When the Brain Stops Staying in Its Lane: What LSD Reveals About Flexibility and Synchrony

When brain networks loosen their grip, experience can change fast

Some mental states feel “locked in.” Anxiety loops, depressive rumination, compulsive checking, or rigid perfectionism can trap attention in the same grooves, even when we know those grooves are hurting us. A major question in psychology and neuroscience is why the brain sometimes struggles to shift gears—and what it looks like in the brain when flexibility returns.

The Lysergic acid diethylamide-derived excitatory/inhibitory ratio change enhances global synchrony in functional brain dynamics research paper tackles this question by examining how LSD changes large-scale brain activity while a person is at rest (not doing a task). Instead of focusing only on “which brain areas light up,” the researchers looked at functional brain dynamics: how networks form, dissolve, and recur over time. They also modeled how LSD may shift the brain’s excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) balance, the basic push-and-pull between neurons that ramp up activity (excitation) and neurons that dampen it (inhibition).

Why does this matter for mental health? Because many psychological problems aren’t just about having “too much” of one emotion. They’re also about patterns: sticky attention, repetitive interpretations, and narrow behavioral options. By showing a plausible mechanism—how changing E/I balance can promote a more globally synchronized and less modular brain state—this study helps connect subjective psychedelic effects (like altered perception and new perspectives) to measurable shifts in brain organization. It also offers a scientifically grounded way to think about why psychedelics might help disrupt rigid thought patterns when used carefully and ethically.

A louder choir and fewer separate rooms in the mind

The core finding is that LSD increases global synchrony—more of the brain starts “moving together” in time—while also increasing dynamic complexity, meaning the brain explores a richer set of connectivity patterns rather than staying in a narrow routine. In everyday terms, the brain becomes more coordinated overall, yet more fluid in how it shifts between states.

The researchers identified recurring patterns of functional connectivity (which brain networks are functionally linked at a given moment). Under LSD, one particular pattern becomes more common and more stable: a globally synchronized but non-modular state. “Non-modular” here means the brain’s usual separation into distinct teams—like sensory systems, attention networks, and cognitive control networks—becomes less sharply divided. This globally synchronized state behaves like an attractor: the brain tends to fall into it, and other states transition into it more often.

To make this tangible, think about how you operate on a normal workday. You may keep your “task focus” separate from background sensations: you ignore the hum of the room, the feeling of your shirt on your skin, and random memories. That’s modular functioning—different systems stay in their lanes. The study suggests LSD nudges the brain toward a state where lanes blur: sensations, memories, meanings, and attention can influence one another more easily. This can show up as being unusually affected by music, facial expressions, or personal memories, and as noticing connections you would normally filter out.

Crucially, the paper links these shifts to changes in E/I balance across the cortex. LSD appears to “level” the usual gradient between sensorimotor areas (more tied to direct sensation and action) and transmodal association areas (involved in abstract thought). The sensorimotor regions—especially the sensorimotor (SOM) cortices—emerge as key hubs in this rebalancing.

From rigid control to flexible mixing: why E/I balance matters psychologically

A useful psychological lens here is that the brain constantly negotiates between stability (keeping perception and identity coherent) and flexibility (updating beliefs and trying new interpretations). Many therapies aim to increase flexibility—think of cognitive therapy challenging automatic thoughts, exposure therapy loosening fear responses, or acceptance-based approaches reducing defensive control. This research paper offers a biological story that fits those goals: changing the E/I ratio can make the brain less stuck in strongly separated modules and more capable of shifting into globally coordinated patterns.

Past psychedelic research often highlights decreased integrity of the “default mode network” (associated with self-referential thought) and increased connectivity between networks that don’t usually talk as much. The current findings deepen that picture by focusing on recurrent brain states and showing that LSD doesn’t just make connectivity “noisier”—it preferentially stabilizes a particular global state that pulls other states toward it. That matters because mental habits can also be attractors. Rumination, worry, and compulsive checking can be seen as psychological attractors: once you enter them, it’s hard to exit. LSD may create a different attractor landscape—one that favors broad integration over tight separation.

The authors also point to a specific pattern: sensorimotor suppression coupled with transmodal potentiation. In plain language, the brain may become less anchored to ordinary sensory gating and more driven by higher-order association processes. A real-life example: someone might hear a song and find it intensely meaningful, with memories and emotions flooding in, because the brain is less “strict” about keeping sensation, memory, and meaning separate.

Clinically, this helps explain both promise and risk. Increased global synchrony and reduced modular boundaries might support new insights or emotional breakthroughs, especially for conditions marked by rigid thinking. But the same loosening can also make experience feel overwhelming, confusing, or destabilizing without support. In a case vignette-like way: a person with harsh self-criticism might, under safe guidance, see their narrative from a more compassionate angle (helpful flexibility). Another person, in a chaotic setting, might feel flooded by sensations and interpretations (unhelpful dysregulation). The brain mechanism may be similar; context shapes the outcome.

Where these insights could shape therapy, workplaces, and wellbeing

First, for mental health care, the most practical takeaway is not “LSD for everyone,” but a clearer map of what “opening up” might mean in the brain. If LSD promotes a globally synchronized, less modular attractor state via E/I rebalancing, therapists and researchers can design interventions that aim for temporary flexibility with strong containment. That supports why preparation, guided sessions, and integration therapy are emphasized in clinical psychedelic work: the brain may be more ready to form new connections, but it also needs structure afterward to turn novelty into lasting change.

Second, the identification of the SOM cortices as potential regulatory hubs suggests new avenues beyond psychedelics. Non-drug approaches that influence sensorimotor processing—like certain forms of mindfulness that emphasize body awareness, trauma-informed somatic therapies, or even neurostimulation research—might be studied for whether they indirectly shift E/I balance and network “stickiness.” This doesn’t mean body-based practices replicate LSD, but it encourages more precise questions: do they change how strongly sensory systems gate experience, and does that loosen rigid cognitive attractors?

Third, for business and high-performance settings, the study offers a grounded explanation for why “too much control” can backfire in creative problem-solving. Teams often need a phase where boundaries soften—brainstorming, cross-functional collaboration, unexpected associations—followed by a phase where boundaries tighten again—execution, quality control, risk management. The research paper’s model mirrors this rhythm: more global synchrony and less modularity may help generate novelty, but it isn’t automatically good unless followed by consolidation.

Finally, for relationships, the idea of shifting attractor states is relatable. When people are stressed, they default to familiar scripts: defensiveness, withdrawal, criticism. Interventions that increase flexibility—whether through therapy, emotion regulation, or carefully supervised clinical treatments—may work partly by changing how easily the mind transitions out of those scripts and into a broader, more integrated state.

The lasting question: can flexibility be safely engineered?

This study links a specific biological shift—Lysergic acid diethylamide-derived excitatory/inhibitory ratio change enhances global synchrony in functional brain dynamics—to a brain that is more globally coordinated, less siloed into separate modules, and more dynamically rich. In psychological terms, it supports a compelling idea: some forms of suffering persist because the brain keeps falling into the same attractor states, and altering the balance of excitation and inhibition may temporarily change the mind’s “default routes.”

The takeaway is both hopeful and sobering. If increased synchrony and loosened modular boundaries can support cognitive flexibility, that may help explain therapeutic potential. But the same mechanism can also reduce ordinary sensory anchoring, making context and guidance essential. The open question is not whether flexibility is valuable—it’s whether we can reliably create it, direct it, and integrate it without causing harm.

Data in this article is provided by PLOS.

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