LSD melts down prior beliefs, 'rewinds the brain's clock': Study

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Psychedelics like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) can "rewind the brain's clock" and melt down prior beliefs, according to the authors of a new study that is yet to be peer-reviewed.

The study, conducted by members of the Cornwell University in New York, found that LSD "flattens the brain’s energy landscape", allowing it to "explore its dynamic landscape more readily".

The researchers used a so-called Relaxed Beliefs Under Psychedelics (REBUS) model to articulate their findings. As per REBUS, "substances such as LSD weaken the influence of prior beliefs that the brain uses to make sense of the world", The Guardian reported on May 19, after speaking to Cornwell University PhD candidate Parker Singleton, who was involved in the study.

The Rebus model further claims that LSD "rewinds the brain’s clock to a time before it learned that walls tend not to move and furniture is rarely threatening", the report added.

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A person's thoughts are often suppressed or filtered through the past experiences and perceptions. LSD "takes that filtering and suppression away", allowing the person to look at the world with a completely new perspective, Singleton was reported as saying.

Further explaining the point, Amy Kuceyeski, a senior author on the study at Cornell, told The Guardian that "if your prior belief is that walls don’t move and your prior belief melts, then that wall may appear to move."

The researchers, as part of their study, had scanned the brains of persons given the LSD and those administered with the placebo. Among the latter, the brain activities were constrained by the formerly held beliefs and experiences. On other hand, those given the drug easily switched from one state of mind to another.