Psychedelics Weaken Mental Constructs and the Ego | How Do Psychedelics Work?
Channel: Real Talk Philosophy
Date: 2021-07-20

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--Transcript--
The neuroscience here is complicated, but any agitation of the 5-HT2A receptor has been found to decrease activity in the Default Mode Network. Therefore taking any classical psychedelic will decrease activity in the Default Mode Network. But what does a decrease in activity in the Default Mode Network have to do with the psychedelic experience? 

The Default Mode Network plays a key role in the formation of mental constructs. 

Mental Constructs are shortcuts that help us more efficiently navigate the world around us. They save us brain energy. This is the role of the Default Mode Network. 

For example, let us consider a tree. We’ve probably all seen thousands of trees. 

We know that trees pose no threat, and, we know that they likely won’t be used as a tool. And for all intents and purposes, most of us feel that nearly all trees are similar, interchangeable. 

To know that it’s a tree, we do not have to analyze the bark, the leaves, the branches, the shadows, the mold, the scars, etc. If we did have to analyze all these things, this would require a lot of brainpower. 

Instead, the moment our brains recognize that this thing we’re looking at is a tree, our brains create a mental construct of a “tree.” We don’t have to see the bark; we don’t have to see the branches. It’s a tree; this is all we need to know. This is the work of the Default Mode Network.

And this can save us a lot of brain energy. But it can also limit our ability to recognize and perceive the depth of reality around us. 
When children, in comparison, see a tree for the first several times, they haven’t yet had the chance to develop a Mental Construct of “Tree” and they, therefore, see many more details than adults. 

So, the experience that you had of looking at a tree as a child was probably extremely different from the experience you have now.