Psychedelics, contemplative practice, and fasting are physiologically unrelated interventions that nevertheless converge, across cultures and centuries, on a common experiential endpoint: the mystical state. Here I propose that this convergence reflects shared disruption of a single computational architecture, the precision-weighted predictive hierarchy, through three mechanistically distinct...
Along with its rapid therapeutic benefits, ketamine induces transient experience of dissociation during administration. Given the suggested association between ketamine-induced dissociation and treatment response, understanding the neural correlates of dissociation would help to elucidate its therapeutic mechanism. The posteromedial cortex (PMC) has been reported to play a vital role in the...
Noam Goldway, Taly Markovits, Naomi Fine et al.
preprint
Dissociation, an altered state of consciousness in which individuals feel detached from their body, environment, and sense of self, is a common feature of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Despite its significance, the neurocognitive processes underlying dissociation remain poorly understood, potentially limiting the effectiveness of PTSD diagnostics and treatment. To address this gap, we...
Understanding how a simple endogenous tryptamine could occasion profound alterations in perception and self-modeling remains a key challenge for neuroscience. We advance the Birth Echo Hypothesis (BEH) : during a narrowly defined perinatal window (≈ −2 to +24 h around delivery), a convergence of hypoxic–hypercapnic stress, maximal sensory novelty, and a poly-neuromodulatory milieu...