Effect of psilocybin on decision-making and motivation in the healthy rat.
Behavioural brain research February 25, 2023 Brianna F Roberts, Alexia L Zylko, Courtney E Waters et al. 13 citations
A single 1 mg/kg dose of psilocybin did not alter decision-making in probability or delay discounting tasks and did not reduce motivation in a progressive ratio task in healthy male and female rats. Psilocybin did produce the expected increase in head twitch responses, confirming the drug was pharmacologically active. These results suggest psilocybin may not impair or improve reward-based decision-making or motivation, indicating that its therapeutic effects in mental health disorders may not involve changes to brain systems underlying reward and decision-making. The findings also imply that widespread cognitive impairments may not occur even with chronic psilocybin treatment.