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Psychedelics (serotonergic hallucinogens) are psychoactive substances that can alter perception and mood, and affect cognitive functions. These substances activate 5-HT 2A receptors and may exert therapeutic effects. Some of the disorders for which psychedelic-assisted therapy have been studied include depression, addiction, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Despite the increasing number of studies reporting clinical effectiveness, with fewer negative symptoms and, additionally, minimal side effects, questions remain to be explored in the field of psychedelic medicine. Although progress has been achieved, there is still little understanding of the relationship among human brain and the modulation induced by these drugs. The present article aimed to describe, review and highlight the most promising findings in the literature regarding the (putative) therapeutic effects of psychedelics. • Psychedelics are close structural analogs of serotonin (5-HT). • Activation of the 5-HT 2A receptor by psychedelics induces glutamate release. • Psychedelics may cause an increase in the connectivity between amygdala and m-PFC. • Psychedelic therapy is associated with decreased frontoparietal connectivity. • Therapy with psychedelics showed that small doses can cause beneficial outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new directions of functional connectivity investigation are emerging to advance studies of the brain's functional organization. First, the identification of task-related dynamics of functional connectivity has elicited a growing interest in characterizing the brain's functional reorganization due to task demands. Second, the nonstationarity of functional connectivity [i.e., functional connectivity variability (FCV)] within a single brain state has been increasingly recognized and studied. However, a combined investigation of these two avenues of research to explore the potential task-modulation of FCV is lacking, which, nevertheless, could both improve our understanding of the potential sources of FCV and also reveal new strategies to study the neural correlates of task performance. In this study, 19 human subjects underwent four functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans including both resting and task states to study task-related modulation of FCV. Consistent with the hypothesis that FCV is partly underpinned by unconstrained mind wandering, FCV demonstrated significant task-related decreases measured at the regional, network and system levels, which was greater for between-network interactions than within-network connections. Conversely, there remained a significant degree of residual variability during the task scans, suggesting that FCV is not specific to the resting state and likely includes an intrinsic, physiologically driven component. Finally, the degree of task-induced decreases in FCV was significantly correlated with task performance accuracy, supporting its behavior significance. Overall, task modulation of FCV may represent an important direction for future studies, not only to provide insight into normal brain functioning but also to reveal potential biomarkers of various brain disorders. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3260-3272, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]