Mood and cognition after administration of low LSD doses in healthy volunteers: A placebo controlled dose-effect finding study

Hutten, Nadia R. P. W.; Mason, Natasha L.; Dolder, Patrick C.; Theunissen, Eef L.; Holze, Friederike; Liechti, Matthias E.; Feilding, Amanda; Ramaekers, Johannes G.; Kuypers, Kim P. C.

doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2020.10.002

Cited by 83 publications

(115 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…That is, the psilocybin microdosing condition may have induced a more arousing state, which subsequently affected participants' perceived emotions. A remedy for this potential concern is to use active placebos and/or to systematically assess the dose-response relationship at different (Hutten et al 2020). However, we did not observe a consistent effect of microdosing on art perception, which argues against the idea that the effect of microdosing on awe reflects a general expectancy-effect or an effect of arousal on emotion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another study found no impairments of different microdoses of LSD (5, 10 and 20 µg of tartrate LSD) on different measures of cognitive performance, such as spatial and working memory, visual attention, balance, and proprioception (Family et al 2020). Finally, a recent study found that LSD microdosing (5, 10, and 20 µg of base LSD) differentially affected a wide range of variables, including sustained attention, speed of information processing, mood states, anxiety, and confusion (Hutten et al 2020). Thus, experimental studies indicate that microdoses can indeed affect implicit cognitive processing-albeit sometimes in an unexpected direction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

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Effects of psilocybin microdosing on awe and aesthetic experiences: a preregistered field and lab-based study

et al. 2021

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There is an increased societal trend to engage in microdosing, in which small sub-hallucinogenic amounts of psychedelics are consumed on a regular basis. Following subjective reports that microdosing enhances the experience of nature and art, in the present study we set out to study the effects of psilocybin microdosing on feelings of awe and art perception. In this preregistered combined field- and lab-based study, participants took part in a microdosing workshop after which they volunteered to self-administer a psilocybin microdose or a placebo for three consecutive weeks, while the condition was kept blind to the participants and researchers. Following a 2-week break, the condition assignment was reversed. During each block, participants visited the lab twice to measure the effects of psilocybin microdosing vs. placebo. We used standardized measures of awe, in which participants reported their experiences in response to short videos or when viewing abstract artworks from different painters. Our confirmatory analyses showed that participants felt more awe in response to videos representing funny animals and moving objects in the microdosing compared to the placebo condition. However, about two-third of our participants were breaking blind to their experimental condition. Our exploratory findings suggest that expectancy-effects may be a driving factor underlying the subjective benefits of microdosing.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Effects of psilocybin microdosing on awe and aesthetic experiences: a preregistered field and lab-based study

et al. 2021

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“…Family et al (2020) found no adverse effects from 5 to 20 mg LSD but no marked cognitive changes. In contrast, Hutten et al (2020) found that low doses of LSD…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Exploring the relationship between microdosing, personality and emotional insight: A prospective study

Dressler

Bright

Polito

2021

JPS

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Backround and aimsHaving entered the recent public and research zeitgeist, microdosing involves consuming sub-perceptual doses of psychedelic drugs, allegedly to enhance performance, creativity, and wellbeing. The results of research to date have been mixed. Whereas most studies have reported positive impacts of microdosing, some microdosers have also reported adverse effects. In addition, research to date has revealed inconsistent patterns of change in personality traits. This prospective study explored the relationship between microdosing, personality change, and emotional awareness.MethodsMeasures of personality and alexithymia were collected at two time points. 76 microdosers participated at baseline. Invitations to a follow-up survey were sent out after 31 days, and 24 participants were retained.ResultsConscientiousness increased, while neuroticism decreased across these time points (n = 24). At baseline (N = 76), neuroticism was associated with alexithymia. In addition, neuroticism correlated negatively with duration of prior microdosing experience, and extraversion correlated positively with both duration of prior microdosing experience and lifetime number of microdoses.ConclusionThese results suggest that microdosing might have an impact on otherwise stable personality traits.

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“…Bershad et al (2019) did not assess divergent thinking and did not control for expectation bias, which presents an incomplete picture of the microdosing effects on creativity. Furthermore, existing clinical trials assessing the effects of microdosing on cognition generally suffer from low sample sizes (Bershad et al, 2019(Bershad et al, , 2020Family et al, 2020;Hutten et al, 2020Hutten et al, , 2021Yanakieva et al, 2019). Small sample sizes may present statistical power issues, especially if interacting factors are included in the analyses (expectation effects, previous psychedelic experience).…”

Section: Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, if we assume a positive linear relationship between psychedelic dose and cognitive flexibility, we would anticipate more pronounced effects on divergent thinking while convergent creativity would suffer. However, several recent papers examining the effects of microdosing on cognition suggested a non-linear relationship between dose size, showing more pronounced effects of lower doses on cognition and BDNF blood levels related to neuro-plasticity (Hutten et al, 2020(Hutten et al, , 2021Yanakieva et al, 2019). It is thus possible that serotonergic functions follow an inverted-U-shape function, similar to the dopamine function in cognitive control (Cools & D'Esposito, 2011;Vijayraghavan et al, 2007).…”

Section: Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

Microdosing psychedelics and its effect on creativity: Lessons learned from three double-blind placebo controlled longitudinal trials

Prochazkova¹,

M²,

Marschall³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Introduction: Microdosing refers to the repetitive administration of tiny doses of psychedelics (LSD, Psilocybin) over an extended period of time. This practice has been linked to alleged cognitive benefits, such as improved mood and creativity, potentiated by targeting serotonergic 5-HT2A receptors and facilitating cognitive flexibility. Nonetheless, in the absence of robust, quantitative and double-blind research on the effect of microdosing, such claims remain anecdotal.Methods: Here, our main aim was to quantitatively explore the effect of microdosing psychedelic truffles on two creativity tasks assumed to rely on separable processes: the Picture Concept Task assessing convergent thinking and the Alternative Uses Task assessing divergent thinking. We present results from 3 double-blind placebo-controlled longitudinal trials (of which one was pre-registered) conducted in a semi-naturalistic setting. Furthermore, we controlled for expectation and learning biases, and the data were mega-analyzed across trials with a pooled sample of 175 participants in order to maximize statistical power.Results: In the final analyses we found that active microdosing increased the ratio of original responses (originality/fluency), indicating higher quality of divergent answers in the active microdosing condition. The unadjusted originality score was significantly more pronounced in the active microdosing condition, but only when relative dosage (dose/weight of participants) was considered. These effects were present after controlling for expectation and demographic biases. No effects of active microdosing were found for convergent thinking or any other divergent-thinking score. The results suggest that the effects of truffle mirodosing are limited to divergent quality and are more subtle than initially anticipated. Our findings furthermore highlighted the importance of controlling for expectation biases, placebo effects, and prior psychedelic experience in microdosing practice and research.

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Mood and cognition after administration of low LSD doses in healthy volunteers: A placebo controlled dose-effect finding study

Cited by 83 publications

References 42 publications

Effects of psilocybin microdosing on awe and aesthetic experiences: a preregistered field and lab-based study

Effects of psilocybin microdosing on awe and aesthetic experiences: a preregistered field and lab-based study

Exploring the relationship between microdosing, personality and emotional insight: A prospective study

Microdosing psychedelics and its effect on creativity: Lessons learned from three double-blind placebo controlled longitudinal trials

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