The influence of psilocybin on subconscious and conscious emotional learning

• Published in: iScience Vol. 27; no. 6; p. 110034
• Main Authors: Casanova, Andrea F., Ort, Andres, Smallridge, John W., Preller, Katrin H., Seifritz, Erich, Vollenweider, Franz X.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 21.06.2024; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological sciences; clinical neuroscience; Natural sciences; neuroscience; Pharmacology; Pharmacology; Biological sciences; Natural sciences; neuroscience; clinical neuroscience
• ISSN: 2589-0042; 2589-0042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110034

Serotonergic psychedelics hold promise as a treatment modality for various psychiatric disorders and are currently applied in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. We investigated the learning effects of the serotonin receptor agonist psilocybin in a probabilistic cue-reward task with emotional cues in the form of neutral or fearful faces, presented either consciously or subconsciously. This study represents the first investigation into reinforcement learning with psilocybin. Across different dosages, psilocybin preserved learning effects and was statistically noninferior compared to placebo, while suggesting a higher exploratory behavior. Notably, the 20 mg group exhibited significantly better learning rates against the placebo group. Psilocybin induced inferior results with subconscious cues compared to placebo, and better results with conscious neutral cues in some conditions. These findings suggest that modulating serotonin signaling in the brain with psilocybin sufficiently preservers reinforcement learning. [Display omitted] •With Psilocybin learning was preserved and statistically noninferior to placebo•Decision-making with psilocybin suggests a higher exploratory behavior•Higher dosage of psilocybin improved learning performance against placebo•Emotional cues in a learning task affected psilocybin more than placebo Pharmacology; Natural sciences; Biological sciences; Neuroscience; Clinical neuroscience