This magnetoencephalogram study (n=50) found that long-term ayahuasca users showed neurophysiological markers of death-denial at unconscious levels despite reporting less implicit and explicit fear-of-death than controls and meditators, suggesting ayahuasca alters conscious but not automatic processing of death-related thoughts.
Abstract of Intact neurophysiological markers of death denial in long-term ayahuasca users
“Rationale: There is growing enthusiasm around the potential of psychedelics to transform how individuals engage with the theme of death, with self-report evidence suggesting these substances foster acceptance and reduce fear-of-death. Yet, given extensive evidence linking unconscious processes to mortality avoidance, current research efforts remain limited and call for implicit and neurobiology-based measures.
Objectives & methods: To this end, we applied a validated no-report magnetoencephalogram (MEG) visual MisMatch Response (vMMR) paradigm to assess whether long-term ayahuasca users (N = 50), compared to previously published data from healthy controls and experienced meditators, show self-specific neurophysiological markers of death-denial/acceptance. Self-report and behavioral measures of fear-of-death were also collected.
Results: Cluster-based permutation analyses on the vMMR data showed that ayahuasca users’ brains responded to the coupling of death and self-stimuli in a manner indicating denial rather than acceptance. At the same time, 1-way ANOVAs and post hoc t-tests analyses indicated that the ayahuasca group evidenced less implicit fear-of-death than the general population, and less explicit fear-of-death than both the general and meditator samples. Further correlation analyses on the neurophysiological ayahuasca sample death-denial marker supported its construct validity by associating it with less self-reported death acceptance and reduced accessibility to death-related thoughts. Finally, death-denial was linked to greater life satisfaction, supporting its adaptive role.
Conclusions: These findings provide preliminary evidence that while ayahuasca may alter how humans interact with the theme of death on conceptual and affective levels of cognitive processing, on automatic, perceptual unconscious levels of self-specific processing, death-denial processes appear to remain intact.“
Authors: Yair Dor-Ziderman, Jonathan David & Aviva Berkovich-Ohana
Summary of Intact neurophysiological markers of death denial in long-term ayahuasca users
The article opens by noting that death is a universal human reality that evokes anxiety across cultures and historical periods. People use various strategies to manage the existential discomfort that arises from this awareness, including religious beliefs, philosophical reflection, cultural rituals and the use of psychoactive substances in ceremonial settings. Psychedelics have recently become prominent in this landscape, with claims that they can reduce fear of death and foster a healthier relationship with mortality.
The authors review the growing scientific, clinical and public interest in psychedelics for addressing end-of-life distress. Earlier research and recent trials have suggested that substances such as ayahuasca may help individuals feel less afraid of dying. However, the evidence base remains limited because most studies rely on self-reports, which only capture conscious reflections. Research grounded in the Terror Management Theory tradition shows that many defences against death operate automatically and unconsciously. As a result, self-report data alone cannot reveal the full impact of psychedelics on death processing. The introduction therefore highlights a need for implicit and neurobiological measures that assess responses people may not be consciously aware of.
The authors then outline predictive processing theories of brain function and situate psychedelic effects within this framework. According to this perspective, the brain continually generates predictions about the world and updates them in response to prediction errors. The REBUS model proposes that psychedelics temporarily relax rigid, high-level beliefs, allowing suppressed or unexpected information to surface. It has been proposed that this mechanism might explain reductions in death anxiety following psychedelic experiences, but this possibility has not been tested using unconscious, perceptual-level measures. This gap motivates the present study.
Methods
Participants
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Intact neurophysiological markers of death denial in long-term ayahuasca users
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-025-06963-z
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Cite this paper (APA)
Dor-Ziderman, Y., David, J., & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2025). Intact neurophysiological markers of death denial in long-term ayahuasca users. Psychopharmacology, 1-19.
Study details
Compounds studied
Ayahuasca
Topics studied
Healthy Subjects
Neuroscience
Study characteristics
Observational
Survey
Theory Building
Bio/Neuro
Participants
50
Humans