Keywords from hallucinogenic experiences can help find parts of the brain affected by drugs

Keywords from hallucinogenic experiences can help find parts of the brain affected by drugs
Keywords from hallucinogenic experiences can help find parts of the brain affected by drugs
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

People have vast, spiraling experiences on psychedelic drugs, often returning from a hallucinogenic trip full of new outlooks on their life or even changes to their personality. They describe the trips with vivid, emotional language — which might be able to tell researchers what parts of their brains are reacting to the drugs.

In order to figure out how and why hallucinogenics trigger certain experiences, a research team used machine learning to pull common words and phrases out of people’s testimonials about their trips. Then, in a new study published Wednesday, the researchers linked those words to the parts of the brain impacted by the drugs.

It’s a different approach to studying drugs and the brain: normally, researchers looking to…

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