Psychedelics and the science of self-experience

Introduction

The paper begins by distinguishing two conceptions of the self that are important for research into consciousness. One is the 'narrative self', a temporally extended, cognitive construct tied to personal history, traits and goals; the other is the 'minimal self', the immediate first‑person sense of being an embodied, agentic subject. This multilayered account highlights why self‑experience is difficult to define and why it presents a challenge for neuroscience, which must address both self‑as‑object (attributional processes) and self‑as‑subject (pre‑reflective experience). Carhart‑Harris and colleagues set out to explore how classic serotonergic psychedelics (5‑HT2A agonists such as psilocybin and LSD) can inform a neuroscience of self. The paper synthesises neuroimaging and electrophysiological findings that relate brain network organisation to self‑experience, considers how psychedelics perturb those networks and discusses implications for psychopathology and therapeutic use. The authors argue that psychedelics, which reliably and transiently produce reductions in the normally bounded sense of self (often described as ego‑dissolution), provide a useful experimental window onto the neuronal correlates of both normal and disturbed self‑experience.