LSD mimics the mind of a baby, scientists say, after users’ brains are scanned while tripping

Scientists have for the first time scanned the brains of people using LSD and found the psychedelic drug frees the brain to become less compartmentalised and more like the mind of a baby.

A research team led by scientists at Imperial College London said that while normally the brain works on independent networks performing separate functions such as vision, movement and hearing, under LSD the separateness of these networks breaks down, leading to a more unified system.

“In many ways, the brain in the LSD state resembles the state our brains were in when we were infants: free and unconstrained,” said Robin Cahart-Harris, who led the study. “This also makes sense when we consider the hyper-emotional and imaginative nature of an infant’s mind.”

The findings, published on Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal, also showed that when the volunteers took LSD, many extra brain areas - not just the visual cortex - contributed to visual processing.

This could explain the complex visual hallucinations that are often associated with the LSD state, the scientists said.

Carhart-Harris, a researcher at Imperial’s department of medicine said the experience also seemed to be linked to “improvements in well-being” after the drug’s effects subside, suggesting the findings may one day lead to psychedelic compounds being used to treat psychiatric disorders.