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The anarchic brain: a revolutionary understanding of how psychedelics alter your mind

by the world's most influential neuroscientist - Prof Dr Karl Friston (UK)

Abstract: Why do certain drugs have such a profound effect on how we make sense of the world? In this webinar, we will look at the brain as an organ of sentience – assimilating sensory information to update its beliefs about states of affairs beyond our sensory veils. In particular, we will consider perception in terms of inference or hypothesis testing. In other words, we will look at the brain as a little scientist, who uses sensory evidence to confirm or disconfirm her hypotheses about how the sensorium is caused. This way of formalising brain function allows us to talk about beliefs and belief-updating in a way that can be connected to message passing among different brain systems. This is important because drugs can have a profound influence on this message passing. Our focus will be on how we attend to different streams of sensory information – or different levels of abstraction. This attention is thought to be mediated by the selection or enabling of connections in the brain that allow newsworthy information to be passed from the sensory brain to the deep hierarchical levels of processing and representation. This means that certain drugs can exert a profound effect on the ensuing perceptual synthesis. Furthermore, we can start to understand psychopathology in terms of false inference. For example, believing something is there when it is not (i.e., a hallucination or delusion) or believing something is not there when it is (i.e., attentional neglect or agnosia). Further examples include the fears of abandonment in borderline states, the self-deprecation of depression and the constant fears of post-traumatic conditions. This webinar provides an introduction the hierarchical, Bayesian and anarchic brain. It offers a formal and intuitive account of the effect of psychedelic and psychometric drugs – and how they affect the message passing in the brain underwrites our beliefs about the lived world – and the way we engage with that world.

Key words: active inference ∙ dysconnection ∙ schizophrenia ∙ Bayesian ∙ precision ∙ false inference ∙ predictive coding

WEBINAR SESSION

Date: Wednesday 9 June 2021
Time: 7:25pm for 7:30pm start – 8:45pm (incl Q&A) (AEST)

The presentation WILL BEGIN AT 7:30pm.

Location: Online. A link will be emailed to you with the viewing details.

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More about Mind Medicine Australia and medicinal psychedelic-assisted therapy:

Mind Medicine Australia is Australia’s leading not-for-profit organisation working on the use of medicinal psilocybin and MDMA-assisted therapies to treat a range of mental illnesses. Mind Medicine Australia exists to help alleviate the suffering caused by our accelerating mental illness epidemic in Australia, through expanding the treatment options available to medical practitioners and their patients.

Unlike current treatments such as anti-depressants, which only manage the illness and can have nasty side effects, psilocybin and MDMA assisted therapies have been scientifically proven to be a safe and effective cure for anxiety, depression, end-of-life stress, addictions and PTSD after just a short treatment program. These medicines are also currently being researched for dementia, eating disorders, OCD and a number of other conditions. Both medicines have been granted Breakthrough Therapy Status by the FDA in the USA to fast-track their approval. This designation is only given to medicines which may prove to be vastly superior to existing treatments.

At Mind Medicine Australia we are dedicated to helping the now global movement to spread this awareness and ensure these medicines are available via the medical system. Please watch and share our 2-minute animation to find out why psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy needs to be available to those who are suffering.

More about the presenters

Prof Dr Karl J. Friston (UK)
MBBS, MA, MRCPsych, MAE, FMedSci, FRBS, FRS
Scientific Director: Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging Professor: Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London Honorary Consultant: The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery

Karl Friston is a theoretical neuroscientist and authority on brain imaging. He invented statistical parametric mapping (SPM), voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and dynamic causal modelling (DCM). These contributions were motivated by schizophrenia research and theoretical studies of value-learning, formulated as the dysconnection hypothesis of schizophrenia. Mathematical contributions include variational Laplacian procedures and generalized filtering for hierarchical Bayesian model inversion.

Friston currently works on models of functional integration in the human brain and the principles that underlie neuronal interactions. His main contribution to theoretical neurobiology is a free-energy principle for action and perception (active inference). Friston received the first Young Investigators Award in Human Brain Mapping (1996) and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (1999). In 2000 he was President of the international Organization of Human Brain Mapping. In 2003 he was awarded the Minerva Golden Brain Award and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006. In 2008 he received a Medal, College de France and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of York in 2011.

He became of Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2012, received the Weldon Memorial prize and Medal in 2013 for contributions to mathematical biology and was elected as a member of EMBO (excellence in the life sciences) in 2014 and the Academia Europaea in (2015). He was the 2016 recipient of the Charles Branch Award for unparalleled breakthroughs in Brain Research and the Glass Brain Award, a lifetime achievement award in the field of human brain mapping. He holds Honorary Doctorates from the University of Zurich and Radboud University.

Dr Eli Kotler (Moderator)
MBBS MPM FRANZCP Cert. Old Age Psych. AFRACMA
Board Member of Mind Medicine Australia
Psychiatrist and Director of Medicine at Malvern Private Hospital

Eli is a consultant psychiatrist, holds an academic position at Monash University through the Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, and is the medical director of Malvern Private Hospital, the first addiction hospital in Australia. He is a member of the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs (APSAD). Clinically, Eli is interested in the deep connections between trauma and addiction and works within a neuro-psychoanalytic framework. Eli has overseen the development of a clinical program for addictions focused on trauma, particularly developmental trauma. This has led to an interest in medication-assisted trauma therapy. Eli worked for many years researching neurodegenerative diseases and was the principle investigator on numerous trials for novel therapeutics. He is now involved in addiction research involving the retraining of neural pathways underlying incentive salience in methamphetamine addiction. Through involvement with Monash University, Eli overseas the addiction rotation for medical students.

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Disclaimer

Mind Medicine Australia does not encourage or facilitate illegal use of psychedelics or plant medicines. MMA focus is focused on clinical and legal use only supported by the emerging science and legislative processes. Mind Medicine Australia reserves the right to record and publish webinars on various social media platforms. You agree that you will not discuss any names, locations or specific details of illegal use of psychedelics both verbally or via any written forms of communication via Mind Medicine Australia social media platforms (for example facebook, instagram and zoom private and public chat forms during the webinar). Breaches of these guidelines may result in not being able to participate in the event. We thank you for support and cooperation on these matters.

Mind Medicine Australia is focused specifically on the clinical application of medicinal psilocybin and medicinal MDMA for certain mental illnesses.