Ego dissolution in psychedelic experience

Psychedelic drugs can cause ego dissolution, a temporary loss of the sense of a distinct self. This phenomenon offers insight into how the brain models the self. One theory holds that the self is modeled like any perceived object, with sensory features bound together. However, the authors argue that self-modeling does not use feature binding because interoception (sensing the body's internal state) differs from perception in ways that make feature binding unsuitable for regulating internal states. Instead, ego dissolution is better understood as the loss of a center of interoceptive gravity, not the unbinding of features.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Users of psychedelic drugs often report that their sense of being a self or ‘I’ distinct from the rest of the world has diminished or altogether dissolved in a phenomenon known as ego dissolution (Nour et al., 2016). This is a case of transient disintegration of the self model caused by actions of serotonin 5HT2A agonists. Psychedelic experience provides a window on the nature of self representation and a chance to evaluate different accounts. On one account, the self is modelled in the same way as perceived objects—as an entity to which sensory features are bound. However, self modelling does not use the feature binding solution. This is because of differences between interoception and perception that make feature binding unsuitable as a strategy for interoceptive regulation. Ultimately, dissolution is best thought of not as the unbinding of features, but as loss of a centre of interoceptive gravity.