ArticlePsychopharmacology2018
MDMA-induced indifference to negative sounds is mediated by the 5-HT
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- MDMA for the treatment of misophonia, a proposal.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of the MDMA Model to Address Social Impairment in Autism.Current neuropharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- The 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine enhances early visual processing for salient socio-emotional stimuli.The European journal of neuroscience · 2024Trial
- Moving beyond 5-HTPsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Subjective and neurocognitive profiling of clinical doses of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in healthy volunteers: implications for therapeutic use.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- History, pharmacology and therapeutic mechanisms of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).British journal of pharmacology · 2026Review
- The psychedelic-peptide paradox: a hormetic hypothesis.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Review
- The entactogen 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ecstasy) as a treatment aid in psychotherapy and its safety concerns.Archives of toxicology · 2024Review
- The Psychedelic Future of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment.Current neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- Chronic stress and stressful emotional contagion affect the empathy-like behavior of rats.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2023Article
- Effects of a psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonist on anxiety-related behavior and fear processing in mice.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Putting the MD back into MDMA.Nature medicine · 2021Article
- Beyond ecstasy: Alternative entactogens to 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine with potential applications in psychotherapy.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2021Review
- Pivotal mental states.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2021Review
- Somatostatin interneurons activated by 5-HTeLife · 2021Article
- Modulation of Social CognitionFrontiers in psychiatry · 2019Review
- Peripheral endocannabinoid concentrations are not associated with verbal memory impairment during MDMA intoxication.Psychopharmacology · 2018Article
- Depressive mood ratings are reduced by MDMA in female polydrug ecstasy users homozygous for the l-allele of the serotonin transporter.Scientific reports · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMDMA has been shown to induce feelings of sociability, a positive emotional bias and enhanced empathy. While previous research has used only visual emotional stimuli, communication entails more than that single dimension and it is known that auditory information is also crucial in this process. In addition, it is, however, unclear what the neurobiological mechanism underlying these MDMA effects on social behaviour is. Previously, studies have shown that MDMA-induced emotional excitability and positive mood are linked to the action on the serotonin (5-HT) 2A receptor.
aimThe present study aimed at investigating the effect of MDMA on processing of sounds (Processing of Affective Sounds Task (PAST)) and cognitive biases (Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT)) towards emotional and social stimuli and the role of 5-HT
methodsTwenty healthy recreational users entered a 2 × 2, placebo-controlled, within-subject study with ketanserin (40 mg) as pre-treatment and MDMA (75 mg) as treatment. Behavioural (PAST, AAT) measures were conducted 90 min after treatment with MDMA, respectively, 120 min after ketanserin. Self-report mood measures and oxytocin concentrations were taken at baseline and before and after behavioural tests.
resultsFindings showed that MDMA reduced arousal elicited by negative sounds. This effect was counteracted by ketanserin pre-treatment, indicating involvement of the 5-HT
conclusionIt is suggested that this decrease in arousal to negative stimuli reflects potentially a lowering of defences, a process that might play a role in the therapeutic process.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.