Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)Depressive DisordersPsilocybin

The Influence of Psilocybin on Subconscious and Conscious Emotional Learning

This double-blind, placebo-controlled study (n=30) investigates the learning effects of psilocybin (up to 20 mg) in a probabilistic cue-reward task with emotional cues. It finds that psilocybin preserves learning effects, is non-inferior to placebo, and suggests higher exploratory behaviour. The 20 mg group showed significantly better learning rates than placebo.

Authors

  • Erich Seifritz
  • Franz Vollenweider
  • Katrin Preller

Published

iScience
individual Study

Abstract

Serotonergic psychedelics hold promise as a treatment modality for various psychiatric disorders and are currently applied in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. We investigated the learning effects of the serotonin receptor agonist psilocybin in a probabilistic cue-reward task with emotional cues in the form of neutral or fearful faces, presented either consciously or subconsciously. This study represents the first investigation into reinforcement learning with psilocybin. Across different dosages, psilocybin preserved learning effects and was statistically noninferior compared to placebo, while suggesting a higher exploratory behavior. Notably, the 20 mg group exhibited significantly better learning rates against the placebo group. Psilocybin induced inferior results with subconscious cues compared to placebo, and better results with conscious neutral cues in some conditions. These findings suggest that modulating serotonin signaling in the brain with psilocybin sufficiently preservers reinforcement learning.

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Research Summary of 'The Influence of Psilocybin on Subconscious and Conscious Emotional Learning'

Introduction

Casanova and colleagues situate their study in the context of a renewed interest in serotonergic psychedelics as potential therapeutics for psychiatric disorders. The introduction summarises that psilocybin, a 5-HT–acting tryptamine found in “magic mushrooms,” alters perception, mood and self-referential processing and has been linked to neuroplastic changes in animals and symptomatic improvement in conditions such as major depressive disorder. The authors highlight gaps in knowledge about how psilocybin affects reinforcement learning in humans, and specifically whether its effects differ when emotional cues are processed consciously versus subconsciously. The study set out to test whether psilocybin alters reinforcement learning in a probabilistic cue-reward task that used fearful and neutral facial cues presented at durations intended to favour either subconscious (33 ms) or conscious (47 ms) processing. The investigators had three preregistered hypotheses: that psilocybin would impair learning from negative (fearful) stimuli by decreasing their salience, that psilocybin would enhance learning with neutral and conscious stimuli via neuroplastic effects, and that reduced top-down processing under psychedelics would make subconscious cues more disruptive to learning under psilocybin than under placebo. The authors frame the question as clinically relevant because reinforcement learning processes are implicated in psychiatric disorders and in therapeutic change.

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Study Details

References (35)

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