ArticleNature communications2022
Receptor-informed network control theory links LSD and psilocybin to a flattening of the brain's control energy landscape.
Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 100 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
100 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 145 citations in OpenAlex.
- What fMRI studies say about the nature of the psychedelic effect: a scoping review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Spatiotemporal mapping of brain organisation following the administration of 2C-B and psilocybin.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Large-scale brain connectivity changes following the administration of lysergic acid diethylamide, d-amphetamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Psychedelics and the 'inner healer': Myth or mechanism?Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- The entropic brain today.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Review
- Serotonin biology as a basis for explaining psychedelic drug action.Current biology : CB · 2026Review
- Spatial Collinearity Constrains Multivariate Molecular-Enriched Network Estimation.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- Longitudinal changes in control energy of brain networks in older adults at familial risk for Alzheimer's disease.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Opposite network patterns of integration-segregation in psychedelic and sedated states of consciousness.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Ketamine Across the Dose-State Continuum: EEG Signatures, Network Dynamics, and Implications for Brain-State Monitoring in Anesthesia and Critical Care.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Neurochemically informed network control theory reveals energetic dysregulation of altered brain state dynamics in obsessive-compulsive disorder.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2026Article
- Optimizing brain functional-structural architecture with cTBS to reduce relapse in alcohol use disorder: a randomized controlled trial.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Multi-metric evaluations of acute psychedelic effects on fMRI brain entropy.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Spatial collinearity constrains multivariate molecular-enriched network estimation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Multimodal Representation Learning for Parsing Biological Heterogeneity in Psychiatric Neuroimaging.Biological psychiatry · 2026Review
- Pathways to improved treatment of anorexia nervosa: a need for reconceptualization.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Spatiotemporal asymmetries on brain energy landscape uncover system entrapment related to depression severity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Brain energetic landscapes shape state dysregulation in major depressive disorder: a morphological network controllability perspective.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Convergent transcriptomic and connectomic controllers of information integration and its anaesthetic breakdown across mammalian brains.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Psilocybin shapes the slow, global propagation of brain activity over the cortical layout of 5HT2a receptors.Communications biology · 2026Article
40 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 7 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Psychedelics including lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin temporarily alter subjective experience through their neurochemical effects. Serotonin 2a (5-HT2a) receptor agonism by these compounds is associated with more diverse (entropic) brain activity. We postulate that this increase in entropy may arise in part from a flattening of the brain's control energy landscape, which can be observed using network control theory to quantify the energy required to transition between recurrent brain states. Using brain states derived from existing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) datasets, we show that LSD and psilocybin reduce control energy required for brain state transitions compared to placebo. Furthermore, across individuals, reduction in control energy correlates with more frequent state transitions and increased entropy of brain state dynamics. Through network control analysis that incorporates the spatial distribution of 5-HT2a receptors (obtained from publicly available positron emission tomography (PET) data under non-drug conditions), we demonstrate an association between the 5-HT2a receptor and reduced control energy. Our findings provide evidence that 5-HT2a receptor agonist compounds allow for more facile state transitions and more temporally diverse brain activity. More broadly, we demonstrate that receptor-informed network control theory can model the impact of neuropharmacological manipulation on brain activity dynamics.
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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.