Rostral Anterior Cingulate Thickness Predicts the Emotional Psilocybin Experience
Biomedicines February 18, 2020 Candace R. Lewis, Katrin H. Preller, B. Blair Braden et al. 27 citations
Psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in psilocybe mushrooms, primarily affects serotonin 2A receptors, which are highly expressed in the cingulate cortex. In healthy adults (n = 55) given oral psilocybin at low (0.160 mg/kg) or high (0.215 mg/kg) doses, greater thickness of the rostral anterior cingulate predicted higher subjective ratings on emotional sub-scales of the Five-Dimensional Altered State of Consciousness questionnaire, after controlling for sex and age. The caudal and posterior cingulate did not show this effect. These findings suggest that individual differences in brain structure, specifically cingulate cortex thickness, contribute to the wide variability in subjective psychedelic experiences, extending the traditional set and setting hypothesis.