大约十年来，主流观点认为迷幻剂会在大脑中引发混乱。负责视觉、注意力或自我意识等功能的脑网络——即稳定的通信模式——会变得松散并同时开始相互交流。脑电图（EEG）痕迹变得更加嘈杂和复杂。“把大脑的网络想象成高速公路，”蒙纳什大学神经科学家Devon Stoliker说。“在迷幻剂的作用下，这些高速公路会分解成许多不同的方向。”
For about a decade, the mainstream understanding has been that psychedelics cause chaos in the brain. Brain networks—the stable patterns of communication that handle vision, attention, or our sense of self, and more—loosen and start talking to each other all at once. EEG traces get noisier and more complex. “Think of the networks of the brain as highways,” says Devon Stoliker, a neuroscientist at Monash University. “Under psychedelics, these highways break down into many different directions.”
在一项最近发表于《自然》的研究中，Stoliker团队设计了一项实验，以检验这些方向是否真正混乱且随机。研究人员招募了62名从未服用过迷幻剂的志愿者，给予他们19毫克的裸盖菇素（一种常见于某些真菌中的迷幻剂），并扫描了他们的大脑。随后，他们使用人工智能分析了服药前后的脑部扫描结果。结果显示，情况并非完全混乱。
In a recent Nature study, Stoliker’s team designed an experiment to test whether these directions are truly chaotic and random. Researchers gathered 62 people who had never taken a psychedelic before, gave them 19 milligrams of psilocybin, a common psychedelic found in certain fungi, and scanned their brains. Then, they used AI to analyze the drugged and sober brain scans. What emerged was not exactly chaos.
Stoliker认为，混乱无法令人满意地解释迷幻剂对大脑的影响。“它从未真正解释为什么个体会有意义的体验，为什么他们可能获得洞察，为什么他们可能体验到清晰感，以及为什么这些可能转化为积极的心理变化，”Stoliker说。“为了探索其他可能的解释，他和同事们设计了一项名为PsiConnect的研究。”}
Stoliker thinks chaos is not a satisfactory explanation for psychedelics’ effect on the brain. “It never really explained why an individual would have a meaningful experience, why they might have insight, why they might experience clarity, and why these might translate into positive psychological changes,” Stoliker says. To investigate if there are other explanations, he and his colleagues designed a study called PsiConnect.