Psilocybin disrupted brain communication far more than a stimulant
What they did
Healthy adults were scanned by MRI around eighteen times each before, during and for three weeks after a 25mg dose, with the stimulant methylphenidate used as a comparison drug.
What they found
Psilocybin disrupted communication between brain regions more than three times as much as methylphenidate, and left a weakened connection between the anterior hippocampus and the default mode network that lasted for weeks.
Worth knowing
Seven people, but scanned so many times each that the design trades sample size for depth. Desynchronisation is a description of what the brain does, not evidence that it helps anyone.
Siegel et al. Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain. Nature, 2024.
Read the sourceKeep reading
brain networksBrains became less compartmentalised, and moods lifted with themdefault mode networkActivity went down, not upreceptorsBlocking one receptor switched the whole experience offThis is where the word neuroplasticity comes from in psilocybin marketing. Worth reading the actual studies, because most of them were done in mice.
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