Study proves; Psychedelics alleviate levels of consciousness

According to researchers from the University of Sussex, UK, our brains can now elevate onto a kind of higher state of consciousness.

Researchers have found out proof of sustained and previously unobserved rise in neural signal diversity in people who are under psychedelic drugs.

As Science Alert informs, neural signal diversity is actually an indication of how complicated our brain activity is, the diversity is higher when the person is awake than when the person is asleep. The study results show that there can be an entire new state of mind that the human brain could reach.

Anil Seth, a researcher from the team explains, “This finding shows that the brain-on-psychedelics behaves very differently from normal. During the psychedelic state, the electrical activity of the brain is less predictable and less 'integrated' than during normal conscious wakefulness – as measured by 'global signal diversity'.”

In order to move forward with this study, the researchers had to reanalyze the information collected in previous experiments by Imperial College London and the University of Cardiff, UK, where the volunteers were kept under psilocybin, ketamine or LSD.

The researchers concluded that the neural signal diversity of the volunteers was continuously elevated across the three drugs which in turn made use of the brain imaging technology in order to calculate small magnetic fields produced by the brain.

However, the researchers do not believe that this new brain state is better but they do believe that there is something unique that asks for further study.

The scientists think that these results might help to form drugs that can be used for controlling mental issues like depression with the use of psychedelic substances, Independent reports.

“That similar changes in signal diversity were found for all three drugs, despite their quite different pharmacology, is both very striking and also reassuring that the results are robust and repeatable,” told Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, one of the researchers.

Having their research published in Scientific Reports, Robin Carhart-Harris, another researcher says, “People often say they experience insight under these drugs – and when this occurs in a therapeutic context, it can predict positive outcomes. The present study's findings help us understand what happens in people’s brains when they experience an expansion of their consciousness under psychedelics.”