#11 - Psychedelics & Spontaneous Thought with Andre Zamani

Welcome to Episode 11 of the The Flying Sage Podcast! In this episode we will be speaking with Andre Zamani.

Andre Zamani is a cognitive neuroscience researcher at the University of British Columbia, where he investigates the neurocognitive bases of spontaneous thought using methodological tools from behavioral experimentation, neuroimaging with fMRI, neurophenomenology, and psychological theory. Andre's focus on spontaneous thought is rooted in his curiosity towards topics such as social behaviour and experience, self-experience, and psychedelia, for which he believes a better understanding can be reached through clarifying the nature of thought itself. Andre completed a BA in Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of Puget Sound in 2019, an MA in Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 2023, and began pursuing a PhD in Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 2023.

In this episode, we discuss the work that Andre is doing at UBC around spontaneous thought and how this overlaps in some ways with psychedelics. We discuss different paradigms of research, different research methods, the current research landscape of psychedelics as well as some interesting analogies of the mind. This episode is unique in that it is fairly conceptual and neuroscience focussed. A science background is recommended! We hope you enjoy!

Connect with Andre:

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YrBWAvgAAAAJ&hl=en

This episode was hosted by Michael Oliver and edited by Iaa C. Music by Robin Healy, Altru and Gohj-Ji.