Microdosing psychedelics and its effect on creativity: Lessons learned from three double-blind placebo controlled longitudinal trials
Fejer, G., Fiacchino, D., Hommel, B., Marschall, J., Prochazkova, L., Rifkin, B. D., Schoen, N., van Elk, M.
This meta-analysis (n=175) of three double-blind placebo-controlled longitudinal experiments investigated the effects of microdosing psilocybin (0.74 -; 1.71mg) on creativity and found that it increased the originality of their ideas while generating novel applications for ordinary things (divergent thinking). However, it did not increase the number of novel ideas, or their ability to detect features that are common across multiple things (convergent thinking).
Abstract
Background Taking very small doses of psychedelics (LSD, truffles) over an extended period became prevalent in western societies for its alleged cognitive benefit, including enhanced creativity. However, in the absence of robust, double-blind-controlled quantitative studies, such claims remain anecdotal.Methods Here we present results from 3 double-blind placebo-controlled longitudinal trials (one of which pre-registered) assessing the effects of microdosing psilocybin on convergent and divergent creativity in a well-controlled semi-naturalistic setting. To enhance statistical power and generalizability, data from all trials (N = 171) were pooled in a mega-analysis, resulting in one of the most robust laboratory-based studies on microdosing to date.Results We found that active microdosing increased the ratio of original responses (originality/fluency), indicating higher quality of divergent thinking in the active microdosing condition. The unadjusted originality score was significantly more pronounced in the active microdosing condition, but only when relative dosage (dose/weight of participants) was considered. Importantly, these effects survived controlling for dose guess and demographic biases. No effects of active microdosing were found for other divergent-thinking scores or convergent thinking.Conclusion The results suggest that the effects of truffle mirodosing are limited to the quality of divergent thinking. Moreover, our findings highlight the importance of controlling for placebo effects and prior psychedelic experience in assessing the impact of microdosing.