Extended Insight – Entity Encounters on Psychedelics

Join us for the fourth webinar in our Extended INSIGHT Series. We give INSIGHT speakers a spotlight to delve into their area of interest while also providing ample room for discussion with the audience. This time, Jonas Mago (PhD candidate) proposes a neuro-computational model that captures the cognitive mechanisms underlying the phenomenology of encountering entities induced by psychedelic substances. “Entity encounters” in this case, refer to the perception of agency for phenomena that are not perceived as agentic under usual conditions (Shanon, 2002). 

The free-energy principle (FEP) will be introduced as a guiding methodological framework for neuro-computational modelling in the presentation. The FEP states that “all organisms try to reduce the amount of uncertainty or surprise, herein called free-energy, that they experience throughout life. (…). That is because uncertainty would force the organism to change its internal models about the world. However, any organism prefers to avoid this because updating models is an energetically costly and uncomfortable undertaking” (Meijer 2020). 

The free energy principle also explains how we perceive others (Friston & Frith, 2015), be it other humans or other entities. But in a psychedelic state, the distinction between self and others can become blurred, often accompanied by a loss of control. However, in the case of psychedelic drug action, these experiences are often considered to carry therapeutic potential. 

How can these computational models shed light on accounts of said entity experiences? And to what extend can a better understanding of these experiences potentially provide insights for the refinement of treatment protocols?  

Join us for an exciting discussion with Jonas Mago!