Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG
Intravenous DMT markedly reduced alpha and beta oscillatory power and robustly increased spontaneous EEG signal diversity, with emergent delta/theta activity correlating with the peak, eyes‑closed visual component of the experience. These oscillatory and diversity changes closely tracked subjective reports and plasma drug levels, linking specific EEG signatures to immersive DMT states of consciousness.
Authors
- Suresh Muthukumaraswamy
- Robin Carhart-Harris
- David Nutt
Published
Abstract
Studying transitions in and out of the altered state of consciousness caused by intravenous (IV) N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT - a fast-acting tryptamine psychedelic) offers a safe and powerful means of advancing knowledge on the neurobiology of conscious states. Here we sought to investigate the effects of IV DMT on the power spectrum and signal diversity of human brain activity (6 female, 7 male) recorded via multivariate EEG, and plot relationships between subjective experience, brain activity and drug plasma concentrations across time. Compared with placebo, DMT markedly reduced oscillatory power in the alpha and beta bands and robustly increased spontaneous signal diversity. Time-referenced and neurophenomenological analyses revealed close relationships between changes in various aspects of subjective experience and changes in brain activity. Importantly, the emergence of oscillatory activity within the delta and theta frequency bands was found to correlate with the peak of the experience - particularly its eyes-closed visual component. These findings highlight marked changes in oscillatory activity and signal diversity with DMT that parallel broad and specific components of the subjective experience, thus advancing our understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of immersive states of consciousness.
Research Summary of 'Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG'
Introduction
DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is a fast-acting serotonergic psychedelic that produces very rapid, short-lived but often intensely immersive and vivid experiences, sometimes described as a 'breakthrough' into an apparently other world or dimension. Such experiences frequently include vivid visual imagery, somatic effects and encounters with perceived entities, and their phenomenology has led researchers to view intravenous DMT as a powerful tool for probing the neurobiology of altered conscious states. Previous neuroimaging work with psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca) has commonly reported broadband decreases in oscillatory power and increases in measures of complexity or entropy of brain activity, and methodological advances now permit decomposition of EEG spectra into oscillatory and fractal (1/f) components that may have distinct functional relevance. Timmermann and colleagues set out to characterise how an intravenous bolus of DMT alters EEG measures of spectral power and spontaneous signal diversity, and to link those neurophysiological changes to the time course of subjective experience and to plasma concentrations of DMT. The primary hypotheses were that DMT would reduce oscillatory alpha power and increase cortical signal diversity, and that these effects would track conscious experience across time. To probe these relationships the study combined multivariate EEG, minute-by-minute subjective ratings, retrospective visual analogue scales, plasma assays of DMT, and micro-phenomenological interviews to extract fine-grained experiential dimensions for time-resolved correlation with EEG measures.
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Study Details
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- APA Citation
Timmermann, C., Roseman, L., Schartner, M., Milliere, R., Williams, L. T. J., Erritzoe, D., Muthukumaraswamy, S., Ashton, M., Bendrioua, A., Kaur, O., Turton, S., Nour, M. M., Day, C. M., Leech, R., Nutt, D. J., & Carhart-Harris, R. L. (2019). Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG. Scientific Reports, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51974-4
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