Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the impact of psychedelics on social perception and cognition may be instrumental to unravel their therapeutic potential. We conducted a pharmacoimaging study to examine ayahuasca's effects on a key theory of mind region, at the core of the third visual pathway (TVP) - the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), which is involved in facial...
Reward processing is a broad psychological construct that can be parsed into distinct components known as "reinforcement learning" (learning), "reward responsiveness" (liking), and "motivation to obtain a reward" (wanting). Dysfunctions in reward processing in mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways are a core feature of many pathologies. Psychedelics have been proposed as a treatment option for...
Abstract Reward processing is a broad psychological construct that can be parsed into distinct components known as “reinforcement learning” (learning), “reward responsiveness” (liking), and “motivation to obtain a reward” (wanting). Dysfunctions in reward processing in mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways, are a core feature of many pathologies. Psychedelics have been proposed as a treatment...
N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a psychedelic tryptamine acting on 5-HT2A serotonin receptors, which is associated with intense visual hallucinatory phenomena and perceptual changes such as distortions in visual space. The neural underpinnings of these effects remain unknown. We hypothesised that changes in population receptive field (pRF) properties in the primary visual cortex (V1) might...
Abstract Ayahuasca, an amazonian brew containing the serotonergic psychedelic substance N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), induces distinctive visual perceptual phenomenology, yet the neural mechanisms underlying the interplay between external visual drive and internal imagery remain unknown. Using a placebo-controlled, within-subject fMRI design, the present study investigated the impact of...