Hallucinogen actions on human brain revealed

Mushrooms' magic? Tuning out is key to turning on
By: Melissa Healy
From: Los Angeles Times
Date: January 23, 2012

Psilocybin mushrooms' power to throw open the doors of perception is well documented in ancient legend and modern song. But not until now have high-tech brain-scanners captured the process by which psilocybin causes a sudden shift in human cognition. The secret to its mental magic? It appears to power down the brain's seat of reason and disconnect it from regions that process the way we see, hear and experience the world.

Those findings, gleaned by a group of British neuroscientists, were published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Within a minute after subjects got an infusion of psilocybin, researchers said, scanners that plot blood flow within the brain detected a sudden drop in activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex, two areas of the brain that appear to be key in "grounding" us in reality. These areas also are key nodes of the brain's newly identified Default Mode Network, which springs to life when our minds wander.

Thus untethered, the brain's sensory regions are free to soar. Subjects reported unusual changes in their visual experiences, including geometric patterns, distortions of space and size, and dreamlike perceptions. They reported that their thoughts and imaginations wandered, their perceptions of time were changed, and sounds they heard brought on vivid images -- a mingling of sights, sounds and thoughts such as those experienced by people with the brain regions that showed the most consistent decline in activity under psilocybin's influence were the same brain regions that are most active in everyday cognition, said the study's authors, who come from a consortium of British universities and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Those regions function not only as "connective hubs" among brain regions with different functions; they are key in the kind of idle thinking in which we place ourselves at the center of our surroundings and experience.

The study's authors suggest that psilocybin's outsized effect on the brain's Default Mode Network may reveal a key function of the system. The findings suggest that a working Default Mode Network "is crucial for the maintenance of cognitive integration and constraint under normal conditions."

The study also may help suggest why psilocybin is increasingly seen as a promising treatment for a number of psychiatric conditions, including depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder. By suppressing the intrusive and self-centered ruminations that are hallmarks of depression and allowing individuals to transcend themselves, drugs like psilocybin may be key to shifting perspectives and priorities, the authors wrote.

Complete Article: Neural Correlates of the Psychedelic State as Determined by fMRI Studies With Psilocybin

This article contains supporting information online at: www.pnas.org

By: Robin L. Carhart-Harrisa, David Erritzoea,Tim Williams, James M. Stone, Laurence J. Reed,  Alessandro Colasanti, Robin J. Tyacke, Robert Leech, Andrea L. Malizia, Kevin Murphy, Peter Hobden, John Evans, Amanda Feilding, Richard G. Wise, & David J. Nutt

www.GaianBotanicals.com

The Secret Life of Plants

Published in 1973, The Secret Life of Plants was written by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird. It is described as "A fascinating account of the physical, emotional, and spiritual relations between plants and man." Essentially, the subject of the book is the idea that plants may be sentient, despite their lack of a nervous system and a brain. This sentience is observed primarily through changes in the plant's conductivity, as through a polygraph, as pioneered by Cleve Backster. The book also contains a summary of Goethe's theory of plant metamorphosis. That said, this book is about much more than just plants; it delves quite deeply into such topics as the aura, psychophysics, orgone, radionics, kirlian photography, magnetism/magnetotropism, bioelectrics, dowsing, and the history of science. It was the basis for the 1979 documentary of the same name, with a soundtrack specially recorded by Stevie Wonder called Journey through the Secret Life of Plants.

Psychobotany: psycho (from the Greek psyche meaning mind or soul); botany (the study of plants).

Psychobotany attempts to cultivate a cultural terrain that includes a wide array of efforts at human/plant communication. Artists, scientists, subcultures, religions, activists, and visionaries all share plots in the field of Psychobotany. Combining elements of scientific truth, spiritual beliefs, aesthetic savvy, and social expression, Psychobotany is a fertile ground where the diverse cultural roots of human/plant communication can take hold.

www.GaianBotanicals.com

Scientists study the brain & consciousness of people near death.

The University of Southampton has just launched the world's largest scientific study (ever) of near-death experiences. What I want to know is, will this confirm DMT is in deed the Spirit Molecule? Entheogenic minds want to know.
-EROCx1

Published by: ScienceDaily
Adapted from materials by University of Southampton.

The AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation) study is to be launched by the Human Consciousness Project of the University of Southampton - an international collaboration of scientists and physicians who have joined forces to study the human brain, consciousness and clinical death.

The study is led by Dr Sam Parnia, an expert in the field of consciousness during clinical death, together with Dr Peter Fenwick and Professors Stephen Holgate and Robert Peveler of the University of Southampton. Following a successful 18-month pilot phase at selected hospitals in the UK, the study is now being expanded to include other centres within the UK, mainland Europe and North America.

"Contrary to popular perception," Dr Parnia explains, "death is not a specific moment. It is a process that begins when the heart stops beating, the lungs stop working and the brain ceases functioning - a medical condition termed cardiac arrest, which from a biological viewpoint is synonymous with clinical death.

"During a cardiac arrest, all three criteria of death are present. There then follows a period of time, which may last from a few seconds to an hour or more, in which emergency medical efforts may succeed in restarting the heart and reversing the dying process. What people experience during this period of cardiac arrest provides a unique window of understanding into what we are all likely to experience during the dying process."

A number of recent scientific studies carried out by independent researchers have demonstrated that 10-20 per cent of people who go through cardiac arrest and clinical death report lucid, well structured thought processes, reasoning, memories and sometimes detailed recall of events during their encounter with death.

During the AWARE study, doctors will use sophisticated technology to study the brain and consciousness during cardiac arrest. At the same time, they will test the validity of out of body experiences and claims of being able to 'see' and 'hear' during cardiac arrest.

The AWARE study will be complemented by the BRAIN-1 (Brain Resuscitation Advancement International Network - 1) study, in which the research team will conduct a variety of physiological tests in cardiac arrest patients, as well as cerebral monitoring techniques that aim to identify methods to improve the medical and psychological care of patients who have undergone cardiac arrest.

Dr Parnia formally announced the launch of the AWARE study at an international symposium held at the United Nations on September 11.

www.GaianBotanicals.com

Amanda Feilding: Expanded Consciousness and its Importance

Amanda Feilding

Expanded Consciousness and its Importance to Survival

As presentated at the

World Psychedelic Froum 2008

From Psychonautica

Mp3 download: HERE

This talk from the 2008 World Psychedelic forum is given by Amanda Feilding of the Beckley foundation, entitled 'expanded consciousness and its importance to survival'.

Amanda talks about the specturm of states of consciousness, the benefits of expanding and altering consciousness, the neurophysiology of altered states, prehistoric man, altered consciousness and cultural evolution, the psychedelic transformation of the 1960s, the Eleuinian mysteries, Benny Shannon's writings on the use of Acacia and Harmal (ayahuasca analogue) in ancient Egypt, the potential benefits of psychedelics for modern society, the ability of psychedelics to increase blood flow to the brain, the importance of increased cerebral circulation, the scientific understanding of consciousness, Beckley foundation's research projects, obstacles to scientific research into psychedelics, LSD assisted psychotherapy, using psilocybin to help with addiction problems and represssed memories, development of new antidepressant medications based on ketamine research, the antipsychotic component of cannabis, using an EEG on people meditating, trebination to increase blood supply to the brain, potential for use to delay the onset of dementia in old age, bringing the light of reason to drug policy, the evidence based approach to drug policy, the lack of attention being paid to the potential benefits of illegal drugs such as LSD and ecstasy, the road to a 'new Eleusis'.

In recent years, Amanda has taken part in different conferences where she has given the following talks:

• Mind States II - Berkeley, California (May 2001), ' Blood & Consciousness 'The Search for Expanded Consciousness from Paleolithic to Modern Man


• Exploring Consciousness Conference - Bath (June 2004),'How Altered States of Consciousness Shape Society' or Listen to Amanda's Talk on Mp3.


• Trialogue III - Beckley Park, Oxford (December 2004), ' Consciousness & Psychedelics'


• International Symposium on Albert Hofmann's 100th Birthday - Basel (January 2006), 'LSD, Precious Key of Neuroscience '

To watch the whole program, click here