Beyond the Self and Back: Neuropharmacological Mechanisms Underlying the Dissolution of the Self

The aim of the study is to identify neural signatures, behavioral and phenomenological expressions of self-related processes including: sense of agency, semantic distinction between self and other, selflessness (altruism), social agency, embodied self (interoception), perceptual functioning of dissolved self including hallucinations and crossmodal processing, and finally the mystical type dissolution of the self.

Topic Healthy Subjects
Compound Placebo Psilocybin
Country Switzerland
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Trial Details



Trial Number

Sponsors & Collaborators

University of Zurich
Within the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics at the University of Zurich, Dr Mialn Scheidegger is leading team conducting psychedelic research and therapy development.

Schweizerischer Nationalfonds
This company doesn't have a full profile yet, it is linked to a clinical trial.

Papers

Psilocybin enhances insightfulness in meditation: a perspective on the global topology of brain imaging during meditation
This placebo-controlled study (n=36) investigated fMRI data from experienced meditators undergoing focused attention and open monitoring meditation before and after a five-day psilocybin-assisted (22mg/70kg on day 4) meditation retreat. Psilocybin-induced positive derealization, coupled with enhanced open-monitoring meditation, correlated with the optimal transport distance between open monitoring and resting state. This suggests that enhanced meta-awareness through meditation combined with psilocybin may mediate insightfulness, offering potential novel brain markers for positive synergistic effects between mindfulness practices and psychedelics.

Psilocybin induces time-dependent changes in global functional connectivity: Psi-induced changes in brain connectivity
This double-blind, placebo-controlled fMRI study (n=23) study with psilocybin (14mg/70kg) finds evidence that sensory connectivity increased whilst associative connectivity went down.

Neural Mechanisms of Resting-State Networks and the Amygdala underlying the Cognitive and Emotional Effects of Psilocybin
This follow-up fMRI analysis of an RCT of healthy subjects (n=24) finds that psilocybin (15mg/70kg) led to a pattern of decreased top-down effectivity between the default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and central executive network (CEN) to the amygdala.

Neural mechanisms of psychedelic visual imagery
This reanalysis (n=24) of an RCT with psilocybin (up to 22mg/70kg) finds that self-inhibition of visual areas of the brain (EVA, FG) leads to complex imagery, as seen by participants. The results align with the REBUS model and highlight (again) how the bottoms-up processes of the brain are amplified under the influence of psychedelics.

Psilocybin Induces Aberrant Prediction Error Processing of Tactile Mismatch Responses-A Simultaneous EEG-FMRI Study
This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, and crossover study (n=15) investigated the effects of oral psilocybin (14mg/70kg) on the predictive processing of somatosensory tactile stimulation using simultaneous EEG–fMRI recording. Psilocybin produced robust perceptual alterations of bodily awareness and self-experience that were related to decreased brain response to surprising tactile stimuli.

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