In a first, scientists can now see how the psychedelic drug compound, LSD, impacts brain activity.
Using brain scans, researchers from Imperial College London conducted an experiment in which they gave Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to 20 volunteers and used brain scans to study how the drug changes the way the brain operates.
The brain regions that contribute to vision were much more active when a person was under the influence of LSD. This explains how the vibrant hallucinations that many LSD users experience are formed, according to the study, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Under normal conditions, information from our eyes is processed in a part of the brain at the back of the head called the visual cortex, a news release from the college.
However, when the study volunteers took LSD, many other areas of the brain — not just the visual cortex — contributed to visual processing.
"Scientists have waited 50 years for this moment — the revealing of how LSD alters our brain biology," said Professor David Nutt, one of the study authors.
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Allie Shah • 612-673-4488
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