The 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine enhances early visual processing for salient socio-emotional stimuli.
The European journal of neuroscience June 1, 2024 Connor J Haggarty, Anya K Bershad, Mahesh K Kumar et al. 1 citation
MDMA, but not methamphetamine, enhances the brain's early visual processing of happy and angry facial expressions, as measured by the N170 event-related potential in an EEG oddball paradigm. This effect was specific to emotional faces compared to neutral ones. Methamphetamine did not affect this neural measure, and neither drug altered other components of the response to emotional faces. The findings suggest a unique neural mechanism for MDMA's effects on socio-emotional processing, which may underlie its therapeutic potential for social anxiety and other psychiatric disorders.