Cross-Species Evidence for Psilocin-Induced Visual Distortions: Apparent Motion Is Perceived by Both Humans and Rats.

Čestmír Vejmola; Klára Šíchová; Kateřina Syrová; Lucie Janeckova; Vlastimil Koudelka; Michael Tesař; Marek Nikolič; Michaela Viktorinová; Filip Tylš; Jakub Korčák; Vojtěch Viktorin; Eduard Kelemen; Tereza Nekovářová; Martin Brunovský; Jiří Horáček; Martin Kuchař; Tomáš Páleníček

doi:10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100524

Cross-Species Evidence for Psilocin-Induced Visual Distortions: Apparent Motion Is Perceived by Both Humans and Rats.

Čestmír Vejmola, Klára Šíchová, Kateřina Syrová, Lucie Janeckova, Vlastimil Koudelka, Michael Tesař, Marek Nikolič, Michaela Viktorinová, Filip Tylš, Jakub Korčák, Vojtěch Viktorin, Eduard Kelemen, Tereza Nekovářová, Martin Brunovský, Jiří Horáček, Martin Kuchař, Tomáš Páleníček

Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science September 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100524 (opens in new tab)

Read Full Text

Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract

Characteristics	Experimental study Peer reviewed
Population	Human participants and male rats
Intervention	Psilocin
Topics	Psilocybin
Keywords	Human Psychedelics Rat Visual hallucinations Psilocin vision impairment Psychedelic vision research
Citations	4
Key findings	Psilocin impairs static-dynamic visual discrimination in both humans and rats, with the impairment in humans correlating with psilocin plasma levels and hallucination intensity, and in rats selectively affecting motion-based perception.

Abstract

Psychedelics, particularly psilocin, are increasingly being studied for their mind-altering effects and potential therapeutic applications in psychiatry. Visual hallucinations, especially the illusion of motion in static images, are a hallmark of their action. Despite growing interest, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood, as their systematic evaluation in both humans and animals is challenging. To investigate psilocin-induced visual distortions, we designed a 2-choice visual discrimination task. Human participants and male rats indicated whether an image appeared static or moving while the image either actually moved or did not. In humans, performance was compared with self-reported hallucination intensity, Altered States of Consciousness scale scores, and psilocin plasma levels. Rats were tested in 2 distinct tasks, a luminance-based task and a motion-based task. Their performance was evaluated alongside decision time. Both species exhibited significant impairment in distinguishing static from dynamic visual stimuli while under psilocin's influence. In humans, this impairment followed the time course of psilocin plasma levels and hallucination intensity. In rats, psilocin selectively impaired performance in the motion-based task, while performance in the luminance-based task remained intact, indicating a specific effect on visual perception. Decision time was linked to discrimination impairment. Psilocin impaired static-dynamic discrimination in both species, providing the first evidence that rats experience visual distortions similar to those reported by humans. The correlations between discrimination impairment, psilocin levels, and hallucination intensity in humans reinforce psilocin's effects on visual perception. This approach provides a valuable tool for investigating the neurobiology of altered visual perception in drug-induced states and psychiatric conditions.

Comparable studies

Other preclinical and animal studies on psilocybin, most cited first.

Study	Year	Design
Psilocybin induces rapid and persistent growth of dendritic spines in frontal cortex in vivo Mice	2021	Observational cohort
Harnessing psilocybin: antidepressant-like behavioral and synaptic actions of psilocybin are independent of 5-HT2R activation in mice Mice	2021	Experimental study
Psychedelics reopen the social reward learning critical period Mice	2023	Experimental study in mice
Correlation between the potency of hallucinogens in the mouse head-twitch response assay and their behavioral and subjective effects in other species. C57BL/6J mice	2020	Experimental study with dose-response experiments
Effects of psilocybin on hippocampal neurogenesis and extinction of trace fear conditioning Mice	2013	Experimental study

Citations in the library

Cited by 5

Cites 25

and 20 more in the library