In brief
- A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of 12 people with extensive ayahuasca experience detected increased connectivity between brain regions associated with empathy and social perception.
- The higher dose strengthened the connection between the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) and the visual and motor cortex, with a direct correlation to the subjective sensation of “stepping into someone else’s shoes.”
- The authors themselves, from the University of Coimbra (Portugal), urge caution: the sample size is small and consists only of veteran users.
A team of Portuguese neuroscientists has published one of the most detailed neuroimaging studies to date on how ayahuasca modulates the brain networks involved in social cognition. The work, published in late January in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (Oxford University Press), documents that increasing doses of the substance intensify communication between a region key to “reading” the intentions of others and the brain’s visual and motor areas.
What was done
The team, led by Carla Soares and Miguel Castelo-Branco, recruited 12 healthy volunteers (4 women, 8 men, with an average age of 40) who already had at least five previous experiences with ayahuasca. In a crossover design with three sessions separated by one or two months, each participant received, in random order, a low dose (0.5 mg/kg of DMT), a high dose (0.8 mg/kg), and a placebo, always followed by a resting-state MRI scan about 40 minutes after ingestion.
What the data shows
With the high dose, researchers observed a significant increase in functional connectivity between the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS)—a region associated with theory of mind and facial emotion recognition—and two distinct areas: the primary visual cortex (V1/V2) and the supplementary motor cortex, part of the so-called mirror neuron system. The strength of that second connection correlated remarkably with what participants described as an increased ability to “take another person’s perspective” (r=0.83; p=0.002). Furthermore, the higher the dose, the higher the volunteers scored on social cognition scales during the scan itself, and one week later, they continued to report more positive changes in attitude, mood, and social behavior compared to the placebo.
What it implies
The finding provides a possible neurobiological basis for something many ayahuasca users describe recurrently: an intensified sense of connection and understanding toward others during and after the experience. It is important, however, to keep the data in perspective. The sample is small and composed exclusively of people with a long history of use, which limits the ability to extrapolate the results to first-time users or the general population. The authors themselves also point out that the doses used did not generate intense subjective effects according to standard hallucinogen scales, and that tests of cognitive and emotional empathy did not show statistically significant improvements, which they attribute to a possible “ceiling effect” in an already empathetic sample. Even with these caveats, the study adds to an expanding line of research that seeks to understand, with increasingly precise neuroimaging tools, the brain mechanisms behind a plant with centuries of ceremonial use in the Amazon.
Source
- Soares, C. et al. “Ayahuasca enhances functional connectivity in the third visual pathway and mirror neuron networks: a crossover, multiple-dose functional MRI study”. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, January 31, 2026.
Educational content written from a harm reduction perspective and with respect for individual freedom. It is not a substitute for advice from a healthcare professional and is not intended to encourage or condemn any drug use.
