Non-Psychedelic Cognitive Enhancement
Lucas Aoun
LUCAS AOUN (AU)
Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy) / Exercise Science degree
Lucas is Australia's leading biohacker, with over 8 years experience researching and experimenting with nootropics, peptides, research chemicals, supplements and compounds to enhance the human condition.
He is extremely motivated to discover something BIG for science, that can benefit millions of people globally.
Lucas offers cutting edge health content, ranging from nutrition research, hormone research and nootropic research, that 99.9% of the world has never heard of. Lucas thrives on offering insanely valuable content on a global scale.
Lucas Aoun explores how classical psychedelics primarily interact with the
Not all herbal extracts are created equal. The way in which they are extracted can heavily influence the way they are subjectively felt and the cognitive benefits they provide.
Summary
- Classical psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD produce their effects primarily by stimulating the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor, which influences both cognitive benefits and hallucinations.
- Research aims to find ways to engage the 5-HT2A receptor to gain cognitive benefits like increased creativity and flexibility without inducing the downstream side effect of hallucinations.
- A specific constituent in Bacopa Monnieri called Ebelin lactone acts as a positive allosteric modulator, increasing the 5-HT2A receptor's sensitivity to natural serotonin.
- To mimic the effects of microdosing, a Bacopa Monnieri extract must be specifically standardized for 10% Ebelin lactone, as generic over-the-counter extracts do not target the 5-HT2A receptor.
- Activating or blocking the 5-HT2A receptor can significantly influence cognitive outcomes, with certain compounds like Ebelin lactone potentially amplifying the effects of psychedelic microdoses.
Article
Non-Psychedelic Cognitive Enhancement: The Bacopa Claim That Stirred Biohacker Summit 2023 Amsterdam
Lucas Aoun Argued That Psychedelic-Like Cognitive Gains Might Be Approached Without The Trip
At Biohacker Summit 2023 Amsterdam, held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Lucas Aoun delivered a presentation titled *Non-Psychedelic Cognitive Enhancement* that pushed at one of the most provocative frontiers in modern brain science: whether the sought-after cognitive benefits associated with psychedelics could be mimicked without hallucinations.
Aoun, an Australian biohacker with a background in health science and exercise science, framed the question with the confidence of someone accustomed to operating ahead of the mainstream. “How can we mimic the benefits of psychedelics without taking them?” he asked. “The answer lies in finding a way to engage or enhance the 5-HT2A receptor without the downstream hallucinations.”
It was a familiar promise delivered in an unfamiliar way. Psychedelics have surged back into scientific respectability on the strength of trials exploring their effects on depression, trauma and cognition. Yet Aoun’s talk on Saturday, 14 October 2023, focused less on the ceremonial aura or therapeutic drama of substances like psilocybin and LSD, and more on the possibility of reproducing some of their cognitive effects through receptor-level precision.
The Receptor At The Center Of The Debate
The backbone of Aoun’s argument was the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor, the site long understood to play a central role in the effects of classical psychedelics. Psilocybin, LSD, DMT and mescaline may differ in cultural history and chemical texture, but they share a common pharmacological route. Their effects are driven primarily through stimulation of this receptor.
Aoun pointed to the now well-established view that the same mechanism implicated in heightened cognition and altered perception is also tied to hallucinations. In his account, activation of 5-HT2A receptors on cortical pyramidal neurons increases cortical excitability and disrupts normal filtering in the brain, helping to explain why these compounds can produce experiences that are as destabilising as they are revelatory.
That duality formed the heart of his case. If the receptor is responsible for the gains and the distortions, the scientific challenge is not merely to activate it, but to do so selectively, subtly, or indirectly enough to preserve the benefits while avoiding the trip.
Bacopa Monnieri Entered The Story As More Than A Familiar Supplement
This was where Aoun made his sharpest turn. Bacopa monnieri, the Ayurvedic herb found in countless memory and “brain health” products, was presented not as a generic wellness ingredient but as a potentially underappreciated pharmacological tool.
Not all Bacopa extracts, he warned, are created equal. The distinction mattered because his claim did not concern the herb in broad, over-the-counter form. It centred on a specific constituent, Ebelin lactone, and on a specialized extract standardized to 10% of that compound.
According to Aoun, Ebelin lactone may act as a positive allosteric modulator of the 5-HT2A receptor while also showing affinity for the M1 muscarinic receptor, another target associated with cognition and memory. “Bacopa contains a constituent called Ebelin lactone that acts as a positive allosteric modulator of the 5-HT2A receptor, increasing sensitivity to serotonin and mimicking the cognitive benefits of psychedelic microdosing,” he said.
That distinction between direct agonism and allosteric modulation was crucial to the pitch. Rather than forcing the receptor into action in the way a psychedelic drug might, a positive allosteric modulator binds elsewhere on the receptor and makes it more responsive to the body’s own serotonin. In theory, that could create a softer, endogenous amplification rather than a full pharmacological override.
A Case For Creativity Without Hallucination
Aoun suggested that such modulation might support effects that have become central to the mythology of microdosing: enhanced sensory processing, increased cognitive flexibility, greater divergent thinking and improved creativity.
“We can achieve enhanced sensory processing, increased cognitive flexibility, increased divergent thinking, and an improvement in creativity by utilizing specific herbal constituents that target the brain’s serotonin receptors,” he told the audience.
The appeal of that proposition is easy to grasp. Psychedelics occupy a strange position in public life, suspended between clinical hope, countercultural nostalgia and regulatory caution. The possibility of preserving their cognitive upside while stripping away the hallucinatory burden would be commercially attractive and scientifically disruptive.
Aoun acknowledged that this idea is also driving broader interest across pharmaceutical and supplement circles. “If we can mimic the effects of psychedelics without the trip-like effects and still obtain long-lasting improvements in cognition or mood, it could lead to a huge explosion in specific compounds that activate the serotonin 2A receptor,” he said.
The Presentation Also Came With A Warning About Simplistic Supplement Culture
If there was a recurring theme beyond receptor pharmacology, it was precision. Aoun repeatedly stressed that herbal products should not be treated as interchangeable. Extraction methods, constituent profiles and standardization can radically alter what a plant does in the body.
That message landed as a rebuke to a supplement market that often trades on broad botanical names while saying little about the compounds actually responsible for their effects. In Aoun’s telling, buying Bacopa off the shelf and expecting a psychedelic-adjacent shift in cognition would miss the point entirely. The claim depended on a specific extract, a specific constituent and a specific mechanism.
He also widened the frame by noting that 5-HT2A is not an isolated curiosity of the brain. The receptor is distributed across the body, including in blood vessels, the gastrointestinal tract, immune cells and platelets. Any attempt to manipulate it, then, carries implications beyond creativity or focus.
Blocking The Same Pathway Revealed The Other Side Of The Mechanism
One of the more practically minded sections of the presentation concerned antagonists, compounds that block the 5-HT2A receptor and may therefore blunt psychedelic effects. Aoun referenced pharmaceutical agents such as cyproheptadine, ketanserin and olanzapine, alongside herbs and traditional formulas including mangosteen, Nandina and Yokukansan, as substances that may interfere with the pathway.
The point was not merely academic. It underscored his broader thesis that 5-HT2A is the primary switchboard through which many psychedelic effects pass. If activation can enhance certain cognitive outcomes, blockade can suppress them. Understanding that interaction, he suggested, should become part of a more sophisticated literacy around nootropics, supplements and future psychiatric drugs.
“Think critically about any potential future compounds, supplements, or medications and how they interact with the serotonin 2A receptor, as this is the primary mechanism through which psychedelics alter consciousness,” Aoun said.
Between Speculation And Scientific Appetite
The most speculative moment came when Aoun floated the idea that a Bacopa extract standardized for 10% Ebelin lactone might amplify the effects of a psychedelic microdose by increasing receptor sensitivity to serotonin. He was careful to present the thought as theoretical, not medical advice, but the suggestion captured the frontier mood of the session: a space where self-experimentation, pharmacology and aspiration overlap.
That mood is part of what made the talk resonate. Biohacker Summit has long occupied the territory where wellness culture meets hard-edged optimization, and Aoun’s presentation fit squarely within that tradition. It offered a language of mechanisms rather than mysticism, yet it remained animated by an old human desire: to think more clearly, feel more deeply and expand the mind without paying too high a price.
The Promise And The Tension
What lingered after Aoun’s presentation at Biohacker Summit 2023 Amsterdam was not simply the claim about Bacopa monnieri. It was the tension embedded in the whole field of cognitive enhancement. The closer science moves toward isolating the machinery of insight, creativity and mood, the more it must confront a difficult question: can the transformative parts of altered consciousness really be separated from the destabilising ones, or are they more entangled than optimists admit?
Aoun’s answer, at least for now, was that the search is worth pursuing, and that the path may lie not in stronger drugs but in smarter modulation. Whether Ebelin lactone proves to be a genuine bridge to non-psychedelic cognitive enhancement or simply another tantalising hypothesis, his talk made one thing clear. The race to imitate the mind’s most radical states, without fully entering them, had already begun.
Part of Biohacker Summit 2023 Amsterdam