Acute effects of psilocybin on attention and executive functioning in healthy volunteers: a systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis.
Psychopharmacology June 1, 2025 P Yousefi, Morten P Lietz, F J O'Higgins et al. 7 citations
Psilocybin acutely impairs executive functions, primarily by slowing reaction times without significantly affecting accuracy. A meta-analysis of 13 studies (42 effect sizes) found that psilocybin increased reaction times (Hedges' g = 1.13) but did not change accuracy. The slowing of reaction time depended on dose and was more pronounced for tasks sensitive to executive functions. The findings suggest that psilocybin disrupts cognitive processing speed during the acute phase, with implications for its safe use in clinical and experimental settings.