Summary: A novel scientific partnership has launched a program to mathematically analyze the human psychedelic experience. Described in a recently posted scientific preprint, the project centers on N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and seeks to build a quantitative framework for altered states of consciousness.
The collaboration combines an advanced intravenous protocol that lengthens the normally brief DMT episode into hours-long, stable sessions with observer-focused mathematical formalisms. By treating psychedelic states as quantifiable data, the teams aim to map structural features of experience and probe implications for how perception constructs reality.
Key Facts
- Decoding the psychonaut interface: High-dose psychedelic journeys commonly include intricate geometric visions and perceived entities that resist straightforward description, leaving a gap between subjective reports and objective neuroscience.
- The extended DMTx protocol: Noonautics, led by neurobiologist Dr. Andrew Gallimore, will use an intravenous DMT infusion method called DMTx. This protocol safely lengthens a typical multi-minute DMT episode into a stabilized state lasting several hours, enabling trained observers to perform structured observations and experiments in real time.
- Observer-centered mathematics: Professor Emeritus Donald Hoffman and the Trace Institute team will apply mathematical models—an updated version of their “trace logic” for conscious observers—to create a quantitative framework for interpreting the structural characteristics of DMT experiences.
- Testing spacetime-related hypotheses: The program is designed to pair theory with human trials to evaluate concrete predictions about how compounds such as DMT might modify the brain’s baseline construction and functional perception of spacetime.
- Engineering perceptual interfaces: According to Gallimore, the longer-term aim is to establish a foundational mathematics of altered consciousness that could eventually inform ways to engineer the human perceptual interface and broaden our baseline view of reality.
- Public symposium: The project leads will present a public conversation on the background, methods, and philosophical implications of their approach on Saturday, June 13, 2026, at the Lighthouse creative campus located in the historic Venice Beach Post Office. A recorded video is planned for later public release.
Source: Trace Research Institute
Psychedelic drug experiences are among the most intriguing and least understood phenomena of human consciousness. Long associated with indigenous practices and contemporary psychonauts, these experiences frequently feature vivid geometries and encounters with apparent entities that stretch ordinary description.
A new research collaboration between the Trace Institute and Noonautics lays out a plan to study the mathematical architecture of human experience using the psychedelic compound N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT).
Noonautics, led by neurobiologist Dr. Andrew Gallimore, will deploy its extended-state DMTx protocol to lengthen the typically brief DMT episode into a regulated, hours-long window. This protocol is intended to allow trained scientists and other experts to remain lucid inside the DMT state long enough to gather precise observational data and carry out controlled inner experiments.
Trace Institute Founder and Scientific Director, Professor Emeritus Donald Hoffman, and colleagues will adapt and apply mathematical tools—including an updated trace logic for conscious observers—to develop a quantitative interpretive framework for the detailed phenomenology that people report under DMT.
Together, the teams will combine theoretical modeling with human experiments. The goal is to derive testable predictions and empirical measures that can distinguish between internally generated hallucinations and experiences that exhibit structured, stable, and causally meaningful dynamics.
Hoffman states that the work “will provide a new framework for exploring the effects of psychoactive substances such as DMT on the structure and function of spacetime.” Gallimore adds, “With a theoretical foundation for the highly unusual state of consciousness induced by DMT, we can test these theories experimentally.” He further notes that the collaboration represents “a first step toward a mathematics of altered states of consciousness and, ultimately, toward engineering our perceptual interface to expand our view of reality.”
Key Questions Answered:
A: By using a specialized medical protocol called DMTx to safely stretch the timeline. Developed by Dr. Andrew Gallimore, DMTx extends a fast-acting DMT episode into a regulated window lasting several hours. This extended window is intended to give trained researchers enough time to remain stable, collect precise data, and run structured experiments.
A: Trace logic seeks to convert subjective visual reports into structured, testable mathematical descriptions. Professor Donald Hoffman’s models place the conscious observer at the center of a formal system; applying this logic to the complex geometries reported under DMT allows researchers to build a quantitative framework and test whether these visions follow consistent patterns or laws.
A: The long-term objective is to move from descriptive accounts toward perceptual engineering. If compounds like DMT modify how the brain constructs spacetime, mapping the precise mathematical rules of that shift could inform approaches to modify our sensory interface, potentially expanding the range of phenomena humans can perceive.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- The referenced journal paper was reviewed in full by our editorial team.
- Additional context was added by the staff for clarity and readability.
About this psychedelics and consciousness research news
Author: Charles Yokoyama
Source: Trace Research Institute
Contact: Charles Yokoyama – Trace Research Institute
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Closed access. “Traces of the Other – Are DMT Entities Real? DMT Phenomenology in the Framework of Conscious Realism” by Gallimore, A.R., Hoffman, D.D., Hermansson, N. PsyArXiv
DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/8qvgy_v2
Abstract
Traces of the Other – Are DMT Entities Real? DMT Phenomenology in the Framework of Conscious Realism
Encounters with apparently autonomous, intelligent non-human entities are a recurring and striking feature of high-dose N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) experiences. These encounters are commonly interpreted as complex hallucinations arising from internally generated brain activity, yet several features of the DMT state remain difficult to explain within the standard neuroscientific paradigm.
This work examines an alternative hypothesis grounded in the conscious realism framework, which models reality as composed of interacting conscious agents and treats perception as a species-specific interface rather than a direct, veridical representation of an objective world.
Importantly, the region of conscious agents accessible to ordinary human perception represents only a narrow slice of a much larger network. That slice is partly constrained by representational limits set by what the authors term the qualia kernel—rules governing transitions between experiential states.
The authors propose that DMT profoundly perturbs the perceptual interface, expanding the accessible region of experiential space and allowing consciousness to explore areas governed by different dynamical regimes. Under these conditions, agents normally imperceptible may leave perceptible “traces” in experiential dynamics, producing the stable, coherent, and richly structured alternate worlds frequently reported under DMT.
This framework provides criteria to distinguish internally generated hallucinations from experiences that display structured, stable, and causally efficacious dynamics consistent with interactions involving otherwise imperceptible conscious agents. Rather than asserting the objective reality of DMT entities, the authors combine phenomenological reports, models of psychedelic brain dynamics, and the formalism of conscious agent theory to derive testable predictions and outline experimental paradigms.
If such experiments show that DMT experiences can be constrained by external variables or yield non-trivial intersubjective correlations, the results could have substantial implications for our understanding of perception, consciousness, and the underlying structure of reality.