The human brain’s response to psychedelic drugs is intriguing.Credit: Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty
In a small preliminary study, women given 15 micrograms of the psychedelic drug LSD concentrated for longer periods and responded more quickly to a stimulus than those given a placebo. This effect was not observed in male participants.
The study was presented Oct. 12 at a neuropsychology meeting, the ECNP Congress in Munich, Germany, by psychopharmacologist Iva Totomanova of Maastricht University in the Netherlands and colleagues. The results are “very interesting,” says Conor Murray, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “This work is a notable addition to the emerging evidence that low doses of LSD have cognitive benefits.” Data also suggests that some people may be more sensitive to small amounts of psychedelics than others, he adds.
Brain stimulation
“Microdosing” involves taking small doses of a psychedelic every few days, purportedly to improve mood and cognitive function. A typical microdose of LSD can be about a tenth of the amount needed to produce a full psychedelic experience. Although proponents report feeling a happier mood and sharper focus, controlled studies on the effects of microdosing have shown mixed results.1,2.
Previous research by some members of the team, in collaboration with others, suggests that women feel the drug’s influence more strongly than men.3. To find out whether this can be measured objectively, for example in tests of cognitive performance, Totomanova and colleagues reanalyzed data from a previous study that explored the effects of low doses of LSD on 53 healthy people.4.
Source: Iva Totomanova and others.
For the new analysis, the researchers focused on 48 participants. Half of the participants received 15 micrograms of LSD four times over two weeks; others received a placebo. Participants completed a series of cognitive tests assessing sustained attention, information processing, and working memory at the start of the study, after the first and fourth doses, and at follow-up one week after the last dose. The study was doubly anonymized: neither the participants nor the researchers knew who received the drug.
During the 10-minute sustained attention test, which consisted of responding to cues appearing on a screen, the women who took a microdose of LSD reacted 8% faster than those who received a placebo. They also experienced fewer lapses in attention (see “The Magic of Microdoses”). In contrast, a microdose of LSD didn’t have much effect on the men’s reaction times.
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