Translated from our German original by AI. The German text was researched, written, and edited by the Psychedelia Foundation team and remains the authoritative version.
An international research group has published the most comprehensive investigation to date of how psychedelic substances affect brain function. The study pooled data from eleven independent fMRI studies covering five psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD, mescaline, DMT and ayahuasca) and analyzed them within a single consistent framework.
The scientists identified an overarching pattern that appeared regardless of compound and study site. Most striking was a stronger functional connectivity between so-called transmodal brain networks, which are associated with self-perception, emotion and higher cognitive functions, and sensory networks for vision and movement. This suggests that psychedelics intensify communication between brain systems that are normally more separate.
The team also observed changes in deeper brain regions such as the thalamus, the caudate nucleus and the putamen, as well as in the cerebellum. These structures showed altered coupling with sensorimotor networks. The findings suggest that psychedelics influence not only the cerebral cortex but also subcortical circuits.
In contrast to some earlier individual studies, the researchers found only limited evidence of a general weakening of connections within individual brain networks. Such effects appeared only selectively, and with clear differences between the substances examined.
According to the authors, the mega-analysis helps to place previously contradictory findings in psychedelic research. They write that the study provides a statistically robust map of the changes in large-scale brain organization under psychedelic compounds and could serve as a reference for future neurobiological and clinical work.
The results support the assumption that psychedelics temporarily reorganize the functional architecture of the brain by strengthening communication between different brain networks while drawing in selected subcortical systems at the same time. This could contribute to a better understanding of their potential therapeutic effects in mental illness.
