DMT surveillance ·
DMT Research Update
A new preprint proposes a time-resolved measure of changing brain dynamics during the DMT experience. It is methodologically interesting, but it does not alter the Evidence Atlas's conclusions.
Bottom line
This preprint is a modest methodological development, not proof of a DMT mechanism or externally existing entities. It does not change the book's central conclusions.
At a glance
- Research items
- 1
- With empirical findings
- 1
- Manuscript decisions
- 3
Tap a heading to open or close each section.
Research watch(1)
1. Spiral brain dynamics during DMT offset and recovery
Preprint — not peer reviewed · Posted to bioRxiv on 28 September 2026
Sawicka and colleagues reanalysed randomised, within-subject placebo-controlled fMRI data from healthy volunteers. Seventeen participants contributed to the principal analysis and fourteen to the time-resolved analysis. This is a new analysis of an existing dataset, not a new cohort.
Empirical finding
DMT increased two measures of rotational cortical activity—spiral vorticity and spatial spiral-vorticity dispersion—while reducing temporal irreversibility. The largest changes occurred in visual, default-mode, frontoparietal and dorsal-attention networks. Changes in the spiral measures broadly followed reported subjective intensity, with correlations of approximately 0.57 to 0.59. The strongest spatial reorganisation appeared during offset and recovery rather than at peak subjective intensity.
Authors' interpretation
The authors suggest that these measures may provide a time-resolved neural signature of the DMT state and that recovery could involve active network restabilisation rather than a simple reversal of peak effects.
What is genuinely new
The novelty lies in applying vorticity-based measures to DMT fMRI and in identifying pronounced reorganisation after subjective intensity has begun to decline. It is a methodological development, not a new account of DMT entities, recurring environments or visual motifs.
What this contributes
The study adds a potentially useful time-resolved measure of DMT-related brain dynamics and draws attention to offset and recovery as analytically important phases.
Limits
The principal sample was 17 participants and the time-resolved analysis used 14. This secondary analysis was not an independent replication, and the paper does not report preregistration of the analysis. BOLD phase-flow measures are indirect and depend on preprocessing, cortical-flatmap projection and analytic choices. The headline time-course correlations use 28 group-average time points and should not be treated as independent participant-level replication. Phenomenology was represented chiefly by scalar intensity; recurring visual structures, environments, communications and entity encounters were not compared.
Conflicts and transparency
Robin Carhart-Harris reports scientific-advisory roles with Entropy Neurodynamics, Red Light Holland, Otsuka and AtaiBeckley. The other authors declare no competing interests. Analysis code is publicly available; participant data are available only by request.
Editorial impact
Monitor pending peer review. The study reanalyses a small existing dataset and does not change the Evidence Atlas's treatment of phenomenology, recurring structures or entity encounters.
Manuscript decisions(3)
| Decision | Action |
|---|---|
| DMT volume | No manuscript revision currently required. |
| Review status | Monitor pending peer review. |
| Excluded claim | Do not add the undated Noonautics/Trace Institute page as evidence: it provides no registered protocol, sample, comparator, analysis plan, ethics information or results. |
These bulletins are not medical, psychological or legal advice, and nothing here encourages the obtaining, possession or use of any controlled substance.