We all have particular experiences or particular things -- a favorite song, for example -- that mean much more to us than others. Now, researchers who've studied how perceptions of meaning change when people take the psychedelic drug known as LSD have traced that sense of meaningfulness to particular neurochemicals and receptors in the brain. The findings are reported in Current Biology on January 26.
The findings add to our fundamental understanding of the human experience. They also point to potentially new targets for drugs to treat psychiatric illnesses or phobias, which come with abnormalities in the attribution of personal relevance to particular sensory experiences or cues, the researchers say.
"Our results increase our understanding of how personal relevance attribution is enabled in the brain," says Katrin Preller of the Zürich University Hospital for Psychiatry. "[We now know] which receptors, neurotransmitters, and brain regions are involved when we perceive our environment as meaningful and relevant."
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