Psychedelics Turn Awake Vision into Memory-Derived Imagery in Mice

A mouse study found that activating the 5-HT2A receptor with psychedelic-like compounds amplified theta rhythms in the visual cortex and synchronized it with the retrosplenial memory region, dampening responses to real visuals and causing the brain to fill in images from memory—a state akin to dreaming while awake. The researchers caution that while insightful, these results may not directly translate to humans and have limitations to consider when mapping to human experiences and neuroplasticity applications.