Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and music together alter brain state dynamics, particularly in task-positive networks. In 15 participants, functional MRI scans under LSD and placebo conditions included resting-state runs before and after music listening. K-Means clustering identified repetitive brain activity patterns. The interaction of music and LSD changed the time-varying activity of the task-positive state. LSD alone affected states combining the default mode, somatomotor, and visual networks. Music itself may have a lasting influence on resting-state activity, especially in task-positive networks. These findings suggest music is a crucial element of the 'setting' in psychedelic experiences, though replication with larger samples is needed.
Listening to music while under the influence of LSD alters the brain's moment-to-moment patterns of activity, particularly in networks linked to attention and task performance. In a study of 15 participants who underwent functional MRI scans after taking LSD or a placebo, the combination of music and LSD changed how long the brain stayed in a task-positive state. LSD alone, regardless of music, affected the dynamics of a state involving the default mode, somatomotor, and visual networks. Music itself appeared to have a lingering effect on resting-state brain activity, especially on networks associated with tasks. These findings suggest that music, as part of the setting, can shape the psychedelic experience at a neural level.
Transitions from unconscious to conscious perception may be more gradual for low-level visual features and more dichotomous for high-level features. In an fMRI study using backward masking, participants reported a target digit's magnitude (high-level) or its color (low-level) and rated visibility. Intermediate visibility was reported more often in the low-level task, supporting the levels-of-processing hypothesis. Visible targets activated insulo-fronto-parietal regions in both tasks, while visual areas showed higher activity in the low-level task across all visibility levels. The findings suggest that attentional modulation of feature-representing brain regions mediates how processing level shapes conscious perception.
As cognitive demands of a working-memory task (n-back) increased, the brain's functional network became less modular, and this change predicted task performance. The number of connector hubs rose while provincial hubs fell, and the default mode network (DMN) increased its connections to other networks while decreasing connections among its own regions. These findings support the global workspace theory, which posits that effortless tasks involve segregated processing, whereas effortful tasks engage distributed networks via long-range connections. The results highlight the DMN's role in network integration during workspace formation.