Working with Weirdness: a response to ‘Moving Past Mysticism in Psychedelic Science’

Psychedelics, such as psilocybin and LSD, are substances that profoundly affect perception and consciousness. At PRSM lab, we aim to unravel the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the psychedelic experience in humans, using both neuroimaging and cognitive-behavioural tasks with a focus on bodily self-perception.

Mystical experiences are characterised by feelings of unity, insight and ineffability. A key question in the study of mystical experiences concerns whether these experiences reflect a universal, deeply engrained prototype, or whether they are shaped and constructed through cultural learning. We aim to develop a new philosophy of mystical experiences, and to unravel the psychological and neural processes underlying these experiences.