Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
April 11, 2016
Robin L. Carhart-Harris, Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, Leor Roseman et al.
887 citations
LSD produces marked changes in brain activity that correlate with its psychological effects. Increased blood flow in the visual cortex, decreased alpha power there, and an expanded functional connectivity profile of the primary visual cortex strongly correlated with visual hallucinations, suggesting that intrinsic brain activity influences visual processing more during the psychedelic state. Decreased connectivity between the parahippocampus and retrosplenial cortex correlated strongly with ego-dissolution and altered meaning, indicating this circuit's role in maintaining the self and processing meaning. Different imaging metrics showed strong relationships, allowing firmer inferences about their functional significance.
Neuropsychopharmacology
February 14, 2017
Ishan C Walpola, Timothy Nest, Leor Roseman et al.
50 citations
MDMA (100 mg) reduces functional connectivity between the right insula and the salience network in the brain, indicating a disintegration of this network. This decrease in connectivity correlates with higher baseline trait anxiety and more intense acute experiences of altered bodily sensations under the drug. The findings suggest that insular disintegration is a neurobiological signature of the MDMA experience, linking the drug's effects on brain activity to individual differences in anxiety and bodily awareness.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
January 29, 2026
Venkatesh Subramani, Timothy Nest, Annalisa Pascarella et al.
1 citation
LSD alters brain activity by increasing alpha and beta brain-wave frequencies while genuinely reducing oscillatory power, with these effects showing distinct cortical patterns. The drug also flattens the aperiodic 1/f spectral slope and increases neural signal fractality and complexity, particularly in sensory, language, emotion, and imagery-related networks, while sparing motor cortex. Machine learning identified peak-frequency shifts, aperiodic parameters, and complexity measures as key discriminators of the psychedelic state. Music did not amplify these neural signatures and showed a trend toward attenuation. These findings provide a comprehensive account of how LSD reorganizes large-scale human brain dynamics.
UNC Libraries
April 22, 2020
Peter J. Hellyer, Luke T. Williams, Ben Sessa et al.
1 citation
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in microgram doses produces profound, sometimes life-changing experiences and is a uniquely powerful psychoactive substance. In the first modern neuroimaging study of LSD, marked changes in brain blood flow, electrical activity, and network communication patterns were observed. These changes correlated strongly with the drug's hallucinatory and consciousness-altering properties. The findings have implications for understanding the neurobiology of consciousness and for potential applications of LSD in psychological research.