Spiral (Imperial College London)
April 1, 2017
Mendel Kaelen
10 citations
Psychedelics intensify music-evoked emotions, including wonder and transcendence, and alter brain activity. Under LSD, increased activation in the inferior frontal gyrus and precuneus correlates with heightened wonder. LSD and music together enhance information flow from the parahippocampus to the visual cortex, linked to complex mental imagery and autobiographical memories. In patients with depression, music quality during psilocybin therapy predicts peak experiences, insight, and subsequent reductions in depression. These findings support the therapeutic significance of intensified music-experience under psychedelics, though further research is needed to understand underlying brain mechanisms and optimize music use in therapy.
Spiral (Imperial College London)
October 1, 2019
Leor Roseman
4 citations
Psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin induce eyes-closed visual imagery ranging from simple patterns to complex scenes. Past research linked this to visual cortex activity, but this thesis examined connectivity and dynamics beyond simple activation. Study 1 (15 subjects, 75 µg LSD vs. placebo, fMRI) found increased resting-state functional connectivity between primary visual cortex and many cortical and subcortical regions, correlating with subjective imagery ratings and occipital alpha suppression. Study 2 showed that under LSD, connectivity within the visual cortex matched retinotopic mapping, suggesting the system behaves as if seeing spatially localized input.
Spiral (Imperial College London)
December 30, 2025
Rayyan Zafar
Only 1.8% of people with substance use disorders receive effective treatment, revealing a gap between neuroscience research and clinical care. This paper argues for shifting addiction neuroscience from a diagnostic focus to a theragnostic framework, using biomarkers like fMRI, EEG, and PET to guide treatment decisions and predict outcomes. Psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin, which engage neuroplasticity and reward networks, offer an opportunity to integrate these biomarkers into clinical trials. The authors propose a roadmap for embedding biomarkers in early and late phase trials, drawing on ongoing studies at Imperial College London in gambling and opioid use disorders. Realizing this vision requires collaboration across academia, industry, regulators, and patient groups.
Spiral (Imperial College London)
December 1, 2016
Caroline T. Golden
Psilocybin, a serotonergic agonist, shifts the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of awake mice into a desynchronized state resembling REM sleep, marked by increased network activation, reduced low-frequency oscillations (delta, theta, alpha), and a moderate rise in gamma power. In a working memory delayed response task, ACC neurons encoded both low-level stimulus information and high-level choice and reward anticipation, with population activity predicting task outcomes faster than behavioral responses. Optogenetic perturbation of ACC neurons during the delay period effectively altered behavior and disrupted neural encoding of working memory information.