Spiral brain dynamics track the temporal unfolding of subjective intensity during the N,N-dimethyltryptamine experience
- 1Pompeu Fabra University
Abstract
Psychedelic compounds such as N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) induce rapid and profound changes in conscious experience, requiring neuroimaging measures that capture how brain dynamics evolve across space and time. Emerging evidence suggests that rotational (vortex-like) dynamics may contribute to the coordination of large-scale neural activity. Here, we introduce two vorticity-based metrics; spiral vorticity (SV) and spatial spiral vorticity dispersion (SSVD), to quantify the rotational organization and spatial heterogeneity of large-scale cortical phase dynamics. Using fMRI data acquired under placebo and DMT in a within-subject design, we assessed these measures globally, across resting-state networks, and regionally to examine their relationship to subjective intensity. DMT increased SV and SSVD and reduced temporal irreversibility, indicating stronger rotational organization, greater spatial heterogeneity, and altered directional structure of cortical dynamics. Effects were non-uniform across functional systems, with the largest changes in default mode, visual, frontoparietal, and dorsal attention networks. Both vorticity measures tracked the temporal evolution of subjective intensity globally, while network-level analyses revealed spatially heterogeneous brain-experience coupling. Spatiotemporally resolved analyses further showed that the strongest reorganization of spiral dynamics emerged during offset and recovery rather than at peak subjective intensity. These findings identify spiral dynamics as a time-resolved neural signature of the DMT experience. By quantifying the rotational structure and spatial heterogeneity of cortical phase flow, vorticity-based measures provide a framework for linking large-scale brain dynamics to evolving subjective experience.
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BibTeX
@misc{sawicka2026spiral,
title = {{Spiral brain dynamics track the temporal unfolding of subjective intensity during the N,N-dimethyltryptamine experience}},
author = {G. Sawicka and M. Martinez-Marin and C. Timmermann and R. Carhart-Harris and M. L. Kringelbach and Y. Sanz Perl and J. Vohryzek and G. Deco},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.22.753116},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753116v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Spiral brain dynamics track the temporal unfolding of subjective intensity during the N,N-dimethyltryptamine experience
AU - G. Sawicka
AU - M. Martinez-Marin
AU - C. Timmermann
AU - R. Carhart-Harris
AU - M. L. Kringelbach
AU - Y. Sanz Perl
AU - J. Vohryzek
AU - G. Deco
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.22.753116
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.22.753116v1
AB - Psychedelic compounds such as N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) induce rapid and profound changes in conscious experience, requiring neuroimaging measures that capture how brain dynamics evolve across space and time. Emerging evidence suggests that rotational (vortex-like) dynamics may contribute to the coordination of large-scale neural activity. Here, we introduce two vorticity-based metrics; spiral vorticity (SV) and spatial spiral vorticity dispersion (SSVD), to quantify the rotational organization and spatial heterogeneity of large-scale cortical phase dynamics. Using fMRI data acquired under placebo and DMT in a within-subject design, we assessed these measures globally, across resting-state networks, and regionally to examine their relationship to subjective intensity. DMT increased SV and SSVD and reduced temporal irreversibility, indicating stronger rotational organization, greater spatial heterogeneity, and altered directional structure of cortical dynamics. Effects were non-uniform across functional systems, with the largest changes in default mode, visual, frontoparietal, and dorsal attention networks. Both vorticity measures tracked the temporal evolution of subjective intensity globally, while network-level analyses revealed spatially heterogeneous brain-experience coupling. Spatiotemporally resolved analyses further showed that the strongest reorganization of spiral dynamics emerged during offset and recovery rather than at peak subjective intensity. These findings identify spiral dynamics as a time-resolved neural signature of the DMT experience. By quantifying the rotational structure and spatial heterogeneity of cortical phase flow, vorticity-based measures provide a framework for linking large-scale brain dynamics to evolving subjective experience.
ER -