Psilocybin-induced Autonomic, Perceptual, and Behavioral Change
Pharmacopsychiatry – November 01, 1968
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
A compelling finding reveals that the hallucinogen psilocybin's impact on perception is closely tied to psychological distress. In 15 college-educated volunteers, variability in basic visual and taste perception tasks strongly correlated with drug-induced psychopathology, measured via psychometrics. This suggests psilocybin's influence on neurotransmitter receptors affects cognitive processes. Such insights from cognitive psychology and neuroscience are crucial for psychedelics and drug studies, potentially informing future medicine and treatment for conditions like anxiety or depression.
Abstract
Autonomic, perceptual, and behavioral changes induced by 160 µg/kg psilocybin were studied in a homogenous sample of 15 self-selected College educated male and female volunteers. The subjects were rank ordered as to the extent of drug-induced psychopathology using their Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory pre-drug to drug peak differences scores. Extent of variability on simple perceptual tasks – in gustation and vision – is significantly related to extent of drug-induced psychopathology, whereas drug-induced pupil-size increase – a reliable autonomic variable – is unrelated to drug-induced psychopathology, which, in our terminology, is equated with a subject's symbolic interpretation of his own central nervous System activity.