1. Spontaneous and deliberate creative cognition during and after psilocybin exposure
- Author
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Peter Stiers, Amanda Feilding, J.G. Ramaekers, Kim P. C. Kuypers, Felix Müller, Natasha L. Mason, B. Da Rios, Desmond H. Y. Tse, J. Reckweg, Stefan W. Toennes, Section Psychopharmacology, RS: FPN NPPP II, Section Neuropsychology, and RS: FPN NPPP I
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Ultrahigh field ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Article ,lcsh:RC321-571 ,Psilocybin ,Creativity ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience ,0302 clinical medicine ,Cognition ,Human behaviour ,medicine ,Humans ,Creative thinking ,lcsh:Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,Biological Psychiatry ,Default mode network ,media_common ,Cognitive flexibility ,Brain ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,030104 developmental biology ,Hallucinogens ,Psychology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,medicine.drug ,Cognitive psychology ,Neuroscience - Abstract
Creativity is an essential cognitive ability linked to all areas of our everyday functioning. Thus, finding a way to enhance it is of broad interest. A large number of anecdotal reports suggest that the consumption of psychedelic drugs can enhance creative thinking; however, scientific evidence is lacking. Following a double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group design, we demonstrated that psilocybin (0.17 mg/kg) induced a time- and construct-related differentiation of effects on creative thinking. Acutely, psilocybin increased ratings of (spontaneous) creative insights, while decreasing (deliberate) task-based creativity. Seven days after psilocybin, number of novel ideas increased. Furthermore, we utilized an ultrahigh field multimodal brain imaging approach, and found that acute and persisting effects were predicted by within- and between-network connectivity of the default mode network. Findings add some support to historical claims that psychedelics can influence aspects of the creative process, potentially indicating them as a tool to investigate creativity and subsequent underlying neural mechanisms. Trial NL6007; psilocybin as a tool for enhanced cognitive flexibility; https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/6007.
- Published
- 2021