Scientists Explain How LSD Works On Your Brain

LSD users know more than anyone else how its use helps one see psychedelic rainbow visions. However, a team of researchers explain what exactly happens to your brain when you are on acid, aka LSD.

Scientists from Imperial College London working with Beckley Foundation, take a look into the psychedelic compounds and their affect on brain activity.

In an experiment, 20 healthy volunteers were administered LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) as a part of the study. Several state-of-the-art and complementary brain scanning techniques were used to picture how LSD impacts the brain and its working. According to the researchers, when volunteers were on LSD, several parts of their brain contributed to visual processing of images and not just the visual cortex.

Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, lead researcher, explained: "We observed brain changes under LSD that suggested our volunteers were 'seeing with their eyes shut' - albeit they were seeing things from their imagination rather than from the outside world. We saw that many more areas of the brain than normal were contributing to visual processing under LSD - even though the volunteers' eyes were closed. Furthermore, the size of this effect correlated with volunteers' ratings of complex, dreamlike visions. "

The study also looked into brain activity when people report a change in the quality of their consciousness as they are under LSD.

Dr Carhart-Harris explained: "Normally our brain consists of independent networks that perform separate specialised functions, such as vision, movement and hearing - as well as more complex things like attention. However, under LSD the separateness of these networks breaks down and instead you see a more integrated or unified brain.

"Our results suggest that this effect underlies the profound altered state of consciousness that people often describe during an LSD experience. It is also related to what people sometimes call 'ego-dissolution', which means the normal sense of self is broken down and replaced by a sense of reconnection with themselves, others and the natural world. This experience is sometimes framed in a religious or spiritual way - and seems to be associated with improvements in well-being after the drug's effects have subsided."

The study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).