The ability to shift attention between tasks and adapt thinking patterns in response to new information. Impaired cognitive flexibility — sometimes called cognitive rigidity — is a core feature of both OCD and anorexia nervosa. Psilocybin is hypothesised to restore cognitive flexibility by increasing neuroplasticity via 5-HT2A receptor agonism in the prefrontal cortex, potentially disrupting rigid thought patterns that maintain compulsions and disordered eating behaviours.
Cognitive flexibility is the ability to shift attention between tasks and adapt thinking patterns in response to new information. Impaired cognitive flexibility — sometimes called cognitive rigidity — is a core feature of both OCD and anorexia nervosa. Psilocybin is hypothesised to restore cognitive flexibility by increasing neuroplasticity via 5-HT2A receptor agonism in the prefrontal cortex, potentially disrupting rigid thought patterns that maintain compulsions and disordered eating behaviours.
See: OCD (/conditions/ocd), Eating Disorders (/conditions/eating-disorders).
Understanding cognitive flexibility helps explain why psilocybin might help in OCD and related disorders where rigid thinking drives symptoms.