bioRxiv
October 29, 2026
Carolyn J Stopera, Mitchell J Bartlett, Kelsey Bernard et al.
preprint
Treatment with low-dose ketamine is neuroprotective in rodent models of acute damage, while high doses of ketamine can be neurotoxic. Our group has previously shown that sub-anesthetic ketamine treatment leads to long-term reduction of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID) via brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-signaling in a rat 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) model of Parkinson's disease (PD). In...
bioRxiv
October 27, 2026
William Duckett, Jon Simons
preprint
Mental imagery is often assumed to support episodic memory, yet whether this relationship depends on conscious access to imagery, and how reduced imagery differs from total aphantasia, remains unclear. The present study compared objective episodic memory performance, subjective trial-by-trial vividness, confidence, and response times in people reporting normal imagery, reduced imagery, or total...
bioRxiv
October 14, 2026
Ozge Ozlem Saracbasi, Tomoyo Morita, Hideki Nakano et al.
preprint
Bodily awareness, including the conscious experience of limb movements (kinesthesia), is a fundamental form of human consciousness. Tendon vibration–induced kinesthetic illusions provide a tractable model for probing its neural basis. Although the primary motor cortex (M1), right inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) are coactivated during illusory movement,...
bioRxiv
September 3, 2026
preprint
EEG Oscillations in Guided Mindfulness versus Mind-Wandering in Young Adults: Effects of Auditory Task Instruction and Naturalistic Video
bioRxiv
August 20, 2026
Ilknur Kayikcioglu Bozkir, Ryan Lashin, Tiecheng Liu et al.
preprint
Psilocybin is a psychedelic which has been shown to induce neural plasticity through activation of intracellular serotonergic 5-HT2A receptors. It also produces brain-wide changes in structural and functional connectivity and holds promise as a therapeutic compound for treating anxiety and depression. Despite links between psilocybin-induced plasticity, the psychedelic experience, and reduction...
bioRxiv
August 19, 2026
preprint
Differential upregulation of metabolic demands and functional integration of the default mode network during stress
bioRxiv
August 19, 2026
D. Momi, Yasmeen Nahas, D. Wyrick et al.
preprint
Psilocybin produces rapid and lasting therapeutic effects, yet how 5-HT2A receptor activation reshapes brain-wide circuit dynamics during acute drug administration remains poorly understood. Using simultaneous multi-region Neuropixels recordings of 46,360 single units from 35 mice, together with scalp electroencephalography (EEG), pupillometry, and locomotion monitoring, we provide a...
bioRxiv
August 18, 2026
preprint
Brain dynamics exhibit scale-dependent reversibility during consciousness transitions
bioRxiv
August 18, 2026
preprint
Tuning in together: LSD enhances inter-brain synchrony and felt connectedness in romantic couples
bioRxiv
August 12, 2026
preprint
Near-critical brain dynamics track effortlessness during meditation
bioRxiv
August 12, 2026
preprint
Investigating the Effects of Psilocybin on Cognitive Flexibility in Touchscreen and Naturalistic Variations of the Probabilistic Reversal Learning Task
bioRxiv
August 12, 2026
Ru-Yi Cai, Yue-Qi Yang, Shang-Xuan Cai et al.
preprint
The endocannabinoid system modulates diverse physiological processes via two endogenous lipid ligands, 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) and anandamide (AEA); however, their specific spatiotemporal dynamics remain poorly understood owing to the lack of selective probes. Here, we developed GRAB2-AG2.0 and GRABAEA2.0, two genetically encoded fluorescent sensors that selectively detect 2-AG and AEA,...
bioRxiv
August 6, 2026
Mizuki Yamamoto, Hiroto Inoue, Kazuko Hayashi et al.
preprint
Background and Purpose Serotonergic psychedelics affect behavior and physiology, but the relationships among these effects remain poorly understood. In rodents, the head-twitch response is used as a measure of psychedelic-like activity, yet it does not capture changes in physiological state or the performance of learned behaviors. Here, we investigated the acute effects of the 5-HT2A receptor...
bioRxiv
August 5, 2026
A. Callara, Francesco Bossi, Jampa Soepa et al.
preprint
Seven EEG recordings over thirteen months revealed highly stereotyped transitions between distinct brain dynamics in an advanced meditator, providing a rare experimental window onto large-scale brain-state dynamics. We report an intensive longitudinal EEG case study of an experienced Tibetan tantric practitioner recorded across seven different measurement sessions, including concentrative and...
bioRxiv
July 23, 2026
William J. Tyler, E. Sellers, Michael B. McDonnell
preprint
Repeated low-dose psilocybin is being developed as a scalable outpatient treatment for mood and anxiety disorders, but chronic exposure raises concern because psilocin binds the cardiac serotonin 5-HT2B receptor, whose sustained agonism causes drug-induced valvular heart disease (VHD). We evaluated this risk using an exposure–response model that incorporates functional efficacy and exposure...
bioRxiv
July 22, 2026
preprint
The “dark magic mushroom” co-produces amatoxins and psilocybin
bioRxiv
July 9, 2026
Christine Liu, Ellie M. Ho, Alexander S. Enos et al.
preprint
Psychedelic drugs show remarkable potential for treating psychiatric disorders, but the mechanisms underlying their therapeutic effects remain relatively unknown. Here, we demonstrate that psilocybin can powerfully ameliorate deficits in cognitive flexibility, but this effect depends on the specific circuit-level cause of those deficits. Using optogenetic models of cognitive inflexibility in...
bioRxiv
July 2, 2026
Alba Cáceres-Rodríguez, Daniela Iezzi, Olivier Lassalle et al.
preprint
Background Prenatal cannabidiol (CBD) consumption is increasing, driven by a perception of safety relative to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). However, the neurodevelopmental risks of gestational CBD remain largely uncharacterized. Methods Using a sex-disaggregated framework, we investigated adult (P100–140) mouse offspring following in utero exposure (GD5-18; 3 mg/kg) to THC or CBD. Behavioral...
bioRxiv
July 1, 2026
Alena Lemeshova, Feysal Abdirahaman, Haney Haidari et al.
preprint
Treatment-resistant depression and anxiety remain major challenges in psychiatry, particularly in female patients, who are disproportionately affected yet remain underrepresented in preclinical ketamine research. The present study investigated short- and long-term anxiolytic effects of acute subanesthetic ketamine administration in female Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats, a validated genetic model of...
bioRxiv
June 30, 2026
Filippo Pasqualitto, A. Tomassini, Angela Muscettola et al.
preprint
Background and Hypothesis Motor alterations represent an important component of psychotic disorders. Chronic cannabis use, a key risk factor for psychosis, is also associated with sensorimotor dysfunctions. Yet, the hypothesis of a common sensorimotor disturbance remains underinvestigated. Study Design. In this study, we examined submovements, elementary units of motor output, to search for...
bioRxiv
June 29, 2026
Jose Luis Perez Velazquez, Diego M. Mateos, Richard Wennberg
preprint
Abstract: Derived from previous observations on equal and cross-frequency coupling, we evaluated the proposal that equal and cross-frequency phase synchronization may characterize the integration-segregation perspective of cerebral sensory-motor processing. Using brain recordings obtained in normal conditions and in conditions of diminished sensory input (eyes closed wakefulness, sleep and...
bioRxiv
June 19, 2026
Zhong Chen, Wanqiu Chen, Yun Seok Lee et al.
preprint
Prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) is increasingly prevalent and has been associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, yet its molecular impact on brain reward circuitry remains poorly defined. Here, we investigated transcriptional and epigenomic alterations in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) following prenatal Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol exposure in a rat model using snRNA-seq and snATAC-seq...
bioRxiv
June 10, 2026
Sebastian Dohnány, Katarina Jerotic, Davide Orsenigo et al.
preprint
How the activity and connectivity of the brain support consciousness remains a central question in neuroscience. Recent progress driven by the use of functional MRI has seen growing recognition that large-scale distributed functional organisation of the human and non-human primate brain are systematically and consistently reshaped by anaesthetic-induced unconsciousness, across anaesthetics and...
bioRxiv
June 3, 2026
Shuo Yang, Ling-Jun Wang, Yunxiang Sun et al.
preprint
Abstract A deeper understanding of the targets and mechanisms of fast-acting antidepressants, exemplified by ketamine, remains indispensable for better therapeutic strategies and understanding depression. Beyond the canonical neuron-centric NMDAR inhibition hypothesis, brain opioid system and glia-mediated processes are increasingly implicated in ketamine’s antidepressant efficacy, yet their...
bioRxiv
June 3, 2026
Camilo Espinosa-Curilem, Lynn Uhrig, Jordie Tasserie et al.
preprint
Understanding how consciousness depends on large-scale brain interactions is key for both the neuroscience of consciousness and clinical translation. However, it requires moving beyond classical pairwise descriptions of functional connectivity, which cannot capture the collective dependencies emerging across multiple brain regions. Here, we use multivariate information theory measures to...