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

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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