Magic mushrooms may have shaped our consciousness
No toxic or lethal Psilocybe species are known.
Evidence indicates that early hominids – our extinct ancestors – had been picking and eating “magic mushrooms” up to six million years ago. The practice likely influenced the development of human cognition and awareness, according to a recent review examining psilocybin’s effect on human consciousness… published in June 2024… recent studies have shown that psilocybin enhances cognitive functions, our set of brainy tools for understanding our environment through our experiences, our senses, and our thoughts. Such thoughts include our feelings, intentions, beliefs, and desires. This kind of chemically assisted brain boost happens because psilocybin “increases connectivity between networks in the frontal region and raises the level of awareness of states of consciousness,” says Fatima Calvo of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, a biologist and co-author on the review paper, in an email translated from the original Spanish. Specifically, psilocybin affects the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and anterior cingulate cortex, which can affect memory and decision-making, the authors wrote.
Original Article (Popular Science & Frontiers & Lillo):
Magic mushrooms may have shaped our consciousness & An overview on the taxonomy, phylogenetics and ecology of the psychedelic genera psilocybe, panaeolus, pluteus and gymnopilus & Hallucinogenic mushrooms (psilocybe, hymenogastraceae) in the evolutionary development of human consciousness
Artwork Fair Use: GONDRAN Alexandre
