Sublime

Perhaps the most striking discovery of Carhart-Harris’s first experiment was that the steepest drops in default mode network activity correlated with his volunteers’ subjective experience of “ego dissolution.” (“I existed only as an idea or concept,” one volunteer reported. Recalled another, “I didn’t know where I ended and my surroundings began.”)

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COHERENT AND INCOHERENT BRAIN WAVES

Another consistent finding is a slight increase in the complexity of EEG and MEG signals during the psychedelic experience. It is not clear whether this is a consequence of enhanced causal interactions within the neocortex or more chaotic activity.

We discovered that different deep emotional centers in the brain just above and behind the amygdala, called the striatum—associated with impulsivity and reward, and bathed by the chemical dopamine—had become hyperactive in sleep-deprived individuals in response to the rewarding, pleasurable experiences. As with the amygdala, the heightened sensitiv

In time, studies began to establish that the areas of the brain in which this electrical stimulation was most compelling were those areas involving neurons that produced a neurotransmitter called 3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamine—better known by its abbreviated nickname: dopamine.