Psilocybin, or ‘Magic Mushrooms,’ a memory enhancer?
Psilocybin mushrooms are fungi that contain the psychoactive compounds psilocybin and psilocin. There are multiple colloquial terms for psilocybin mushrooms, the most common being shrooms and magic mushrooms.[1] Biological genera containing psilocybin mushrooms include Agrocybe, Conocybe, Copelandia, Galerina, Gerronema, Gymnopilus, Hypholoma, Inocybe, Mycena, Panaeolus, Pluteus, and Psilocybe. There are approximately 190 species of psilocybin mushrooms and most of them fall in the genus Psilocybe.
Psilocybin mushrooms were used in ancient times, and were depicted in rock paintings. Many native peoples have used mushrooms for religious purposes, rituals and healing. In modern day society they are often used to evoke a “high”, which is sometimes described as spiritual experience and is often euphoric in nature. Sometimes however, the disorientation of Psilocybin’s hallucinogenic nature may bring on anxiety such as panic attacks, depression and paranoid delusions.
Psilocybin, or magic mushrooms, aren’t just for magnificently beautiful trips and future cluster headache treatment—there are indications that they have a marked effect on other human experiences as well.
In a recently published study titled “Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin,” researchers at the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit at Imperial College London found that Psilocybin has positive effects on individual depression and memory.
Lead researcher Dr. Robin L. Carhart-Harris stated in an interview with Medical Xpress, “Psilocybin decreases brain activity in regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex that are overactive in depression.”
Carhart-Harris also noted that when subjects are administered Psilocybin while undergoing psychotherapy, subjects are hit with “sudden personal insights,” according to Medical Xpress.
On the subject of mushrooms and memory, Carhart-Harris notes, “When subjects are in the scanner and are shown personal memory cues, then asked to close their eyes and remember the emotions at the time of the original event, the recalled emotions are more vivid – indicating elevated brain activation – when under the effects of psilocybin.”
This is a positive step in psychedelic study, since it scientifically supports what mushroom eaters have long known: The ancient fungus unleashes the floodgates of memory, allowing users to make enlightening, stunning, and often synaesthetic associations with visual, aural and tactile sensations.
Carthart-Harris and his fellow researchers are seeking to obtain a grant in 2012 to study Psilocybin’s effects on depression. While this is admirable, some researchers should really explore Psilocybin’s effect on how memories are reproduced, not to mention how information is seemingly produced from the aether.
For some education and entertainment, watch the videos below. The first two feature Terence McKenna, ethnobotanist and psychonaut, speaking about mushrooms and evolution. The third comes from Duncan Trussell’s Comedy Central pilot “Thunderbrain,” and visualizes with animation McKenna’s “stoned ape theory.” (Thanks to Death and Taxes contributor Aaron Frank for the heads up on this video.)
Recipes for Mushrooms with Bill & Sheila
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