Imperial College London
Alternate

Professor Robin Carhart-Harris

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Brain Sciences

Visiting Professor
 
 
 
//

Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 7992r.carhart-harris

 
 
//

Assistant

 

Miss Bruna Cunha +44 (0)20 7594 7992

 
//

Location

 

Burlington DanesHammersmith Campus

//

Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Lebedev:2015:10.1002/hbm.22833,
author = {Lebedev, AV and Lövdén, M and Rosenthal, G and Feilding, A and Nutt, DJ and Carhart-Harris, RL},
doi = {10.1002/hbm.22833},
journal = {Human Brain Mapping},
title = {Finding the self by losing the self: Neural correlates of ego-dissolution under psilocybin.},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22833},
year = {2015}
}
Download

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Ego-disturbances have been a topic in schizophrenia research since the earliest clinical descriptions of the disorder. Manifesting as a feeling that one's "self," "ego," or "I" is disintegrating or that the border between one's self and the external world is dissolving, "ego-disintegration" or "dissolution" is also an important feature of the psychedelic experience, such as is produced by psilocybin (a compound found in "magic mushrooms"). Fifteen healthy subjects took part in this placebo-controlled study. Twelve-minute functional MRI scans were acquired on two occasions: subjects received an intravenous infusion of saline on one occasion (placebo) and 2 mg psilocybin on the other. Twenty-two visual analogue scale ratings were completed soon after scanning and the first principal component of these, dominated by items referring to "ego-dissolution", was used as a primary measure of interest in subsequent analyses. Employing methods of connectivity analysis and graph theory, an association was found between psilocybin-induced ego-dissolution and decreased functional connectivity between the medial temporal lobe and high-level cortical regions. Ego-dissolution was also associated with a "disintegration" of the salience network and reduced interhemispheric communication. Addressing baseline brain dynamics as a predictor of drug-response, individuals with lower diversity of executive network nodes were more likely to experience ego-dissolution under psilocybin. These results implicate MTL-cortical decoupling, decreased salience network integrity, and reduced inter-hemispheric communication in psilocybin-induced ego disturbance and suggest that the maintenance of "self"or "ego," as a perceptual phenomenon, may rest on the normal functioning of these systems. Hum Brain Mapp, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
AU  - Lebedev,AV
AU  - Lövdén,M
AU  - Rosenthal,G
AU  - Feilding,A
AU  - Nutt,DJ
AU  - Carhart-Harris,RL
DO  - 10.1002/hbm.22833
PY  - 2015///
SN  - 1097-0193
TI  - Finding the self by losing the self: Neural correlates of ego-dissolution under psilocybin.
T2  - Human Brain Mapping
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22833
ER  -
Download