Functional neuroimaging of psychedelic experience: An overview of psychological and neural effects and their relevance to research on creativity, daydreaming, and dreaming

Psychedelic substances produce radical psychological effects and have been surrounded by political and legal controversy since their widespread adoption about 50 years ago. This review examines functional neuroimaging studies that investigate the neural correlates of the psychedelic experience, highlighting connections with the psychological and neural bases of creativity, daydreaming, and dreaming. The authors synthesize findings from these imaging investigations to show how brain activity during psychedelic states overlaps with patterns seen during imaginative and creative thought processes.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Humans have employed an incredible variety of plant-derived substances over the millennia in order to alter consciousness and perception. Among the innumerable narcotics, analgesics, 'ordeal' drugs, and other psychoactive substances discovered and used in ritualistic contexts by cultures around the world, one class in particular stands out not only for its radical psychological effects, but also for the highly charged political and legal atmosphere that has surrounded it since its widespread adoption about 50 years ago: so-called psychedelic substances. We review functional neuroimaging investigations of the neural correlates of the psychedelic experience, and highlight relationships with the psychological and neural bases of creativity, daydreaming, and dreaming.