According to a new study published in the journal scientific reportpsilocybin can increase insight during meditation.
In this study, we used a recently established approach based on a topological mapper algorithm to describe functional magnetic resonances collected during focused attention and open monitoring meditation before and after a 5-day psilocybin-assisted meditation retreat. This is the first time I’ve investigated an image dataset. Data analysis,” the researchers wrote in the abstract.
After generating subject-specific maps for two groups of experienced meditators (psilocybin vs. placebo, 18 subjects/group), we geometrically enriched the optimal transport (OT) distance, and the similarity between them. “We used graph topological tools to measure patterns of brain activity,” the researchers wrote. “This revealed topological (shape) features in space (an abstract space of voxels) and temporal dimensions of whole-brain activity patterns during different styles of meditation and psilocybin-induced changes.”
Perhaps most surprising, the researchers found that “the (psilocybin-induced) loss of positive reality, which promotes insight, especially when accompanied by enhanced open monitoring meditation, was significantly lower during open monitoring and resting states.” “We found that it was related to OT distance.”
The researchers wrote, “The results of this study suggest that the enhancement of metacognition by meditation practice in experienced meditators and the potential positive changes in perception caused by psilocybin mediate insight. “There is,” he said.
“Taken together, these findings provide a new perspective on meditation and psychedelics and may reveal new brain markers that may lead to positive synergy between mindfulness practices and psilocybin.” “Yes,” the researchers wrote.
The study was a “double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, concurrent meditation study of 36 people who completed two fMRI brain imaging sessions before and after a 5-day psilocybin-assisted meditation retreat.” Based on research on experienced meditators. Designing group learning. ”
“Placebo or psilocybin (body weight 315, absolute dose, 21.82 ± 3.7 mg) was administered on the fourth day of therapy, and the 11D-ASC questionnaire for assessment of altered states of consciousness (see Methods) was administered 360 minutes after dosing. Did. Intake as a retrospective measure of subjective effects. Each scanning session (1 day before and after the retreat) consisted of 21 minutes of resting, focused attention, and open monitoring sequences (fixed order), and each meditation lasted for 7 minutes. For each subject, both scanning sessions were concatenated (excluding transition times) and a mapper shape graph was generated and analyzed,” the researchers explained.
The researchers wrote, “Compared to meditation alone, psilocybin alters perception of the external world, perhaps by increasing the amount of information, which is reflected in the increased OT distance between OM and RS after the retreat.” concluded.
Berit Singer, one of the study’s lead authors, explained the inspiration behind the researchers.
“I was interested in the technical part of this topic because how pure mathematics, and especially topology, can be applied to extract important information from the latent structure of data that is not obvious in other ways. Because I’m interested in that,” Singer told outlet PsyPost. . “Psychedelic neuroscience and mediation are of particular interest to me because I see that much research is needed to better understand the mechanisms of these substances and technologies, and this also makes them beneficial. Because we hope it will be useful for use in both individuals and society. ”
“We were surprised that the subject-specific mapper graphs were so different at first glance that they did not appear to have many similarities, but using appropriate graph measures (optimal transport distance and centrality) “Once described and simplified, their common structure was revealed and was found to be very stable in both groups,” Singer continued. “In other words, their common features are not obvious to the eye by looking at the subject-specific mapper graph, but can only be found after computing the topological features.”
“Scientific interest in meditation and psychedelics has increased in recent years,” Singer and other researchers wrote in their study.
“Research on the neurophysiology of meditation and psychedelics is growing rapidly, but these topics are primarily studied from the perspective of functional connectivity, resting state networks, and signal variability, including measures of entropy and criticality. This paper covers an alternative approach that applies novel topological data analysis (TDA) techniques to neurophysiological studies of the synergistic effects of meditation and psychedelics.
“Meditation is a form of mental training with a variety of purposes, including improving cognitive and emotional self-regulation,13 changing attitudes toward self and others, including underlying duality, and fostering positive emotional states. Different types of meditation can be distinguished: Two well-studied attentional practices are focused attention (FA) practices and open monitoring. (OM) is a practice. FA involves narrowing the scope of attention; OM, by contrast, involves releasing control of attention and bringing awareness to the content of moment-to-moment experience. Psychedelics are a broad class of consciousness modulating substances that induce altered states of perception, cognition, emotion, and sense of self.Classic serotonergic psychedelics include lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, mescaline, and Contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT).
