A licenced psilocybin study has been gathering data in the UK. IV psilocybin is given to male participants and fMRI scans are completed. Robin (a neuropsychopharmacologist) will be presenting the results of this study, and discussing which areas of the brain are activated or inhibited under the influence of psilocybin.
This talk will descrive the history and progress of a functional magnetic resonance imaging… (fMRI) project investigating the effects of IV psilocybin on brain activation and blood flow. It will describe how the project began, its present status, what researchers are investigating, what they expect to find and what they have found so far. The project is part of a broader initiative to test and develop the validity of abstract constructs of relevance to the psychedelic state (e.g. the ego, the unconscious mind, primary process thinkng and the mystical experience).
Psilocybin is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, and is closely related to DMT. Interestingly, IV psilocybin has a much shorter duration (around 30 minutes) and can be extremely intense.
This should be an extremely interesting talk, and I strongly recommend coming. There is still so much to learn in the field of neuroscience, and it is of massive importance to study the effects on brain activity of agents such as psilocybin that can so palpably change the acute experience of human life.
What do the doors of perception look like through a magnetic resonance scan?
Wednesday 1st December, 18:00. Darwin Lecture Theatre 2, University of Kent.
