Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
March 28, 2023
Christopher Timmermann, Leor Roseman, Sharad Haridas et al.
217 citations
Intravenous DMT, a potent psychedelic and serotonin 2A receptor agonist, profoundly alters brain function in healthy volunteers. In a placebo-controlled study with 20 participants, multimodal neuroimaging (EEG-fMRI) showed that DMT robustly increases global functional connectivity, disrupts and desegregates brain networks, and compresses the principal cortical gradient. These changes overlapped with brain regions rich in serotonin 2A receptors and associated with human-specific psychological functions. EEG and fMRI measures correlated, linking neurophysiological changes to network-level effects. The findings indicate DMT predominantly acts on the brain's transmodal association cortex, the evolutionarily recent area tied to advanced cognition and high 5-HT2A receptor density.
Frontiers in pharmacology
January 1, 2021
Leor Roseman, Yiftach Ron, Antwan Saca et al.
39 citations
Ayahuasca ceremonies involving Palestinians and Israelis can foster peacebuilding through intersubjective and intercultural relational processes. Analysis of 31 in-depth interviews identified three types of shared experiences: unity-based connection, where participants felt a sense of shared humanity that dissolved national and religious identities; recognition and difference-based connection, where awe and reverence arose from encountering the other culture's music or prayers; and conflict-related revelations, where personal or historical traumatic elements of the conflict emerged in visions triggered by the presence of the other. These findings suggest that psychedelic ceremonies may contribute to peacebuilding not only by dissolving identities but also by enabling shared spiritual experiences and revealing links between personal psychological states and the broader sociopolitical context.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 30, 2021
James B. Close, Julia Bornemann, Maria Piggin et al.
21 citations
A co-designed guide for patient and public involvement (PPI) in psychedelic research addresses the lack of field-specific frameworks. Core values—trust, learning, purpose, and inclusivity—emerged from a workshop with public collaborators. The guidance aims to help researchers plan, evaluate, and improve PPI so that research is done with and by the public rather than on them, strengthening accountability and relevance as the field grows.
December 4, 2025
Avery Ostrand, Matthew M. Nour, Christopher Timmermann et al.
2 citations
preprint
The term 'psychedelic' was coined in 1956 from Greek roots meaning 'soul-manifesting' or 'soul-illuminating,' intended to name a drug category defined by its ability to induce a characteristic subjective state. This study examined the main subjective effects of psilocybin, ketamine, and MDMA. Over two hundred participants rated items about their experiences with all three drugs. Factor analyses revealed three or four independent dimensions of subjective experience. A machine learning classifier successfully predicted which drug a person had taken from the effects reported, confirming that the three drugs produce categorically distinct experiences: psilocybin induces visions and psychological insight, ketamine induces dissociation, and MDMA induces pro-social feelings such as love. Psilocybin is thus an exemplar psychedelic drug, definable by its induction of a psychedelic state characterized by visions and insight.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
November 24, 2025
Mona Irrmischer, Marco Aqil, Lisa Luan et al.
A psychedelic substance (DMT) shifts brain oscillations away from criticality—a state of balanced, complex activity—toward a quieter subcritical regime, particularly in alpha and adjacent frequency bands. This shift increases entropy while reducing complexity. The magnitude of the criticality shift in alpha and theta bands correlates with the intensity of self-dissolution, a core feature of the psychedelic experience. These findings suggest that altered proximity to critical dynamics underlies both the neurological and experiential effects of psychedelics, with implications for understanding altered states of consciousness.