Neurocomputational evidence of sustained Self-Other mergence after psychedelics
Abstract
Mental illness is often characterised by a maladaptive sense of self . The neurobiological basis of Self-Other distinction may provide targets for therapeutic interventions. Psychedelics alter the experience of selfhood, but the neurocomputational mechanism is unclear. We used a computationally-informed behavioural assay to investigate whether psychedelics disrupt Self-Other boundaries in belief formation. In a double-blind, crossover design, 22 participants received placebo, psilocybin or 2C-B (2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenethylamine). The next day, we fitted reinforcement learning models to probabilistic false-belief task behaviour, yielding objective Self-Other distinction measures. Compared to placebo, psychedelics induced a state of Self-Other mergence, associated with a multivariate signal of sustained psychosocial wellbeing. Effective-connectivity estimates from resting-state fMRI showed that Self-Other boundary disruption was associated with reduced inhibitory tone from right temporoparietal junction to dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. We show that psychedelics quantifiably act on the neural basis of Self-Other distinction, offering potential routes to precision therapeutics in psychedelic psychiatry.
Topics & conditions
Detected automatically by Psychedelic Commons from the title and abstract, not labels from the source. They may be incomplete.
Psychedelic Commons aggregates metadata from open sources and links back to the original. Rights remain with the authors and publishers. Something wrong with this record? Report a problem.