Journal of Neuroscience
June 4, 2014
Eugene A. Kiyatkin, A. H. Kim, Ken T. Wakabayashi et al.
47 citations
MDMA (Ecstasy) can cause fatal brain hyperthermia when taken in hot, crowded environments, even at moderate doses that are harmless under cool, quiet conditions. In male rats, MDMA at 9 mg/kg (about one-fifth of the lethal dose) produced only weak brain temperature increases under standard lab conditions (quiet rest, 22–23°C). However, social interaction with another male rat and a warm environment (29°C) dramatically amplified brain hyperthermia. The key mechanism is peripheral vasoconstriction, which prevents heat dissipation through the skin. This shows that doses of MDMA that are nontoxic in cool, quiet settings become highly dangerous under conditions mimicking recreational use at rave parties or other hot, crowded venues.
Journal of Neuroscience
November 19, 2018
Anthony S. Gabay, Matthew J. Kempton, James Gilleen et al.
40 citations
MDMA increases cooperative behavior, but only when interacting with trustworthy partners. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study, 20 male participants received 100 mg MDMA or placebo and played an iterated Prisoner's Dilemma with opponents who varied in cooperation. MDMA enhanced cooperation with trustworthy opponents (odds ratio = 2.01) but not untrustworthy ones. MDMA specifically improved recovery from, not the impact of, breaches in cooperation. Brain activity increased in regions linked to social cognition, including precentral and supramarginal gyri, superior temporal cortex, central operculum/posterior insula, and supplementary motor area. Trust ratings did not change. The effect of MDMA on social decision-making depends on the context of the other person's behavior.
Journal of Neuroscience
March 4, 2020
S. Maillé, M. Lynn
21 citations
The neural basis of consciousness remains a fundamental challenge in modern neuroscience. Several sophisticated models and theories attempt to formalize how the brain implements consciousness, drawing on insights from philosophy, psychology, computer science, and neuroscience.
Journal of Neuroscience
April 8, 2024
Ximing Shao, Katya Krieger-Redwood, Meichao Zhang et al.
20 citations
The default mode network (DMN) typically deactivates during external tasks but supports semantic cognition. Analysis of four human fMRI datasets shows that its subsystems respond differently: the frontotemporal subsystem activates across domains and modalities, especially during abstract verbal tasks, and shows more tuned states with higher semantic retrieval demands. The medial temporal subsystem activates for both perceptually coupled scenes and decoupled autobiographical memory, with stronger responses to picture associations, supporting scene construction. The core DMN consistently deactivates, particularly for externally oriented tasks. These distinct responses relate to each subsystem's location on intrinsic connectivity gradients, revealing complementary roles in semantic cognition.
Journal of Neuroscience
December 19, 2025
Nicolas G. Glynos, Emma R. Huels, Trent Groenhout et al.
In rats, intravenous DMT causes dose-dependent increases in serotonin and dopamine in the medial prefrontal and somatosensory cortices, along with distinct changes in brain wave patterns: reduced theta and low gamma power, increased delta, medium gamma, and high gamma power, and altered functional connectivity. Head twitch responses were most frequent at the lowest dose. Endogenous DMT was detected in the cortex of most animals at baseline, suggesting it may be naturally present. The work provides a detailed neurochemical and neurophysiological profile of DMT action in rats.
Journal of Neuroscience
November 10, 2025
Sarah N. Magee, Allison C. Sereno, Maria Echeveste Sanchez et al.
Psilocin, the active metabolite of psilocybin, acutely reduced voluntary ethanol consumption in mice exposed to two models of chronic ethanol exposure without altering locomotor behavior. It increased activation of the central amygdala (CeA) and decreased relative activation of corticotropin-releasing factor type 1 (CRF1) receptors in CeA subregions of ethanol-naive female mice, with similar effects observed in chronic ethanol-exposed mice at 24 and 72 hours of withdrawal. Psilocin also elevated corticosterone levels at 24 hours but not at 72 hours of withdrawal. These findings indicate that psilocin engages CeA circuitry and reduces relative CRF1 activation alongside acute reductions in drinking, helping explain potential therapeutic mechanisms for alcohol use disorder.
Journal of Neuroscience
March 26, 2024
M. Poyo Solanas, Minye Zhan, Beatrice De Gelder
Whether conscious perception is an all-or-none or a gradual phenomenon depends on the brain region involved. In a 7T fMRI study, participants performed an emotion discrimination task under continuous flash suppression. Recognition sensitivity increased linearly with stimulus awareness, and threat stimuli slowed heart rate during near-clear perception. Brain activity in occipitotemporal, parietal, and frontal regions and the amygdala increased with awareness, while early visual areas showed the opposite pattern. Temporal area activity best fit a gradual model, whereas frontoparietal activity fit a dichotomous model. Specific experimental decisions, such as stimulus type and awareness evaluation method, significantly influence findings in consciousness research.
Journal of Neuroscience
March 10, 2021
Omri Raccah, N. Block, K. Fox
A central debate in philosophy and neuroscience concerns whether prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity is essential for consciousness. This synthesis of research using intracranial electrical stimulation (iES) in humans shows that stimulating only certain prefrontal regions—the orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex—reliably alters conscious experience. In contrast, stimulating anterolateral prefrontal sites, often emphasized by higher-order and global workspace theories, rarely produces reportable changes in consciousness. The variety of iES-elicited effects (emotions, thoughts, olfactory and visual hallucinations) shows no clear relation to the immediate environment, challenging the idea that the PFC is the basis for conscious perception. The findings suggest a specific role for orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortices in supporting emotional aspects of conscious experience.
Journal of Neuroscience
September 14, 2020
Masamichi J. Hayashi, R. Ivry
The subjective sense of time is a fundamental dimension of sensory experience. An fMRI study using an adaptation procedure manipulated perceived duration while holding physical duration constant. A short adaptor biased participants to judge stimuli as longer, and a long adaptor biased them to judge stimuli as shorter. Duration tuning modulation, shown by an attenuated BOLD response to stimuli similar in duration to the adaptor, was observed in the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) of the parietal lobe and middle occipital gyrus, bilaterally. The magnitude of the behavioral aftereffect correlated positively with the magnitude of duration tuning modulation in SMG. These results indicate that duration-tuned neural populations in right SMG reflect the subjective experience of time.
Journal of Neuroscience
August 20, 2018
K. Nourski, M. Steinschneider, A. Rhone et al.
During propofol anesthesia, loss of consciousness (LOC) is accompanied by a loss of auditory novelty responses (local deviance effects) in higher-order cortical areas beyond auditory cortex, while responses to longer-timescale novelty (global deviance effects) are suppressed under sedation and absent after LOC. However, the absence of global deviance effects does not reliably indicate LOC. The study recorded electrocorticographic signals from four hierarchical cortical levels in six neurosurgical patients. Local deviance effects were preserved in all regions except prefrontal cortex during sedation, and after LOC they were lost outside auditory cortex. Global deviance effects were suppressed under sedation and absent after LOC. The loss of local deviance effects in higher-order areas may serve as an alternative biomarker of LOC.
Journal of Neuroscience
February 13, 2018
A. Staffaroni, Jesse A. Brown, K. Casaletto et al.
The default mode network (DMN) and whole-brain functional connectivity change nonlinearly with age in cognitively normal older adults. Among 111 adults aged 49–87, connectivity tended to increase between ages 50–66 and then declined significantly after age 74. Changes in within-DMN connectivity were specifically linked to changes in episodic memory and processing speed, but not working memory or executive functions. The memory association remained even after accounting for white matter hyperintensities and whole-brain connectivity, suggesting that DMN connectivity is a marker of memory performance in healthy aging. APOE status did not predict connectivity or its change over time.
Journal of Neuroscience
March 5, 2008
K. Phan, Mike Angstadt, J. Golden et al.
THC reduces the brain's amygdala response to threatening social signals without affecting primary visual or motor cortex activity. This finding supports the idea that cannabinoids may have an anxiety-reducing role in fear behaviors and suggests potential for new anxiety disorder treatments targeting the cannabinoid system.