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
Visit trial
Status
Completed
Results Published
Yes
Start date
01 October 2013
End date
31 December 2018
Chance of happening
100%
Design
Blinded
Type
Interventional
Generation
First
Participants
140
Sex
All
Age
20- 60
Therapy
No
Trial Details
Four placebo-controlled, double blind sets of procedures using psilocybin with four independent study groups will be conducted. The number of subjects, testing procedures and dose of psilocybin for each group are as follows: group 1 (20 subjects, EEG, questionnaires, 0.200 mg/Kg body weight), group 2 (30 subjects, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), questionnaires, 0.200 mg/Kg body weight), group 3 (10 subjects, fMRI, questionnaires, 0.215 mg/Kg body weight), study group 4 (80 subjects, blood serum and saliva parameters, questionnaires, fMRI (only in 20 subjects from this group), 0.315 mg/Kg body weight). The groups 1, 2 and 3 involve healthy volunteers. The group 4 involves healthy volunteer long-term and short-term meditators during a 5-day group meditation retreat. Together, 140 subjects will participate in the study.NCT Number NCT03736980
Sponsors & Collaborators
University of ZurichWithin 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
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Papers
Psilocybin enhances insightfulness in meditation: a perspective on the global topology of brain imaging during meditationThis 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.