A group of international researchers has found that rare hallucinations in which people see "little people" are caused by the same type of mushroom, Lanmaoa asiatica. Moreover, scientists did not find any of the known psychoactive substances in it, which indicates the existence of a previously unknown hallucinogenic compound.
The results of the research were published in the journal Mycologia.
For decades, residents of remote areas of China, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea have independently reported strange visions after eating wild mushrooms. People have described almost identical hallucinations: little people that moved and interacted with the world around them. Because of the similarity of these stories with the characters of the novel "Gulliver's Travels", the phenomenon was called Lilliputian hallucinations.
For a long time, scientists believed that such stories could be the result of cultural traditions, rather than the result of the mushroom itself. However, DNA analysis has shown that the fungi causing similar symptoms in China and the Philippines belong to the same species, Lanmaoa asiatica.
The researchers also found that the mushroom does not contain psilocybin or other known psychoactive substances. According to them, the unusual effect is caused by a compound still unknown to science, which has yet to be identified and studied.
The authors of the work believe that the discovery can help not only to explain the origin of rare hallucinations, but also to expand knowledge about the brain's work, perception mechanisms, and the nature of consciousness. In addition, the study of the new material could potentially be useful for research into neurological diseases.
