2, 2026
Maja Wójcik, Paweł Orłowski, Stanisław Adamczyk et al.
Abstract Background Contemporary research indicates that psychedelics induce notable neurophysiological changes, some lasting weeks to months after a single dose. However, most evidence derives from acute administration studies and limited post-acute follow-ups. Long-term naturalistic psychedelic users remain critically underexamined, yet may exhibit distinct neurobiological profiles informing...
Human Brain Mapping
April 1, 2026
Paweł Orłowski, Aleksandra Domagalik, Michał Bola
Classic psychedelics profoundly alter emotional states, inducing intense acute experiences lasting hours, followed by subtler, longer-lasting changes in emotional reactivity that can persist for weeks. While experimental and clinical studies document these prolonged effects, the highly context-dependent nature of psychedelic experiences leaves open the question of whether naturalistic,...
Psychophysiology
July 1, 2025
Kinga Ciupińska, Marcin Koculak, Michał Bola et al.
2 citations
The majority of previous research on neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) have used the visual system as a model. However, to what extent reported findings generalize to other sensory modalities has not been comprehensively investigated. To fill this gap we directly compared visual and auditory NCCs by testing the same group of participants with two analogous procedures. Participants were...
February 26, 2025
Stanisław Adamczyk, Małgorzata Paczyńska, Anastasia Ruban et al.
1 citation
preprint
Psychedelic substances have the potential to induce profound alterations in cognition, emotionality, and sensory perception. The quality and intensity of these subjective effects exhibit high intra- and inter-individual variability, which can potentially be accounted for by the variability in contexts in which psychedelics are used. Therefore, the aim of the present cross-sectional study was to...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
February 13, 2025
Stanisław Adamczyk, Małgorzata Paczyńska, Anastasia Ruban et al.
2 citations
Psychedelics have the potential to induce profound alterations in cognition, emotionality, and sensory perception. The quality and intensity of these subjective effects exhibit high intra- and inter-individual variability, which can potentially be accounted for by the variability in contexts in which psychedelics are used. Therefore, the aim of the present cross-sectional study was to...
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
January 10, 2025
Anastasia Ruban, Mikołaj Magnuski, Justyna Hobot et al.
1 citation
Psychedelics have gained increasing interest in scientific research due to their ability to induce profound alterations in perception, emotional processing and self-consciousness. However, the research regarding the functioning of individuals who use psychedelics in naturalistic contexts remains limited. Here we aim to explore psychological and neurophysiological differences between...
Psychophysiology
August 1, 2024
Paweł Orłowski, Justyna Hobot, Anastasia Ruban et al.
5 citations
Classic psychedelics are able to profoundly alter the state of consciousness and lead to acute experiences of ego dissolution - the blurring of the distinction between representations of self and the external world. However, whether repeated use of psychedelics is associated with more prolonged and permanent modifications to the concept of self remains to be investigated. Therefore, we...
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
June 1, 2024
Łucja Doradzińska, Michał Bola
12 citations
It has been proposed that visual awareness negativity (VAN), which is an early ERP component, constitutes a neural correlate of visual consciousness that is independent of perceptual and cognitive mechanisms. In the present study, we investigated whether VAN is indeed a specific marker of phenomenal awareness or rather reflects the involvement of attention. To this end, we reanalyzed data...
February 3, 2024
Anastasia Ruban, Mikołaj Magnuski, Justyna Hobot et al.
1 citation
preprint
Psychedelics have gained increasing interest in scientific research due to their ability to induce profound alterations in perception, emotional processing and self-consciousness. However, the research regarding the short- and long-term impact of using psychedelics in non-controlled, naturalistic contexts remains limited. Here we aim to fill this gap and explore differences between naturalistic...
December 28, 2023
Paweł Orłowski, Justyna Hobot, Anastasia Ruban et al.
1 citation
preprint
Classic psychedelics are able to profoundly alter the state of consciousness and lead to acute experiences of ego dissolution – the blurring of the distinction between representations of self and the external world. However, whether repeated use of psychedelics is associated with more prolonged and permanent modifications to the concept of self remains to be investigated. Therefore, we...
October 9, 2023
Paweł Orłowski, Justyna Hobot, Anastasia Ruban et al.
preprint
Previous research indicates that psychedelic substances taken in well-controlled laboratory or therapeutic settings have the potential to decrease negative and increase positive emotional reactivity. However, it is unclear whether similar effects are associated with using psychedelics in less-controlled naturalistic environments. Therefore, in the present study we compared neural markers of...
Scientific Reports
March 1, 2023
Paweł Orłowski, Michał Bola
9 citations
Diversity of brain activity is a robust neural correlate of global states of consciousness. It has been proposed that diversity measures specifically reflect the temporal variability of conscious experience. Previous studies supported this hypothesis by showing that perception of meaningful visual stimuli causes richer, more-variable experiences than perception of meaningless stimuli, and this...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 1, 2022
Paweł Orłowski, Anastasia Ruban, Jan Szczypiński et al.
40 citations
Background: Psychedelics are able to acutely alter emotional reactivity and self-consciousness. However, whether the regular naturalistic use of psychedelics can be linked to more persistent trait-level changes in these domains remains an open question. Aim: To test the hypotheses that (1) using psychedelics is related to higher positive and lower negative emotional reactivity; and (2) an...
September 23, 2021
Paweł Orłowski, Anastasia Ruban, Jan Szczypiński et al.
preprint
Background: Psychedelics are able to acutely alter emotional reactivity and self-consciousness. However, whether regular, naturalistic use of psychedelics can be linked to more persistent, trait-level changes in these domains remains an open question.Aim: To test three hypotheses: i) psychedelics use is related to higher positive and lower negative emotional reactivity; ii) psychedelics use is...
Neuropsychologia
October 1, 2020
Łucja Doradzińska, Michał J Wójcik, Marta Paź et al.
The P3 event-related potential has been known for over 50 years, but its function is still a matter of ongoing debate. Current theories interpret P3b either as a correlate of perceptual consciousness, or as reflecting cognitive processes, like working memory and executive functions. Unexpectedly, recent studies indicate that P3b might occur in response to unconsciously presented stimuli which,...
Neuroimage
February 15, 2018
Michał Bola, Adam B. Barrett, Andrea Pigorini et al.
Loss of consciousness can result from a wide range of causes, including natural sleep and pharmacologically induced anesthesia. Important insights might thus come from identifying neuronal mechanisms of loss and re-emergence of consciousness independent of a specific manipulation. Therefore, to seek neuronal signatures of loss of consciousness common to sleep and anesthesia we analyzed...
Frontiers in Psychology
2018
Michał Bola, Paweł Orłowski, Karolina Baranowska et al.
11 citations
Brain signal diversity constitutes a robust neuronal marker of the global states of consciousness. It has been demonstrated that, in comparison to the resting wakefulness, signal diversity is lower during unconscious states, and higher during psychedelic states. A plausible interpretation of these findings is that the neuronal diversity corresponds to the diversity of subjective conscious...