Thanks to our DMT Research Group members James Sanders, David Reydellet, Tommaso Barba Malin Uthaug et al. Currently following up this with a proper lab study of 5-MeO + experience sampling. Read the full paper here pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40260121/ n/n

How could a state of deconstructed consciousness correspond to cortical disinhibition? Working hypothesis: an overflooding of attentional/perceptual resources leads to the inability of the mind/brain to process such information and make meaningful ‘gestalts’. 7/n

EEG revealed the 5-MeO experience to be characterised by a broad reduction of alpha and posterior beta power. These findings are consistent with those we have found in previous research with DMT and other psychedelics and point towards a state of cortical disinhibition. 6/n

Doubling on the idea of 'deconstructed consciousness', analyses indeed revealed these peak experiences lacked embodied and narrative dimensions of the self, while also being devoid of thoughts and phenomenal distinctions while being disconnected from the environment. 5/n

The often-used questionnaire ASC mostly did not capture these peak experiences (black dots below), confirming our previous call to employ advanced phenomenology in consciousness studies (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36566091/). 4/n

We characterised the different phases of the experience and its transitions (whenever we could). For about 1/3 of experiences, we identified an ‘everything/nothing’ stage where no sense of self or other contents were reported but awareness was preserved. 3/n

5-MeO is attractive for the science of consciousness as reports claim it dissolves time, space, self, and other contents resulting in so called ‘pure awareness’. We went to retreats in the Netherlands and Spain were participants had it and assessed EEG and phenomenology. 2/n

2/ Our comment is a response to both the charge from 'IIT-concerned et al' that IIT is pseudoscientific (we disagree) www.nature.com/articles/s41... and to the response by Tononi et al www.nature.com/articles/s41...