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Updated: Apr 13, 2026

Using Optical Coherence Tomography and Optokinetic Response As Structural and Functional Visual System Readouts in Mice and Rats
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  • 1Psychedelic Research Center, National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czechia.

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Summary

Psilocin, a psychedelic, impairs visual perception in both humans and rats, causing difficulty distinguishing static from moving images. This study offers a new method to explore how drugs alter vision and their neurological basis.

Keywords:
HumanPsilocinPsychedelicsRatVisionVisual hallucinations

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychiatry
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Psychedelics, like psilocin, are gaining attention for potential psychiatric uses.
  • Psilocin causes mind-altering effects, including visual hallucinations such as illusory motion.
  • Understanding psilocin's mechanisms is challenging due to difficulties in human and animal studies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate psilocin-induced visual distortions using a discrimination task.
  • To compare psilocin's effects on visual perception in humans and rats.
  • To explore the neurobiological basis of altered visual perception.

Main Methods:

  • A 2-choice visual discrimination task was employed with human participants and male rats.
  • Participants and rats identified static vs. moving images under psilocin.
  • Human data correlated performance with hallucination intensity and psilocin levels; rat tasks included luminance and motion discrimination.

Main Results:

  • Psilocin impaired static-dynamic visual discrimination in both humans and rats.
  • Human impairment correlated with psilocin levels and hallucination intensity.
  • Rats showed selective impairment in motion-based tasks, not luminance-based ones, indicating specific visual perception effects.

Conclusions:

  • Psilocin induces visual distortions in rats comparable to human experiences.
  • This study validates a model for studying drug-induced visual perception changes.
  • Findings support psilocin's impact on visual processing and offer insights into psychiatric conditions.