First discovered in 1943, LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) was popularized by Woodstock-era hippies. Even the CIA explored its potential as a “mind control” substance. But the consciousnesses revolution LSD sparked panicked the establishment.
In the 1960s, authorities shut the doors of perception and closed them off to researchers for over 50 years. Then, in 2016, Beckley Imperial Research Programme researchers conducted the world’s first brain scan on LSD.
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the findings have been compared to the discovery of the Higgs-Boson particle in physics.
So what does the world’s first brain scan on LSD mean for human neuroscience and our understanding of the brain?
What is LSD?
First, a little primer on LSD, or Lysergic acid diethylamide. Discovered by Albert Hoffman, a Swiss chemist, LSD was first synthesized in 1938 when he studied the properties of a rye fungus called ergot. But LSD’s effects weren’t known until 1943 when Hoffman accidentally got some on his skin.
Interestingly, the first LSD “trip” wasn’t a trip at all but a microdose. Nevertheless, curiosity got the best of him, and on April 19th, 1943, Hoffman ingested a large dose as part of an experiment. He rode his bike home as the effects started to kick in.
Hoffman thought he might have poisoned himself with no idea what to expect. Once he reached home, a doctor came to see him and found no signs of toxicity or impending death.
So Hoffman relaxed and, as he wrote in his book years later, “Now, little by little, I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind my closed eyes. Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me.”
LSD alters your sense of time, perception and distorts your sensitivity to sounds and smells. In large enough doses, you feel a heightened sense of understanding, which some describe as a mystical experience.
LSD’s hallucinogenic effects are more or less caused by interacting with the serotonin receptors in your brain. But, it wasn’t until the world’s first brain scan on LSD that we understood how the substance truly affects the brain.
Overview of the Study
The idea behind the world’s first brain scan on LSD was to fill in the blanks in our knowledge. Plenty of scientific studies on LSD occurred during the 1950s and 60s, when LSD was still new and legal. However, brain scanning technology has improved significantly in the last sixty years.
This study was able to examine LSD in the brain in real-time. For example, technology allows us to scan the brain’s visual cortex. By comparing the placebo group with the LSD group, it was clear that brain regions not generally involved with vision were now getting their hands dirty with visual processing.
With eyes closed, much more of the brain contributes to the visual experience under LSD than under placebo, as shown in this image. Participants’ reports of complex, dreamlike visions were related to the magnitude of this effect.
Examining how this happens helps explain the visual hallucinations volunteers reported when they said they were “seeing with their eyes shut.”
Researchers gave twenty volunteers 70 micrograms of LSD or a placebo (saline). While 70 micrograms are considered low by many “psychonauts,” it was enough to provide a reading for the brain scans. Researchers used multiple brain mapping technologies such as MRI and DAT scans. Here are the specific brain scans used:
Magnetoencephalography: a neuroimaging technique for mapping the brain by recording magnetic fields produced by electrical currents occurring naturally in the brain.
Resting-state fMRI: a magnetic resonance imaging technique used to measure the brain’s regional interactions in a resting state.
ASL (arterial spin labelling): another magnetic resonance imaging technique used to measure cerebral oxygenated blood.
Significant Findings of the World’s First Brain Scan on LSD
Increase in the brain connectivity after LSD (right), compared to placebo (left). Credit: Imperial College London
The DMN: The world’s first brain scan on LSD shows how the Default Mode Network (DMN) changes. The DMN is a scientific term for the ego mechanism. It’s the part of the brain that filters our perceptions, allowing us to stay in control of ourselves and experience things normally. We return to a more baby-like or “primordial” existence when the DMN is reduced. So, with a less functional DMN, we become less ego-driven. And with a greater pull toward forming new associations and questioning assumptions.
Changes in the DMN correspond nicely to how users have described the effects of LSD. Many self-report “ego-dissolution” in high doses. But thanks to the world’s first brain scan on LSD, we can see how this happens. Brain wave synchronization decreases – neurons that fire together, producing organized brain waves, are less coordinated.
Integrated Brain Regions: In general, the brain splits between left and right hemispheres, with each side taking care of its particular functions. For example, the right side is associated with creative thinking, imagination, intuition, and interpreting the third dimension. The left side is better known for analytical thought, logic, reasoning, science and math processing.
What’s so exciting about the world’s first brain scan on LSD is how it shows these separate regions breaking down. When one is on LSD, the separation between different brain networks reduces with greater connectivity and communication. Brain wave activity shifts toward alpha frequencies which are associated with creativity and wellbeing. This brain wave activity helps explain why users report dream-like states of consciousness.
The Retrosplenial cortex is responsible for making connections with numerous other brain regions. It’s called the imagination or autobiographical circuit since it’s crucial to our sense of self and ego. The world’s first brain scan on LSD showed how the substance would cause the cortex to disconnect. This gives researchers more insight into how the brain produces the ego and how to approach psychological issues.
Implications of the World’s First Brain Scan on LSD
Amanda Feilding is the founder and co-director of the Beckley/Imperial Research Programme. She summed up the world’s first brain scan on LSD by saying, “we are finally unveiling the brain mechanisms underlying the potential of LSD, not only to heal, but also to deepen our understanding of consciousness itself.”
And that is perhaps the most exciting part of the world’s first brain scan on LSD. By examining and understanding how psychedelics interact with our brains, we can understand ourselves better and find therapeutic solutions to mental health disorders.
A systematic review of LSD’s use in psychiatry found that the many randomized-controlled clinical trials show favourable results. The most substantial evidence pointed toward LSD as an effective treatment for alcoholism.
Antidepressants tend to target synaptic levels in the brain. Psychedelics like LSD instead offer genuine insights and profound connections. LSD has long been the stereotypical substance hippies use to “be one with the universe.” But scientific research is increasingly supporting this notion.
Dissolving the ego and bringing the brain down to a baby-like, primordial state can help get to the root of mental health problems. The implications of the world’s first brain scan on LSD are entirely positive.
In Summary
The world’s first brain scan on LSD has provided incalculable value to our understanding of consciousness and the ego. Albert Hoffman would be proud of what researchers were able to show with modern brain imaging technology.
Learning how brain waves change, how parts of the brain light up and integrate, and how the Retrosplenial cortex disconnects are the neuroscience equivalent of discovering quantum physics. And like in the early days of that discipline, we have a long way to go with psychedelic research.
With stigmas fading and scientific interest increasing, our knowledge of LSD and the brain will only improve. Hopefully, the world’s first brain scan on LSD won’t be the last.
