EEG records electrical activity from the brain using sensors placed on the scalp. It is fast, catching changes within milliseconds, but poor at locating where in the brain a signal starts. Researchers describe EEG in terms of rhythms such as alpha, delta and theta.
DMT suits EEG well because its effects are short. In a 2019 study of 13 people, effects peaked two to three minutes after injection and stayed above placebo for 17 minutes, so a whole experience fit in one recording (Timmermann et al., 2019). The alpha rhythm fell as people rated the experience more intense (Timmermann et al., 2019). A study of 35 experienced users used wireless EEG to record inhaled DMT in natural settings (Pallavicini et al., 2021). EEG also picked up a theta change in a 34-person microdosing study (Cavanna et al., 2022).
EEG changes are correlations with experience, not explanations of it. Combining EEG with fMRI gives both speed and location, but samples remain small.
Sources
- Timmermann et al., Scientific Reports, 2019
- Pallavicini et al., Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2021
- Cavanna et al., Translational Psychiatry, 2022
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