Drugs like LSD still They have a lot to teach us about the way the brain works, and may shed light on the mysterious interface between consciousness and neuronal physiology, as suggested a new study.
Combining pharmacological interventions with non-invasive brain imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), can provide information about normal and abnormal brain function.
LSD
In the study, a group of 20 healthy volunteers underwent brain scans in two separate sessions, fifteen days apart. In one of the sessions, participants took a placebo before entering the fMRI scanner, while in the other they were administered an active dose of LSD.
By comparing the results of the two sessions, the researchers found that LSD separates functional connectivity from the limitations of structural connectivity, while also altering the way the brain manages the balancing act between integration and segregation of information. In particular, the well-known LSD-induced sensation of 'ego dissolution' correlates with the reorganization of brain networks during a state of high global integration.
The drug-altered state of consciousness could be seen as an abnormal increase in the functional complexity of the brain, and the data show times when the brain reveals predominantly segregated patterns of functional connectivity.
As explained by the first author and neuroscience researcher Andrea Luppi, from the University of Cambridge, this study is part of the clarification of the dynamic functional connectivity, the theory that brain phenomena demonstrate states of functional connectivity that change over time, in the same way that our stream of consciousness is dynamic and always flowing.
While this takes place, and the human brain processes information, it must integrate that information into an amalgamated form of understanding, but at the same time segregate information, keeping different sensory streams separate from each other, so that they can be managed by particular neural systems.
In other words, the 'ego dissolution' of a psychedelic trip could be the subjective experience of the brain increasing its segregation dynamics, decoupling the brain's structure from its functioning, that is, its ability to integrate and amalgamate separate streams of information into a unified whole.
This distinction, the dynamics of brain integration and segregation, is something that is affected by psychedelic drugs, and with the advent of brain imaging technology, we can observe what happens when our regular functional connectivity is disrupted.
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The news
Describes how LSD allows the brain to function beyond the body itself
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.