bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
November 1, 2023
Stephanie Müller, Federico Cavanna, L. de la Fuente et al.
3 citations
preprint
High doses of psilocybin mushrooms cause people to explore paintings with more local, less random eye movements, making their gaze patterns less entropic. Participants also reported stronger emotional responses and a greater state of flow under the high dose. These effects are consistent with psilocybin altering the perception of low-level visual features like textures, shapes, and colors. The findings demonstrate that eye-tracking under naturalistic conditions can objectively measure psychedelic-induced perceptual changes, supporting greater ecological validity.
Sci Rep
July 9, 2025
Stephanie Müller, Federico Cavanna, Laura De la Fuente et al.
2 citations
High doses of psilocybin mushrooms caused people to look more locally at paintings, with less spread in where their eyes fixated, compared with low doses. Psilocybin increased subjective emotional intensity and feelings of flow but did not change how people rated the paintings aesthetically, indicating a separation between perceptual and evaluative parts of aesthetic experience. The gaze changes may stem from altered perception of low-level visual features such as textures, shapes, and colors. The work demonstrates that eye tracking can objectively measure psychedelic effects on behavior in naturalistic settings.
bioRxiv
May 4, 2026
Tomás Ariel D’amelio, Tomás Gil Garbagnoli, Jerónimo Rodríguez Cuello et al.
Inhalation of DMT, a serotonergic psychedelic, produces a brief surge in sympathetic nervous system activity—heart rate, skin conductance, and respiration—that closely tracks the intensity of the emotional experience. Nineteen participants received 20 or 40 mg of DMT under a semi-naturalistic blinded design. Higher doses caused heart rate and breathing to increase within the first two minutes, while skin conductance rose only later, indicating a prolonged autonomic response. As the drug's effects waned, feelings of pleasantness and bliss emerged. Combining simple physiological measures with moment-by-moment self-reports offers a way to objectively characterize psychedelic-induced emotional states, which may aid future clinical biomarker research.