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Image showing regions of the brain that showed increased activity on MDMA compared to placebo. Credit: King's College London
A new study from King's College London revealed that MDMA, the main ingredient of ecstasy, allows people to cooperate better, but only with trusted people. In the first study examining in detail the impact of MDMA on cooperative behavior, researchers also identified changes in activity in brain regions related to social treatment.
Social treatment problems are recognized as a fundamental difficulty in a range of psychiatric disorders and are not effectively treated by current medications. The results of the study, published in The journal of neuroscience, may be relevant for psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
MDMA is used by recreational users because of its profound social and emotional effects and is known to release neurotransmitters – chemical messengers in the brain – related to behavior and mood. However, scientists know little about how different neurotransmitter systems in the brain contribute to complex social behavior.
Twenty healthy adult men received either a typical recreational dose of MDMA or a placebo pill, and performed several tasks in MRI imaging, including the prisoner's dilemma. In the prisoner's dilemma, players choose to compete or cooperate with another player. Both players get points if they cooperate, but if a player chooses to fight, they receive all points, while the other player gets nothing.
The researchers found that participants under the influence of MDMA became more cooperative, but only when they interacted with trusted players.
Professor Mitul Mehta of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), lead author, said: "We asked people what they thought of their opponent and, surprisingly, MDMA did not. It did not change the level of confidence of other players, unreliable players were judged to be weak, either in MDMA or a placebo, and the trustworthy players scored equally high. "
Image showing regions of the brain involved in the prisoner's dilemma, with colors corresponding to different cognitive processes. Credit: King's College London
"Importantly, the MDMA did not bring the participants to cooperate with untrustworthy players, any more than normal. In other words, the MDMA did not bring the participants to have confidence in others. "
By playing the prisoner's dilemma, participants thought they were playing real people via a computer. In fact, "people" were preprogrammed computer responses, which behaved in a trustworthy or trustworthy manner, depending on their cooperation during the game.
The first author, Anthony Gabay, who did the work at King's College London and is now at Oxford University, said: "When trusted players betrayed the participants, the breach of trust had Negative impact, whether the participants are under the influence of MDMA or MDMA has, however, helped to restore cooperative behavior more quickly and this tendency to rebuild a relationship has led to a higher overall level of cooperation with partners. reliable. "
"With MRI scans, we also found that MDMA had an impact on brain activity when treating the behavior of others, rather than changing the decision-making process itself."
<a rel = "lightbox" href = "https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/2018/ecstasyingre.jpg" title = "Radar graphic displaying the scores on the 11 dimensions of altered states of Conscientiousness questionnaire: each line of the radar represents 10% of the total possible score, inner point = 0%, outer ring = 60% ** indicates a p <0.05 corrected by Bonferroni. et al., JNeurosci (2018) ">
Radar graph showing the scores on the 11 dimensions of the questionnaire on altered states of consciousness. Each line of the radar represents 10% of the total possible score, inner point = 0%, outer ring = 60%. ** indicates a pet corrected by Bonferroni, JNeurosci (2018)
MDMA increased activity in the upper temporal cortex and the middle cingulate cortex, areas known to be important in understanding the thoughts, beliefs, and intentions of others. When treating the behavior of trustworthy players, the MDMA increased the activity of the right anterior insula but decreased it when handling the behavior of untrustworthy players, reflecting the different behavior shown by different opponents . The right anterior insula is important for the integration of assessments, risk and uncertainty.
Professor Mehta said, "Understanding the brain activity underlying social behavior could help identify what is wrong with psychiatric conditions." Given the social nature of psychotherapy, understand how MDMA affects Social interactions helps to understand why the drug could become a valuable tool for treating patients. "
MDMA is currently undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of PTSD, when used in combination with psychotherapy. The FDA has awarded him the status of disruptive therapy.
Explore further:
Ecstasy can relieve the agony of PTSD: study
More information:
Journal of Neuroscience (2018). DOI: 10.1523 / JNEUROSCI.1276-18.2018
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