Kangaslampi Samuli, Lietz Morten
Faculty of Social Sciences / Psychology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2025 Mar 17. doi: 10.1007/s00213-025-06771-5.
Since the earliest LSD research, psychedelics have been claimed to enhance autobiographical memory. Revisiting and processing autobiographical memories has further been suggested to be a major component of the therapeutic action of psychedelics. However, modern psychedelic research has largely neglected autobiographical elements of psychedelic experiences, and many vital questions remain unanswered.
We present and discuss six open questions related to psychedelics and autobiographical memory: (1) Do psychedelics enhance autobiographical recall? (2) Is recall and processing of significant autobiographical (e.g., traumatic) memories a common part of psychedelic experiences? (3) Do psychedelics promote the development of false or inaccurate memories? (4) How do autobiographical memories change if they are recalled and reconsolidated under the effects of psychedelics? (5) What are memories of psychedelic experiences like? (6) Are autobiographical experiences under psychedelics of particular importance for their therapeutic effects?
We present the background and current limited state of evidence for each question and provide suggestions on how future studies could best address them.
Besides advancing basic research, answering these pressing questions is highly relevant for the possible therapeutic use of psychedelics, both in terms of developing and optimizing new interventions and for avoiding iatrogenic harms. Ideally, future psychedelic-assisted interventions could harness the possible synergies between the effects of psychedelics and existing memory-based therapies.
自最早的麦角酸二乙酰胺（LSD）研究以来，迷幻剂就被认为可以增强自传体记忆。重新回顾和处理自传体记忆进一步被认为是迷幻剂治疗作用的一个主要组成部分。然而，现代迷幻剂研究在很大程度上忽略了迷幻体验的自传体元素，许多关键问题仍未得到解答。
我们提出并讨论与迷幻剂和自传体记忆相关的六个开放性问题：（1）迷幻剂是否能增强自传体回忆？（2）对重要自传体（如创伤性）记忆的回忆和处理是否是迷幻体验的常见部分？（3）迷幻剂是否会促进错误或不准确记忆的形成？（4）如果在迷幻剂的作用下回忆和重新巩固自传体记忆，这些记忆会如何变化？（5）迷幻体验的记忆是什么样的？（6）迷幻剂作用下的自传体体验对其治疗效果是否特别重要？
我们介绍了每个问题的背景和当前有限的证据状态，并就未来研究如何最好地解决这些问题提出了建议。
除了推进基础研究外，回答这些紧迫问题对于迷幻剂可能的治疗用途也高度相关，无论是在开发和优化新干预措施方面，还是在避免医源性伤害方面。理想情况下，未来的迷幻剂辅助干预措施可以利用迷幻剂效果与现有基于记忆的疗法之间可能的协同作用。
