Le prochain séminaire de laboratoire se tiendra le vendredi 13 février 2026 à 11h.
Nous aurons le plaisir d’accueillir Samuli Kangaslampi, University Lecturer, Tampere University, Finland.
Titre de la présentation : Psychedelics and autobiographical memory
Résumé : Since the discovery of LSD in the 1940s, psychedelics have repeatedly been claimed to induce intense memory experiences to the point of reliving past events and to provide access to otherwise inaccessible early childhood or repressed memories. However, psychedelics appear to dose-dependently impair performance in typical memory tasks. In this talk, I explore what we know and don’t know about how psychedelics affect (autobiographical) memory, based on two published commentaries, a new yet unpublished systematic review, and findings from an empirical pilot study.
Overall, there are still several important open questions on how psychedelics affect memory. I do find that people commonly report a variety of vivid memory-like experiences under psychedelics. Sometimes these experiences are considered highly meaningful and appear to be linked to therapeutic benefits. I argue that psychedelic-assisted memory-based therapies could be further developed. At the same time, there is no evidence at present that psychedelics could uncover “repressed” memories, and a serious emerging ethical concern is that psychedelics could increase potential for false memory formation.
Overall, there are still several important open questions on how psychedelics affect memory. I do find that people commonly report a variety of vivid memory-like experiences under psychedelics. Sometimes these experiences are considered highly meaningful and appear to be linked to therapeutic benefits. I argue that psychedelic-assisted memory-based therapies could be further developed. At the same time, there is no evidence at present that psychedelics could uncover “repressed” memories, and a serious emerging ethical concern is that psychedelics could increase potential for false memory formation.