PloS one
January 1, 2026
Diego Castellano-Ramírez, Elisa Hernández-Álvarez, Lucas F Borkel et al.
A survey of 325 medical and nursing students at a Spanish university found cautiously optimistic views toward psychedelic-assisted therapy, though concerns persist. Women reported lower perceived knowledge about psychedelics, while older students showed greater openness to their therapeutic potential. Medical students had higher perceived knowledge and stronger agreement with therapeutic applications than nursing students, who more strongly linked psychedelic use to psychiatric risk. Students who had personally used psychedelics were more supportive of legalization and therapeutic use. Formal education on psychedelics was associated with more favorable attitudes and increased knowledge, suggesting that training may reduce stigma and support evidence-based policy.
PloS one
January 1, 2026
The subjective experience of space around the visual blind spot is investigated to test three theories of consciousness: Integrated Information Theory (IIT), Predictive Processing Active Inference (AI), and Predictive Processing Neurorepresentationalism (NREP). IIT predicts that the blind spot region, lacking feedforward input from one eye, should contribute differently to perceived spatial quality. The Predictive Processing accounts argue that internal models accommodate structural deviations based on sensory evidence. Participants evaluate distances, areas, and illusory motion with or without the blind spot involved. Psychometric models quantify bias and precision in perceived versus objective space. Simulated results correspond to each theory's predictions, and challenges for dissemination are discussed.
PloS one
January 1, 2025
Bastien Perroy, Pablo Fernandez Velasco, Umer Gurchani et al.
During the Covid-19 restrictions, people reported unusual disruptions in their experience of time, such as time passing both slower and faster, or feeling unreal. An analysis of 149 subjective reports from France and the UK in March 2021 identified three forms of temporal disorientation: loss of temporal landmarks making orientation harder and causing episodic disorientation; sustained temporal disbelief, an existential form where past perspective was severely distorted; and a future-oriented form marked by anxiety and hopelessness, with inability to project into the future. The findings suggest that providing future landmarks could help those most exposed to dissociative temporal experiences during crises.
PloS one
January 1, 2025
Jiuhong You, Zunera Khan, Reena Swaroop et al.
An eight-week, online-delivered mindfulness program is being tested for feasibility and acceptability in people over 60 with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia in the UK. The study will recruit 32 participants who will attend weekly live online sessions led by an experienced teacher, plus daily home practice. Primary outcomes are feasibility and acceptability measured through participation records and interviews. Secondary outcomes include changes in cognition, mood, sleep, quality of life, mindfulness, and resilience. Online delivery could reduce travel burdens and costs, and the study aims to provide evidence supporting remote interventions for this population.
PloS one
January 1, 2025
Timothy Sweeney, Elena Nixon, Richard Morriss et al.
Depression affects about 5% of people worldwide, with high relapse rates and 10-20% experiencing chronic depression. In 20 participants with moderate-to-severe persistent depression who had no prior mindfulness training, interviews revealed that mindfulness capacity decreases during depressive episodes. Six themes emerged: behavioral withdrawal, perceptual detachment from experience, intentional reduction in awareness, increased self-criticism, racing thoughts, and impaired cognitive performance. Reduced mindfulness appears to occur both as an indirect consequence of depression-related processes like rumination and as a deliberate self-protective strategy, but it also maintains and intensifies depressive experience. Introducing mindfulness-based treatments to this population may be challenging because severe symptoms can obstruct access to a mindful perspective.
PloS one
January 1, 2024
Benjamin A Korman
Lifetime use of LSD before job loss is associated with a higher likelihood of severe psychological distress afterward, not with resilience. Analyzing data from over 5 million unemployed, job-seeking individuals, the study found that those who used LSD prior to losing their job reported worse mental health following the stressful experience, even after accounting for sociodemographic factors. This contradicts earlier suggestions that classic psychedelics might confer psychological protection. The findings indicate that, in naturalistic settings, LSD use does not buffer against the distress of unemployment.
PloS one
January 1, 2024
Kunal Desai, Patricia O'Malley, Emily Van Culin
A randomized trial compared Heartfulness meditation to gratitude practice among 83 healthcare providers (50% nurses, 37% allied professionals, 13% physicians) across the US. After six weeks, the Heartfulness group showed significant improvement in burnout and secondary traumatic stress, and increased vigor at work, while the gratitude group did not. Compassion satisfaction trended higher with Heartfulness but was not statistically significant. Qualitative reports indicated Heartfulness practitioners experienced better sleep and less reactivity to stress, while gratitude practitioners reported improved mood and positive family interactions. The authors conclude that Heartfulness meditation is associated with reduced burnout and greater work vigor, but larger trials are needed.
PloS one
January 1, 2025
Ryoko Uno, Shu Imaizumi
The way a sentence is structured can affect a speaker's sense of agency and ownership—key components of the minimal self. In an experiment with Japanese sentences, participants rated their sense of agency lower when causation or perception was absent from the sentence compared to when either was present. Agency was also higher for perceiver-prominent sentences (e.g., "I saw a star") than for perceiver-stimulus-prominent sentences (e.g., "A star was visible to me"). Ownership was similarly higher for perceiver-prominent sentences, though results for perceiver-stimulus-prominent sentences varied with the perceived stimulus. These findings suggest that linguistic structure can distinctly influence the embodied experience of selfhood.
PloS one
January 1, 2024
Wolf E Mehling, Irina A Strigo, Veronica Goldman et al.
A 2-minute mindful attention exercise guided by a smartphone app, repeated several times daily for 8 weeks, helped people with chronic low back pain. Pain intensity dropped from 4.8 to 3.1 on a 0-10 scale, and a combined measure of pain intensity and interference (PEG score) improved from 13.7 to 8.4. Twenty-one of 29 participants had at least a 30% improvement in PEG score. Participants reported becoming aware of their usual avoidance of pain, were surprised that pain sensations varied over time, and found that focusing on pain reduced its threat. Many described pain in 3D shapes with changing colors, temperature, and density. The approach may be a beneficial alternative to ignoring or distracting from pain.