Frederick Streeter Barrett

Why you should listen

Frederick Streeter Barrett is a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a core faculty member of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. His work explores the neural basis of emotional functioning and altered states of consciousness at the intersection of music, pharmacological interventions, behavioral measures, computerized testing and brain imaging techniques.

Barrett's latest research sheds light on the acute and long-term effects of psychedelic experiences on emotions, cognition and the brain. He has shown that psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and LSD, when they are active in the body, disrupt brain networks that support cognitive control. This may occur by short-circuiting a key brain region called the claustrum, which is the potential seat of consciousness in the brain. At the same time, psychedelic drugs facilitate activity in brain regions that support emotions, memories and meaning making, especially brain regions that are recruited by music.