A study by University of Michigan researchers has discovered that a single dose of a psychedelic compound can enhance cognitive flexibility—the brain’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances—for weeks after administration. The study, published in the journal Psychedelics, found that mice treated with a single dose of 25CN-NBOH, a selective serotonin 2A receptor agonist, showed improved performance in reversal learning tasks compared to control groups when tested two to three weeks after treatment.
The results suggest that these compounds may induce lasting and behaviorally meaningful neuroplasticity changes in the prefrontal cortex. Researchers measured how effectively mice could adapt to rule reversals—a standard test for cognitive flexibility—and found that psychedelic-treated mice demonstrated superior adaptability compared to saline controls.
The study’s findings complement existing cellular research showing psychedelic-induced structural remodeling in the prefrontal cortex but uniquely demonstrate sustained cognitive benefits persisting long after the immediate effects of the drug have dissipated. This research raises intriguing questions about how psychedelics might reshape neural pathways governing flexible thinking and could potentially reopen critical periods of brain plasticity.
The study’s findings also suggest that a single dose of psychedelic can induce lasting beneficial changes in brain function, with benefits measured 15-20 days after administration. The research highlights the potential broad applicability of psychedelic therapy across biological sexes and offers a significant methodological advance for evaluating flexible learning.
Overall, this study provides new insights into the long-term effects of psychedelic compounds on cognitive flexibility and opens up exciting possibilities for developing targeted psychedelic therapies for specific cognitive deficits.
Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-dose-psychedelic-boosts-brain-flexibility.html