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 A research team led by scientists at Imperial College London said
that while normally the brain works on independent networks
performing separate functions such as vision, movement and hearing,
under LSD the separateness of these networks breaks down, leading to
a more unified system.
"In many ways, the brain in the LSD state resembles the state our
brains were in when we were infants: free and unconstrained," said
Robin Cahart-Harris, who led the study. "This also makes sense when
we consider the hyper-emotional and imaginative nature of an
infant's mind."
The findings, published on Monday in Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal, also showed that when the
volunteers took LSD, many extra brain areas - not just the visual
cortex - contributed to visual processing.
This could explain the complex visual hallucinations that are often
associated with the LSD state, the scientists said.
 Carhart-Harris, a researcher at Imperial's department of medicine
said the experience also seemed to be linked to "improvements in
well-being" after the drug's effects subside, suggesting the
findings may one day lead to psychedelic compounds being used to
treat psychiatric disorders.
Such drugs could be particularly useful in mental disorders where
negative thought patterns have become entrenched, the scientists
explained, such as in depression or addiction.
"For the first time, we can really see what's happening in the brain
during the psychedelic state, and can better understand why LSD
(Lysergic acid diethylamide) had such a profound impact on
self-awareness," said David Nutt, a professor of
neuropsychopharmacology who worked with Carhart-Harris.
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"This could have great implications for psychiatry."
The Imperial team worked alongside the Beckley Foundation, a
British-based group that backs scientific research into the
potential medical benefits of psychoactive substances.
This study, funded by Beckley and by public donations through a
crowdfunding platform, involved 20 healthy volunteers, each of whom
received both LSD and a placebo, and all of whom were deemed
psychologically and physically healthy. All the volunteers had
previously taken some type of psychedelic drug.
During controlled and supervised experiments in a specialist
research center, each volunteer was given an injection of either 75
micrograms of LSD, or a placebo. Their brains were then scanned
using various techniques, including functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG).
Using these techniques allowed the scientists to study activity in
the whole brain by monitoring blood flow and electrical activity.
(Editing by Alison Williams)
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