Goncalo V.

Why do psychedelics alter our perception of time, and how could that affect therapy? By Goncalo V. Time perception is potentially one of the most present skills in our day to day, we’re constantly aware of time during our circadian routine, whether it’s to enter our routine or finish our day, yet this is only part of what time perception actually does in our life, time perception has profound effects on human consciousness, influencing cognition, affect regulation and behavior. Typically speaking, we perceive life as a continuous timeline — yet, the perception of time allows us to determine how we perceive the past, present, and future, thus affecting our sense of self and what is real. However, when someone consumes a psychedelic compound like DMT, LSD, or even Salvia Divinorum, their perception of time can change to the point where they claim to believe that they’ve experienced hours, and sometimes even decades of their life, or even eternity when tripping, a phenomenon known as time dilation. Such distortions in the perception of time offer us insight into how the brain processes time. They disrupt the assumptions of traditional models of consciousness. This reminds us how something as essential as time can be. What happens to our brain when we lose perception of time is where things become interesting. To understand more about how the perception of time changes between psychedelic experiences, we will go through three typical scenarios reported by the psychedelic community. Slowing down of time Speeding up time Feeling of Timeless/Eternity The perfect choice for those who love exploring the mind Apparel Exploring the Mind Embroidered Vintage corduroy cap $45.00 Apparel Exploring the Mind Embroidered Unisex Hoodie $80.00 Apparel Exploring the Mind Embroidered Unisex Sweatshirt $65.00 Apparel Exploring the Mind Embroidered Short-Sleeve Unisex T-Shirt $45.00 Typically speaking, psychedelics make users experience a slowing down of time— this change is attributed to increase sensory processing, as psychedelics elevate neural oscillations in lower brain regions, which are responsible for sensory input and emotional processing. Additionally, the augmented attention to sensory stimuli during a trip can also interfere with time perception as the brain attempts to process information at a higher rate. But on the other side of the coin, some people describe hours passing like minutes. This could be linked to what the psychonaut community calls “ego dissolution,” which can loosen someone’s perception of time. For this reason, it’s believed that time compression could be caused by the alteration in serotonin levels and consequent effect on the cortical activity via the 5-HT2A receptor. The third-mentioned hypothesis is the effect of timelessness itself, a complete dissociation of the passage of time, once this happens, users typically describe profound or mystical experiences, and it’s believed that this might be a products of changes in the default mode network (DMN) of the brain, as the default mode network is associated with self-referential thinking and perception of continuous time, its suppression during these altered states could result in the dissolution of time as a boundary, past, present and future are perceived as irrelevant or a unified moment. As every human body reacts differently to these compounds and the sense of temporal distortions, these experiences can vary depending on the type/class of compound, dosage, and setting. Additionally, distinctions between compounds bring up the possibility that different pharmacological interactions could be the key to understanding such modifications to time perception, at least amongst psychedelics, demonstrating that the neural substrates that mediate these experiences are multifaceted. Such alteration in the perception of time while in psychedelic states could provide a novel perspective to study the brain mechanisms in temporal processing, and pave new perspectives for the study of the role of consciousness and its influence in what we consider reality. But first, we must address the big elephant in the room: How do psychedelics alter our perception of time? Our ability to understand time perception is influenced by the activity of distributed brain regions, neurotransmitters, and neural synchrony. Basal ganglia: Implicated in interval timing on the scale of hundreds of milliseconds, functioning as a putative internal clock, generating temporal predictions based on sensory evidence.   Prefrontal Cortex: Encodes longer time spans and combines information for planning and making decisions. Crucial for controlling dynamic time-based tasks.   Cerebellum: Refines motor coordination and precise timing by integrating sensory input and motor output for precise timing events. By integrating interception of internal body states with cognitive perception, the insula has a modulating role in how emotions and somatic sensations shape our perception of time. Neurobiological mechanisms of psychedelic-induced time perception alterations.   These processes are further regulated by major neurotransmitter systems. Dopamine: Acts primarily through the basal ganglia and modulates short-interval timing. Dysregulation is linked to timing deficits.   Serotonin (particularly via the 5HT2A receptor activation): Influences longer time scales. Is the primary mediator of psychedelic-induced time distortions Interfacing emotional and sensory processing with subjective time experience.   Glutamate (largely through the NMDA receptor-mediated neurotransmission): Supports the neural encoding and maintenance of precise temporal representations needed for various cognitive tasks. Write with us Our mission is to educate about psychedelics. Whether you’re sharing your personal journey, exploring science, or crafting tales of transformation, your voice matters here! Pitch us your idea via email In order to have a precise time perception, there must be a temporal coordination of neural activity between distant brain areas (generally mediated by neural synchrony), almost like a neurobiological orchestra within our body; these rhythms allow the synchronicity of sensory, motor, and cognitive activities. Once we disrupt the synchronicity, it may result in a distorted perception of time. This is exactly what happens when we take a psychedelic compound: it strongly affects the rhythm of this orchestra, resulting in the disrupted time perception due to the modulation of the brain’s sensory, calm, and self-reference system. One key factor for the mediating role of these changes is the Default Mode Network (DMN), comprised of: Medial prefrontal cortex, Posterior cingulate Angular gyrus Related to self-referential thinking and

Lanmaoa Asiatica lilliputian hallucinations or an anthropological phenomenon? By Goncalo V. In January 2026, a mushroom began to appear in various news outlets after its appearance on the BBC due to its unique effects, Lanmaoa asiatica. When mentioning mushrooms and hallucinations, our brain automatically says it’s either psilocybin (from the psilocybe genus) or muscimol (from Amanita Muscaria); however, once we analyze trip reports from these compounds, they often don’t follow a pattern, even if ingested multiple times throughout our lifespan, making these trips “unpredictable” in the sense of we cannot predetermine what the peak of our trip will look like, especially when mentioning visual hallucinations. However, things are far different when mentioning Lanmaoa asiatica. Unlike the unpredictability of visual effects in other mushrooms and psychedelics, doctors at hospitals in the Yunnan Province of China (the natural habitat of Lanmaoa asiatica) report hundreds of cases every year, with 96% of the patients having the same visions of “tiny people” or “elves”, dancing, jumping, or marching around the environment. Here’s where things become interesting… How do people obtain these mushrooms, and what causes these hallucinations? Surprisingly, Lanmaoa Asiatica is one of those mushrooms that lived for ages under everyone’s radar until 2014, when a group of mycologists in Yunnan purchased and sequenced the mushroom, making it a species known to science. During the sequencing and understanding of the mushroom in the eyes of science, something rather unique was found. Lanmaoa Asiatica is more closely related to Porcini (Boletus edulis) than any known psychedelic mushroom species. Where people get these mushrooms might also surprise you, as these fungi aren’t scheduled; they can still be bought in open-air street markets and are present on restaurant menus when in season, despite reports from hospitals and warnings.   The reason why lies in the cultural and folk knowledge surrounding the mushroom and its hallucinatory effects, while the species is fairly recently acknowledged by science, Lanmaoa Asiatica, like Ayahuasca, once had deep ancient roots in the Chinese culture, with data remoting to Daoist texts from the 3rd century CE refering to a flesh spirit mushroom that if consumed raw allows people to “see a little person” and “attain transcendence immideatly”. “If you see a little person seven to eight cun 寸 [3-33cm] tall riding in a carriage when you travel on a mountain, you have encountered a flesh spirit mushroom. Consume it raw, and you will attain transcendence immediately.” – Daoist Ge Hong (~300CE) – The Master Who Embraces Simplicity 抱朴子:] “Rou zhi 肉芝 (Flesh Spirit Mushroom). Meet our Ecstasymon- Limited Edition collection While what makes the mushroom hallucinatory is still unknown to science, this quote actually brings us more clues to what makes the mushroom cause hallucinations than we might think, and so users on the notorious psychonaut forum Bluelight caught up to this little detail and began speculating about what could be the compound responsible for such lilliputian hallucinations using the data and the chemical composition of the mushroom we currently have available.   The one thing that interested us the most during these discussions circles back to the fact that such a high percentage of people in the region feel the same effects when eating the mushroom raw, or even when not prepared correctly.   As mentioned by users in the forum, we could be looking at a novel compound with novel interactions that change our perception of sight and dimension, something quite similar to AIWS (Alice in Wonderland Syndrome), known to cause micropsia (objects or people appearing smaller than usual), but what if something of an anthropological value of having such belief so ingrained in their folklore and culture for at least more than 1700 years has influenced and shaped the way they portray such visions?   To some, this could seem like a stretch, but in reality, it’s slightly more common than you might think and has happened more times than we can count, especially in isolated tribes whose culture shapes their life and way of living. One brief example would be the constant reports of Ayahuasceros and indigenous tribesmen hallucinating about becoming a serpent, or a jaguar, upon consuming Ayahuasca, which are heavily linked to their claims that the mother of Ayahuasca is a serpent(linking to the fact that the serpent is the most sacred animal for many tribes, representing strenght, healing, and wisdom), and the jaguar being a link to the belief that shamans could become jaguars or gain their spirit to protect their community, hunt down dark sorcery, or guide participants during their experiences. It’s undeniable that such cultural effects, histories we’ve heard that stick with us, are likely to manifest during these experiences. Another prime example of how these stories affect our subconsciousness is Terence McKenna’s description of the machine elves and the reports of people describing the exact same beings years after hearing Terence’s speech. While some may argue that these beings truly exist in the DMT world, I believe we should ask ourselves whether this could be an anthropological event, which is a concept we’ve been exploring in our upcoming book Entheogenic Synergy (you can find more about it here, and you may also send in your report in the form below!) We need your help We are currently working on our second book, Entheogenic Synergy. To do so, we need your help. By sharing your psychedelic experience, you will be helping us immensely with our study to prove the theory that external factors before the psychedelic experience can impact the way we trip. You can share your psychedelic experience by accessing our form. Fill the form About the author Goncalo V Goncalo V. founded Psychedelics As a Second Language in 2021 with the aim of making psychedelic science available and understandable for everyone, regardless of their background and scientific knowledge. Since then, he has interviewed various guests within the psychedelic field, including artists, psychedelic entrepreneurs, chemists, psychedelic researchers, therapists, and students, all with one goal. To give you an organic and raw experience of