Acute effects of psilocybin on the dynamics of gaze fixations during visual aesthetic perception
Stephanie Müller, Federico Cavanna, L. de la Fuente, Nicolás Bruno, Tomás Ariel D’amelio, Carla Pallavicini, Enzo Tagliazucchi
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) November 1, 2023 preprint DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.27.564413 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractHigh 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.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Placebo-controlled Double-blind |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Psilocybin mushrooms |
| Dose | low vs. high doses |
| Topics | Psilocybin |
| Keywords | Fixation population genetics Cognitive psychology Gaze Eye movement |
| Citations | 3 |
| Key finding | High doses of psilocybin produce a more local visual exploration of paintings, resulting in a less entropic fixation probability distribution. |
Abstract
Abstract Rationale Serotonergic psychedelics are remarkable for their capacity to induce variable yet reproducible modifications to human consciousness The most salient acute effects of these compounds include perceptual alterations, predominantly in the visual domain, yet to date these alterations have been mostly documented only by subjective reports. Objectives We used eye-tracking to quantify the effects of low vs. high doses of psilocybin mushrooms on the eye movements that underlie the exploration of complex visual stimuli, focusing on the particular case of aesthetic perception. Results Following a double-blind placebo-controlled design under semi-naturalistic conditions, we demonstrated that high doses of psilocybin result in a more local visual exploration of paintings, and thus in a less entropic fixation probability distribution. Participants reported heightened emotional response and state of flow under the high dose condition. Conclusions These findings are consistent with an effect of psilocybin on gaze fixation mediated by altered perception of low-level visual information, such as textures, shapes and colors. Our work also highlights the possibility of investigating psychedelics by addressing their effect on behavior under complex naturalistic conditions, which contributes to maintaining subject engagement while also increasing the ecological validity of the findings.