Home » Health » Our brains do not necessarily process everything as that would be an overload of information, a study from 2016 found that under the influence of LSD, the brain recruited many more regions for visual processing than normal, enriching the images people saw even when their eyes were shut.

Our brains do not necessarily process everything as that would be an overload of information, a study from 2016 found that under the influence of LSD, the brain recruited many more regions for visual processing than normal, enriching the images people saw even when their eyes were shut.

Study shows how LSD interferes with brain’s signalling

A group of volunteers who took a trip in the name of science have helped researchers uncover how LSD messes with activity in the brain to induce an altered state of consciousness.

Brain scans of individuals high on the drug revealed that the chemical allows parts of the cortex to become flooded with signals that are normally filtered out to prevent information overload.

The drug allowed more information to flow from the thalamus, a kind of neural gatekeeper, to a region called the posterior cingulate cortex, and it stemmed the flow of information to another part known as the temporal cortex.

This disruption in communication may underpin some of the wacky effects reported by LSD users, from feelings of bliss and being at one with… Continue Reading (4 minute read)

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