Human neuroimaging: fMRI.
Matthew B. Wall, Robin Carhart-Harris
International review of neurobiology 2025 DOI: 10.1016/bs.irn.2025.04.013 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | DMT LSD Psilocybin |
| Keywords | FMRI Psychedelics: psychedelics Substances Neuroimaging: neuroimaging Brain's connectivity Normal resting-state patterns Neuropsychopharmacology: neuropsychopharmacology Insights Understanding Therapeutic effects: effects Unique effects Subjective experiences Long-term emotional impacts New treatments |
| Key findings | Classic psychedelics acutely disrupt normal resting-state brain connectivity, an effect related to their subjective phenomenology and longer-term emotional effects. |
Abstract
Human neuroimaging with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging has been a key feature of the current wave of psychedelic research, in both healthy and clinical populations. The available data has suggested that classic psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD, DMT) have a characteristic effect of acutely and profoundly disrupting the normal pattern of resting-state connectivity in the human brain, and that this effect may be closely related to both the characteristic subjective phenomenology of psychedelics, and their more clinically-relevant longer-term effects on emotional brain systems. This chapter briefly outlines the basic methodological background of fMRI, and then provides an overview of the current state of knowledge of psychedelic drug action as revealed by task and resting-state fMRI, in both non-clinical and clinical cohorts. Current limitations of the field are largely addressable by ongoing and future work, particularly in terms of providing additional datasets, increased standardisation of data acquisition and analysis procedures, potential multi-modal imaging studies, and more open data-sharing. Neuroimaging with fMRI remains a central platform of modern psychedelic research, with implications for our mechanistic understanding of psychedelics, as well as a strong influence on the clinical development of psychedelic-based treatments.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on DMT, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neuropharmacology of N,N-dimethyltryptamine | 2016 | Review | |
| N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), an Endogenous Hallucinogen: Past, Present, and Future Research to Determine Its Role and Function Humans and animals (general) | 2018 | Review | |
| Psychedelic 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine: metabolism, pharmacokinetics, drug interactions, and pharmacological actions. Humans (pharmacokinetics) | 2010 | Review | |
| Pharmahuasca: Human Pharmacology of Oral DMT Plus Harmine Human self-experimenters | 1999 | Review | n = 8 |
| The psychedelic model of schizophrenia: the case of N,N- dimethyltryptamine | 1976 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cites 47
- Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: an open-label feasibility study. The Lancet Psychiatry May 17, 2016
- Trial of Psilocybin versus Escitalopram for Depression New England Journal of Medicine April 14, 2021
- The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2014
- Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder JAMA Psychiatry November 4, 2020
- Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences January 23, 2012
and 42 more in the library