Enlightening Psychedelics: Rosamund Pike's Lumenate App Is Top Neuroscientists' Next Case Study

Lumenate, a consciousness app that uses light and sound to modulate brain rhythms, has launched a collaboration by which it will provide equipment and technical support to researchers at Freie Universität Berlin and Imperial College London.

The goal is to explore how the app’s functionality activates neural mechanisms mimicking the benefits of psychedelics in mind state alterations.

Lumenate, which launched in March 2021, touts "Gone Girl" star Rosamund Pike as a member of its leadership team as well as its creative director.

“What the Lumenate App offers as a gateway into pure consciousness is incredibly exciting," Pike said. "The stroboscopic light is a revelatory way to explore the subconscious workings of one’s mind. What I experience using the app is a combination of meditation and deep inner awareness. The tool is both innovative and groundbreaking. I cannot wait for the world to experience it."

The app, which has been downloaded 700,000 times and is currently used by 20,000 people each month, works by using flashing lights at predetermined frequencies in a controlled and easily-halted way in order to produce altered states of consciousness. 

Some of the users’ reports mention feeling “immersed in colorful and kaleidoscopic closed-eye visual hallucinations” while also feeling a reduction in their sense of ego, allowing them to view their thoughts and feelings from a novel perspective.

Due to inexistent formal investigations into the neurological mechanisms of action of this particular light phenomenon, the company is supporting research programs to better understand its potential utility for general wellness and mental health patients.

The ongoing research is using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to get a deeper understanding of the effects of intermittent lightning on brain networks that process visual signals, and how these interact with the default mode network. 

“This research will help us to not only better understand the mechanisms by which Lumenate induces an altered state of consciousness, but also provide a new perspective on the neural pathways behind visual imagery,” Freie Universität Berlin’s Timo Torsten Schmidt said.

Actually, the German institution is conducting three studies. First, an experiment in which participants sit in facing different types of Flicker Light Stimulation (FLS) and after every short presentation they rate their experience. So far, this experiment has demonstrated that rhythmicity is key in driving strong experiences, though how exactly FLS leads to the strong visual effects still needs further research.

Nonetheless, this study does constitute strong evidence that the effects are not due to stimulation of the retina, but instead origin in the rhythmic stimulation of the visual cortex. 

The other two studies are fMRI tests in which 20 participants were exposed to FLS inside of the fMRI scanner while the activity from their brains was being recorded during the experience. The studies were relatively similar with small technical variations, and their results are expected to be published in early 2023.

On behalf of Imperial College London, Chris Timmerman stated that the British university’s research aims to “uncover neural mechanisms of visual imagery induced by Lumenate, using high-density EEG,” while also comparing psychedelic experiences induced by DMT and Lumenate by exploring the psychological and biological mind-altering mechanisms of both substance and lights exposition.

Photo by Burak Alperen Yılmaz on Unsplash