articleProceedings of the National Academy of SciencesJan 23, 2012BRONZE OA

Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin

RCRobin Carhart‐HarrisDEDavid ErritzøeTATom A. WilliamsJSJames StoneLRLaurence Reed

University of Bristol · University of Copenhagen · +4 more institutions

PubMed
Indexed incrossrefpubmed

Abstract

Psychedelic drugs have a long history of use in healing ceremonies, but despite renewed interest in their therapeutic potential, we continue to know very little about how they work in the brain. Here we used psilocybin, a classic psychedelic found in magic mushrooms, and a task-free functional MRI (fMRI) protocol designed to capture the transition from normal waking consciousness to the psychedelic state. Arterial spin labeling perfusion and blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI were used to map cerebral blood flow and changes in venous oxygenation before and after intravenous infusions of placebo and psilocybin. Fifteen healthy volunteers were scanned with arterial spin labeling and a separate 15 with…

Citation impact

1,176
total citations
FWCI
47.38
Percentile
100%
References
51
Citations per year

Authors

15

Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Psilocybin
  • Prefrontal cortex
  • Hallucinogen
  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Cerebral blood flow
  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging
  • Default mode network
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Good health and well-being
No related works found for this paper.

Funding