Michael Silver wants to know what your brain looks like on psychedelics.
From Timothy Leary to Michael Pollan, countless psychologists, journalists and cultural leaders have documented the profound impact psychedelics can have on the human mind. And long before these substances became popularized in Western society, psychoactive plants were a key component in many Indigenous healing practices.
But underneath these mental states is a physical organ - the brain - composed of a tangled web of neurons and other cells that somehow work together to create these transformative experiences. As Silver explains in this 101 in 101 video, scientists still know very little about what exactly is happening inside the brains of people on psychedelics.
As the director of the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, Silver is leading a team of researchers who are using brain imaging to uncover the "nuts and bolts" of how psychedelics work in the brain.
By collecting "movies" of the brain activity of people on psychedelics, they hope to link changes in brain activity with changes in perception. This detailed, mechanistic understanding of psychedelics and the brain could not only transform how we understand the human mind and consciousness - it could also lead to new and possibly more effective treatments for mental illness.
"A psychedelic experience in the right therapeutic context can result in enduring, maybe permanent changes in people… there have been studies in the lab environment where the majority of people rated it as one of the most profound and sometimes spiritually meaningful experiences of their lives," said Silver, a professor of optometry and vision science and of neuroscience at Berkeley. "We believe that this kind of information will eventually be critical for improving well-being in society and reducing suffering."
Watch more 101 in 101 videos featuring UC Berkeley faculty and experts here.
