Psychedelics and schizophrenia: Distinct alterations to Bayesian inference
bioRxiv February 1, 2022 Hardik Rajpal, Pedro A.M. Mediano, Fernando E. Rosas et al. 5 citations preprint
Schizophrenia and drug-induced states from LSD and ketamine both increase neural signal diversity, but they differ in how information flows in the brain. In schizophrenia, transfer entropy from the front to the back of the brain is increased, whereas under both drugs it is reduced overall. These differences can be modeled by altering Bayesian inference within a predictive processing framework: drug effects correspond to reduced precision of prior beliefs, while schizophrenia corresponds to increased precision of sensory information. The findings clarify similarities and differences between these altered states, with potential implications for understanding consciousness and developing mental health treatments.