Ayahuasca, a traditional Amazonian beverage, attenuates brain activity in the amygdala—a region central to fear processing—when people view aversive (fearful or disgusted) faces, while enhancing activation in the insular cortex and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Nineteen experienced male users underwent fMRI before and 50 minutes after ingesting ayahuasca. Self-reported anxiety and mental sedation also decreased. The findings suggest ayahuasca may promote emotion regulation in response to negative stimuli, with corresponding improvements in cognition.
Long-term ayahuasca use may be associated with altered emotional brain reactivity and increased psychological resilience. In a study of 38 healthy male participants (19 long-term ayahuasca users and 19 non-user controls), users showed significantly higher resilience scores (mean = 43.89) compared to controls (mean = 39.05). A machine learning classifier distinguished users from controls with 75% accuracy, and a regression model significantly predicted individual resilience scores. These findings support neural patterns consistent with long-term adaptations from ayahuasca detectable via fMRI and machine learning.