Scans show profound effects of LSD on human brain

New scans of the human brain under the influence of LSD have been hailed as the "Higgs boson moment" for neuroscience.

The research revealed that users experienced images through information drawn from many parts of their brains and not just the cortex at the back of the head that normally processes visual information, says The Guardian.

"We saw that many more areas of the brain than normal were contributing to visual processing under LSD, even though the volunteers' eyes were closed," said lead scientist Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, from Imperial College London.

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Studies into the effects of LSD on the brain and its potential therapeutic uses have been severely hampered since the drug became illegal in the UK in 1966.

David Nutt, the government's former drugs advisor and a senior researcher on the study, said neuroscientists had waited 50 years for this moment.

"This is to neuroscience what the Higgs boson was to particle physics," he said. "We didn't know how these profound effects were produced. It was too difficult to do. Scientists were either scared or couldn't be bothered to overcome the enormous hurdles to get this done."

The study also found that the networks dealing with vision, attention, movement and hearing became far more connected, even after the effects of the drug have worn off, leading to what looked like a "more unified brain".

"This experience is sometimes framed in a religious or spiritual way and seems to be associated with improvements in wellbeing after the drug's effects have subsided," Carhart-Harris said.

In an interview with the science journal Nature, Nutt said the ultimate aim of the study was to have LSD deployed as a therapeutic tool.

"In the 1950s and 60s, thousands of people took LSD for alcoholism; in 2012, a retrospective analysis of some of these studies suggested that it helped cut down on drinking," he said.

Nutt also believes the drug's effects could pull the brain out of entrenched thought patterns seen in a whole host of mental illnesses.

Amanda Feilding, the director of the Beckley Foundation, which part-funded the investigation, said: "We are finally unveiling the brain mechanisms underlying the potential of LSD not only to heal, but also to deepen our understanding of consciousness itself."