DMT alters cortical travelling waves
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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.
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“Although a preliminary account, the REBUS model is growing in empirical support (Alamia et al. 2020; Dupuis 2020; Girn et al. 2020; Herzog et al. 2020).”
From Consciousness in active inference: Deep self-models, other minds, and the challenge of psychedelic-induced ego-dissolution (2021) · cites this paper as Alamia et al. 2020
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Cites
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“N,N, Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a mixed serotonin receptor agonist that occurs endogenously in several organisms (Christian et al., 1977; Nichols, 2016) including humans (Smythies et al.”
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- Authors
- Alamia, A., Timmermann, C., Nutt, D. J., VanRullen, R., & Carhart-Harris, R. L.
- Affiliations
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- Cerco, CNRS Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
- Corresponding author
- Alamia, Andrea
- Timmermann, Christopher
- Venue
- eLife
- Publisher
- eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
- Published
- 2020-10-12
- Volume
- 9
- Pages
- e59784
- ISSN
- 2050-084X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7577737
- OpenAlex
- W3092035884
- Cited by
- 97
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 4.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2020-11-09)
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- eLife (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Spiral (Imperial College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Alexander Mosley Charitable Trust
- Ad Astra Chandaria Foundation
- CRCNS ANR-NSF (ANR-19-NEUC-0004)
- ANITI (Artificial and Natural Intelligence Toulouse Institute) Research Chair (ANR-19-PI3A-0004)
- Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica de Chile
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychedelics and Drug Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Keywords
- DMT, psychedelics, altered states of consciousness, visual imagery, visual cortex activation
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Alpha Rhythm, Brain, Consciousness, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, Female, Hallucinogens, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Young Adult
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