Recent studies have investigated the cognitive effects of psychedelic drugs, previously understudied due to anti-drug sentiments. At a symposium on psychedelics and cognition, researchers presented findings on psilocybin's impact on creative cognition and the influence of psychedelics on episodic memory. Moderate doses of psilocybin increased spontaneous creative insights but decreased deliberate creativity. Psychedelics impaired memory encoding reliant on specific details but enhanced encoding reliant on familiarity. These results suggest that psychedelic drugs can impact cognition in multiple ways, highlighting the need for further research.
The synthesis of LSD and psilocybin in the early to mid-20th century sparked not only a new counterculture in the United States but also a new interest in brain science, specifically the role of neurotransmitters. Despite these discoveries, research on psychedelics went dormant for decades due to anti-drug sentiment. However, recent research has begun to investigate the cognitive benefits of these drugs, from memory malleability to cognitive creativity.
Cognitive neuroscientists are bringing new rigor to the field, using behavioral and clinical studies to investigate the cognitive effects of psychedelic drugs. A symposium on psychedelics and cognition was held at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) annual meeting, where researchers presented their findings. Natasha Mason from Maastricht University presented a study on whether a moderate dose of psilocybin affects creative cognition, finding that psilocybin increased ratings of spontaneous creative insights while also decreasing deliberate, task-specific creativity. Brain imaging supported the behavioral changes in creativity.
In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, Mason’s team found that novel ideas increased seven days after the psilocybin exposure. Mason hopes that their work will lead to a better understanding of whether psychedelics induce a “window of opportunity” for enhanced therapy. “If there is a persistent, subacute change in creative cognition, maybe we can use this period to help people integrate their acute insights with a therapist and come up with new, more effective strategies that facilitate adaptive interpretation and coping abilities,” she says.
Manoj Doss from Johns Hopkins University presented an analysis of how psychedelics influence episodic memory. His interest in psychedelics stems from his interest in human memory, and in particular, reconsolidation – reactivating memories to make them more fluid in order to help patients suffering from disorders like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
However, reconsolidation paradigms in humans have not exactly led to clinical breakthroughs. One reason may be that complex memory maintained over several years is not easily rendered labile. That’s where psychedelics could come into play, by potentially inducing plasticity in the cortex. But before scientists can test psychedelics’ role in reconsolidation, they first need to better understand how the drugs affect various aspects of memory.
In a preprint analysis, Doss will be presenting at the CNS meeting, he and colleagues looked at 10 datasets from studies investigating how psychedelics influence episodic memory. They found that while psychedelics such as psilocybin and MDMA impair the encoding of memories that rely on recalling specific details, they can enhance the encoding of memories that rely on familiarity. This differs from hallucinogens like ketamine, which appear to impair both types of memory encoding.
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References
CNS 2023 | Symposium Sessions, SYMPOSIUM 11, Altered States of Cognition: The Acute and Persisting Consequences of Psychedelic Drugs on Cognition, Tuesday, March 28, 2023, 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM (PT), Bayview Room
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