Almost three-quarters of a century after a chemist accidentally ingested LSD and experienced its mind-expanding effects, brain imaging has given researchers their first glimpse of how it causes its profound effects on consciousness. One of the most notable aspects of the psychedelic experience is a phenomenon known as the dissolution of the ego, in which users feel somehow detached from themselves. Studying how the normally stable sense of self-gets disrupted can tell us how neural mechanisms create this integral part of the human experience.
“This is why psychedelics in general but also LSD are special. They really alter consciousness in this fundamental way and therefore they are very powerful tools to understand the nature of consciousness,” says researcher from Imperial College London, who carried out the new study. The team gave 20 volunteers infusions on two days, once containing…
