Longitudinal neural and psychological changes following psilocybin under compassion imagery priming.
Overview
14 affiliations
- Department of Physics, Institute of Applied and Interdisciplinary Physics, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Cognitive Neuroanatomy Lab, The Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (INCC UMR 8002), CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Paris, France
- Motivación Compasiva, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience, The Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INECO) Foundation, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Uruguayan Center for Molecular Imaging, CUDIM, Montevideo, Uruguay
- Institut du Cerveau—Paris Brain Institute—ICM, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
- Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM), Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
- Centre for Compassion Research and Training, College of Science and Engineering University of Derby, Derby, United Kingdom
- The Compassionate Mind Foundation, Derby, United Kingdom
- Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Tilburg University, Tilburg, North Brabant, Netherlands
- Fundación Centro Diagnóstico Nuclear, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center, Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, Santiago, Chile
Abstract
Psilocybin is a classic psychedelic known to alter subjective experience and induce lasting psychological changes, including increased cognitive flexibility and reduced rigid self-related beliefs. Contextual factors, including preparatory mental states, are thought to play a key role in shaping these effects. Compassion imagery, which engages care-affiliative motivational systems, may represent a promising priming approach in this context. Here, we investigated the neural and psychological effects of psilocybin under compassion imagery priming using self-report questionnaires and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a naturalistic sample of 105 participants. Participants were primed with either compassion imagery or attention to breathing prior to psilocybin intake. We observed sustained increases in absorption over time, particularly in the high-dose compassion imagery condition. Additional within-group increases were found in measures of decentering and self-compassion. Using functional connectivity features, fMRI-based classifiers distinguished between resting state and compassion imagery conditions prior to intake, and between priming conditions following psilocybin, with significant classification performance observed only in the high-dose group. These findings suggest that psilocybin is associated with lasting changes in absorption and may be modulated by contextual priming to shape both psychological outcomes and large-scale brain network dynamics. More generally, our results highlight the potential role of compassion-based practices as preparatory interventions in psychedelic contexts. Future confirmatory studies are needed to further characterize these effects and their underlying mechanisms.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
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Data
Datasets cited
- zenodo:18174765, at Zenodo; found in “Data availability statement”
Data availability statement
The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Versions
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Version 2, 28 September 2026
- Funding: added European Commission: HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, HORIZON-MSCA 2021-PF-01-01, HORIZON-MSCA-2021; Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo: 13240170, 1220995; HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme: HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF, HORIZON-MSCA-2021, HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, MSCA-2021-PF-01; H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01, HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01-01, PF-01
Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 17 authors, 8 keywords, 99 references.
Cite
This paper
Pallavicini, C., Llobenes, L., Cavanna, F., de la Fuente, L. A., Muller, S., Costa, M., Gumiy, N., Bruno, N., D'Amelio, T., Basran, J., Plowright, P., Zamberlan, F., Pasqualetti, G., Stolkiner, A., Namías, M., Gilbert, P., & Tagliazucchi, E. (2026). Longitudinal neural and psychological changes following psilocybin under compassion imagery priming. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 20, 1874178. https://
BibTeX
@article{pallavicini2026
author = {Pallavicini, Carla and Llobenes, Lorena and Cavanna, Federico and de la Fuente, Laura Alethia and Muller, Stephanie and Costa, María and Gumiy, Natali and Bruno, Nicolás and D'Amelio, Tomás and Basran, Jaskaran and Plowright, Ptarmigan and Zamberlan, Federico and Pasqualetti, Guillermo and Stolkiner, Ain and Namías, Mauro and Gilbert, Paul and Tagliazucchi, Enzo},
title = {{Longitudinal neural and psychological changes following psilocybin under compassion imagery priming}},
journal = {Frontiers in human neuroscience},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
volume = {20},
pages = {1874178},
publisher = {Frontiers Media SA},
issn = {1662-5161},
doi = {10.3389/
url = {https://
pmid = {42559191},
pmcid = {PMC13439500}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Pallavicini, Carla
AU - Llobenes, Lorena
AU - Cavanna, Federico
AU - de la Fuente, Laura Alethia
AU - Muller, Stephanie
AU - Costa, María
AU - Gumiy, Natali
AU - Bruno, Nicolás
AU - D'Amelio, Tomás
AU - Basran, Jaskaran
AU - Plowright, Ptarmigan
AU - Zamberlan, Federico
AU - Pasqualetti, Guillermo
AU - Stolkiner, Ain
AU - Namías, Mauro
AU - Gilbert, Paul
AU - Tagliazucchi, Enzo
TI - Longitudinal neural and psychological changes following psilocybin under compassion imagery priming
T2 - Frontiers in human neuroscience
J2 - Front Hum Neurosci
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 20
SP - 1874178
SN - 1662-5161
PB - Frontiers Media SA
DO - 10.3389/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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