Knowledge Tree
Relations (1)
related 2.00 — strongly supporting 3 facts
Psilocybin is linked to the human socio-cognitive niche as a potential evolutionary catalyst, where its ingestion addressed serotonin depletion [1] and facilitated the development of communal and proto-religious practices [2]. Furthermore, the psychedelic instrumentalization model suggests that psilocybin consumption actively shaped the human evolutionary trajectory toward this specific socio-cognitive niche [3].
Facts (3)
Sources
Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution frontiersin.org 3 facts
claimPsilocybin ingestion could have provided homeostatic utility to human ancestors by acting as a treatment for 5-HT (serotonin) depletion, which was a recurrent adaptive problem during the advancement into a socio-cognitive niche.
claimThe psychedelic instrumentalization model proposes that psilocybin consumption by ancient humans had niche-constructing effects that imposed a systematic bias toward a socio-cognitive niche across the human evolutionary trajectory.
claimThe integration of psilocybin into ancient diet, communal practice, and proto-religious activity may have enhanced the hominin response to the socio-cognitive niche, while simultaneously aiding in the creation of that niche.