Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

Christopher Timmermann; Leor Roseman; Michael Schartner; Raphael Milliere; Luke T.J. Williams; David Erritzoe; Suresh Muthukumaraswamy; Michael Ashton; Adam Bendrioua; Okdeep Kaur; Samuel Turton; Matthew M. Nour; Camilla M. Day; Robert Leech; David J. Nutt; Robin L. Carhart-Harris

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-51974-4

Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

Christopher Timmermann^*, Leor Roseman, Michael Schartner, Raphael Milliere, Luke T.J. Williams, David Erritzoe, Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, Michael Ashton, Adam Bendrioua, Okdeep Kaur, Samuel Turton, Matthew M. Nour, Camilla M. Day, Robert Leech, David J. Nutt, Robin L. Carhart-Harris

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

148 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Studying transitions in and out of the altered state of consciousness caused by intravenous (IV) N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT - a fast-acting tryptamine psychedelic) offers a safe and powerful means of advancing knowledge on the neurobiology of conscious states. Here we sought to investigate the effects of IV DMT on the power spectrum and signal diversity of human brain activity (6 female, 7 male) recorded via multivariate EEG, and plot relationships between subjective experience, brain activity and drug plasma concentrations across time. Compared with placebo, DMT markedly reduced oscillatory power in the alpha and beta bands and robustly increased spontaneous signal diversity. Time-referenced and neurophenomenological analyses revealed close relationships between changes in various aspects of subjective experience and changes in brain activity. Importantly, the emergence of oscillatory activity within the delta and theta frequency bands was found to correlate with the peak of the experience - particularly its eyes-closed visual component. These findings highlight marked changes in oscillatory activity and signal diversity with DMT that parallel broad and specific components of the subjective experience, thus advancing our understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of immersive states of consciousness.

Original language	English
Article number	16324
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	9
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51974-4
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2019

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Timmermann, C., Roseman, L., Schartner, M., Milliere, R., Williams, L. T. J., Erritzoe, D., Muthukumaraswamy, S., Ashton, M., Bendrioua, A., Kaur, O., Turton, S., Nour, M. M., Day, C. M., Leech, R., Nutt, D. J., & Carhart-Harris, R. L. (2019). Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG. Scientific Reports, 9(1), Article 16324. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51974-4

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title = "Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG",

abstract = "Studying transitions in and out of the altered state of consciousness caused by intravenous (IV) N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT - a fast-acting tryptamine psychedelic) offers a safe and powerful means of advancing knowledge on the neurobiology of conscious states. Here we sought to investigate the effects of IV DMT on the power spectrum and signal diversity of human brain activity (6 female, 7 male) recorded via multivariate EEG, and plot relationships between subjective experience, brain activity and drug plasma concentrations across time. Compared with placebo, DMT markedly reduced oscillatory power in the alpha and beta bands and robustly increased spontaneous signal diversity. Time-referenced and neurophenomenological analyses revealed close relationships between changes in various aspects of subjective experience and changes in brain activity. Importantly, the emergence of oscillatory activity within the delta and theta frequency bands was found to correlate with the peak of the experience - particularly its eyes-closed visual component. These findings highlight marked changes in oscillatory activity and signal diversity with DMT that parallel broad and specific components of the subjective experience, thus advancing our understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of immersive states of consciousness.",

author = "Christopher Timmermann and Leor Roseman and Michael Schartner and Raphael Milliere and Williams, {Luke T.J.} and David Erritzoe and Suresh Muthukumaraswamy and Michael Ashton and Adam Bendrioua and Okdeep Kaur and Samuel Turton and Nour, {Matthew M.} and Day, {Camilla M.} and Robert Leech and Nutt, {David J.} and Carhart-Harris, {Robin L.}",

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Timmermann, C, Roseman, L, Schartner, M, Milliere, R, Williams, LTJ, Erritzoe, D, Muthukumaraswamy, S, Ashton, M, Bendrioua, A, Kaur, O, Turton, S, Nour, MM, Day, CM, Leech, R, Nutt, DJ & Carhart-Harris, RL 2019, 'Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG', Scientific Reports, vol. 9, no. 1, 16324. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51974-4

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AU - Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh

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AU - Kaur, Okdeep

AU - Turton, Samuel

AU - Nour, Matthew M.

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AU - Leech, Robert

AU - Nutt, David J.

AU - Carhart-Harris, Robin L.

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Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

Abstract

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