A Comparative Neurophenomenology of the Psychedelic State and Autism: Predictive Processing as a Unifying Lens
Psychoactives November 14, 2025 William Roseby, Catriona Osborn Moar
Serotonergic psychedelics like psilocybin, LSD, and DMT help advance understanding of consciousness and brain activity, but little work connects psychedelic theory to experiential differences in autism. This narrative review compares the psychedelic state and autism in adults using predictive processing as a unifying framework. Both involve a shift toward sensory information over prior knowledge, but may affect opposite ends of the cortical hierarchy. The contrast refines concepts like psychological flexibility and suggests testable hypotheses, though neurobiological findings in autism are heterogeneous and comparing a transient state with a lifelong trait has inherent limitations.