A first-of-its-kind study launched earlier this year at the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP) is investigating whether psychedelics can help our minds and brains stay healthy as we grow older by boosting neuroplasticity. Neuroscience PhD student Tyler Toueg designed the study, along with Neuroscience professor and BCSP director Michael Silver, Neuroscience professor William Jagust, UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner, and psychiatrist Brian Anderson (UCSF and BCSP).
The study will use MRI and other measures to investigate how psilocybin — a compound found in psychedelic mushrooms — impacts memory, perception, emotion, and brain structure and function in healthy adults between the ages of 60 and 85. Participants will be assessed before and after psychedelic experiences.
Previous studies in non-human animals have found that psilocybin increases the number of synaptic connections in the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex of the brain. This study will investigate whether the same is true in humans, which could help counteract the effects of aging on the brain.
