LSD Study Sheds Light On Psychedelic Brain Activity

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Robin Carhart-Harris, David Nutt, and others have published a study on LSD’s effects on cerebral blood flow and the electrical activity of the brain. They also examined correlations between changes on those measures and LSD’s subjective effects. Combined with an earlier study on psilocybin, this research provides a greater understanding of how psychedelics alter brain activity and how certain changes correlate with various psychedelic effects.

Here are a few of the key things found in the study:

LSD reduces the integrity of core resting state networks (e.g. the default mode network.)
Visual processing while on the drug appears to involve additional parts of the brain. This may explain why visual activity on LSD is more profound, complex, and intense.
The visual effects correlate with a decrease in alpha power in the cortex. Perhaps this means the visual effects come from a decrease in inhibitory actions. In other words, the brain may no longer be “filtering” data in the same way, allowing normally disregarded information to reach your perception.