DMT alters cortical travelling waves
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Published version
Author(s)
Alamia, Andrea
Timmermann, Christopher
VanRullen, Rufin
Carhart-Harris, Robin L
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Psychedelic drugs are potent modulators of conscious states and therefore powerful tools for investigating their neurobiology. N,N, Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) can rapidly induce an extremely immersive state of consciousness characterized by vivid and elaborate visual imagery. Here, we investigated the electrophysiological correlates of the DMT-induced altered state from a pool of participants receiving DMT and (separately) placebo (saline) while instructed to keep their eyes closed. Consistent with our hypotheses, results revealed a spatio-temporal pattern of cortical activation (i.e. travelling waves) similar to that elicited by visual stimulation. Moreover, the typical top-down alpha-band rhythms of closed-eyes rest were significantly decreased, while the bottom-up forward wave was significantly increased. These results support a recent model proposing that psychedelics reduce the ‘precision-weighting of priors’, thus altering the balance of top-down versus bottom-up information passing. The robust hypothesis-confirming nature of these findings imply the discovery of an important mechanistic principle underpinning psychedelic-induced altered states.
Date Acceptance
2020-10-11
Citation
eLife, 9, pp.1-16
ISSN
2050-084X
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
Start Page
1
End Page
16
Journal / Book Title
eLife
Volume
9
Copyright Statement
© 2020 Alamia et al. This
article is distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which
permits unrestricted use and
redistribution provided that the
original author and source are
credited.
article is distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which
permits unrestricted use and
redistribution provided that the
original author and source are
credited.
License URL
Identifier
https://elifesciences.org/articles/59784
Subjects
0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2020-10-12