A new paper exploring the role of psilocybin mushrooms in the evolution of human consciousness says the psychedelic has the “potential to trigger significant neurological and psychological effects” that could have influenced the development of our species over time.
The literature review, which authors said draws on “a multidisciplinary approach spanning biology, ethnobotany and neuroscience,” examined studies involving psilocybin and human consciousness published in multiple journals in different fields. Their 12-page report highlights views that mushrooms played a crucial role in getting humans to where we are today.
“The hypothesis that psilocybin mushrooms may have intervened as a factor in the evolution of human consciousness, either as catalysts of mystical experiences or as drivers of cognitive processes, raises profound reflections on the ancestral interaction between human beings and their environment,” the authors wrote, according to a translation from the original Spanish. “The origin of human consciousness is one of the great questions facing man, and the material collected indicates that psilocybin may have contributed to its early development.”
As humans’ ancestors moved from forested environments into grasslands, they encountered more hoofed animals—and their excrement. In that excrement, they likely found mushrooms, including psilocybin mushrooms, says the study, citing researchers such as Terrence McKenna, who explored the so-called “stoned ape” theory that psychedelics helped spur human development.
Consuming mushrooms may have subsequently influenced pre-human hominids’ brains in all sorts of ways, authors wrote, such as improving hunting and food-gathering as well as increasing sexual stimulation and mating opportunities.
Changes like those, combined with the effects of psilocybin on human consciousness and brain function, could have expanded the human mind, “allowing us to transcend our basic perception and embrace creativity, introspection and abstract thinking” and potentially influencing language development, the study, published last month by the Miguel Lillo Foundation, a research organization in Argentina, says.
“Considering the importance of psilocybin mushrooms in the interaction with human consciousness, it is crucial to explore both their brain and evolutionary implications,” the authors—Jehoshua Macedo-Bedoya of the University Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, in Lima, Peru, and Fatima Calvo-Bellido of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru—concluded.
“At the brain level, psilocybin affects various areas, such as the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus and the anterior cingulate cortex. These effects have been linked to changes in memory, decision-making and retrospection, which has sparked interest in its therapeutic application, especially in the treatment of mental disorders such as depression and anxiety,” they wrote. “From an evolutionary perspective, it is proposed that the ingestion of psilocybin could have contributed to the improvement in visual abilities and the reproductive success of communities that made use of these mushrooms.”
A separate genomic study, published earlier this year, found that psilocybin mushrooms themselves likely date back about 67 million years, to around the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs. The results also suggested wood decomposition—as opposed to other preferred niches like dung or soil—as “the ancestral ecology of Psilocybe,” though the ability to produce psilocybin seems to have later jumped from some types of fungi to others over tens of millions of years.
As far as human use of psilocybin mushrooms goes, separate research suggests hominids have been ingesting them for potentially millions of years.
Use of marijuana, by contrast, is believed to be more recent. Studies published last year and in 2019 suggest that humans first began using plants of the genus Cannabis about 10,000 years ago, initially using hemp for fibers and nutrition.
Consuming cannabis for its experiential effects, meanwhile, seems to date back roughly 3,000 years. A Chinese emperor about 2,700 B.C.E. described the plant as “a first-class herb.”
Cannabis and the genus that contains hops—marijuana’s closest living relative—diverged about 28 million years ago, according to a 2018 study.
Another study suggests the rise of cannabinioids like THC and CBD may have been the result of genetic mischief at the hands of ancient viruses.
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