Rael Cahn

Meditation and psychedelics provide complementary approaches to investigating how perception, attention, and the experience of self arise and change. Drawing on research with experienced meditators and studies of psilocybin, this presentation examines similarities and differences in the psychological and neural correlates of these states. Particular attention is given to sensory processing, awareness of thoughts, and changes in the internal narratives through which people understand themselves. EEG and neuroimaging findings are considered alongside subjective reports to explore how shifts in conscious experience may relate to enduring psychological change. The presentation also introduces USC research testing whether mindfulness training enhances the effects of psilocybin on psychological wellbeing, cognition, and brain function in healthy adults. Exploratory research on epigenetic correlates of response to therapy involving MDMA for PTSD provides a further perspective on biological changes associated with treatment. Together, these approaches address connections between altered states, changes in the experience of self, and therapeutic outcomes, while distinguishing established findings from hypotheses under investigation.

Rael Cahn, MD, PhD, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California and Director of the USC Center for Mindfulness Science. A psychiatrist and neuroscientist, he investigates meditation and psychedelics using EEG, neuroimaging, and psychological assessments. His research spans the effects of psilocybin on conscious experience, the neural correlates of meditation, and epigenetic changes associated with therapy involving MDMA for PTSD. He also jointly leads a USC clinical trial investigating whether mindfulness training enhances the effects of psilocybin.