The psychedelic experience – the so-called “trip” – is over, but it now appears that LSD continues working in the brain afterwards. A study carried out by the Molecular Psychiatry Lab at the University of Fribourg under the direction of Professor Dr Gregor Hasler has shown for the first time that a single dose of LSD can improve how well people learn movement sequences, even the following day.

From playing a melody on the piano, to using a new tennis grip, to relearning how to drink unaided from a cup: for us to learn movements, we have to practise them. Part of that learning, however, takes place after the actual physical movements are finished. When we then take a break, our brain processes and consolidates what we have previously practised.

And this is where LSD appears to have a surprising effect. Researchers at the University of Fribourg had 43 healthy people learn a sequence of keystrokes, comparable to a short piano run. Participants did this once after taking LSD (100 µg) and once after a placebo.

Progress improved by one third
LSD did not provide any benefit during the practice time itself. The difference only subsequently became apparent: after a break, the participants were able to type the sequence they had learned faster and without making more mistakes. Eighty minutes after practising, this learning progress was up by around a third (32.8%) after taking LSD compared to after a placebo – despite the fact that the LSD had been taken the day before.

“To our knowledge, this is the first controlled study to show an improvement in motor learning after a psychedelic,” states study leader Dr Abigail Calder from the Molecular Psychiatry Lab at the University of Fribourg.

The researchers cannot yet explain why LSD has this effect. It is possible that the brain remains particularly malleable for a certain period of time after taking LSD. However, changes in attention, motivation or alertness could also play a role.

Useful for rehabilitation?
This discovery could have interesting implications far beyond learning a piano piece. Motor learning is key when people have to relearn movements after a stroke or other damage to the brain.

Could LSD one day provide support during rehabilitation? It is still far too early to answer this question with a definitive “yes”. The current study was conducted exclusively with healthy individuals.

“Our results are not a recommendation for clinical use,” emphasizes Calder. “We first have to find out whether the effect can be confirmed in subsequent studies and whether it could be useful, for example, for neurorehabilitation or occupational therapy.”

Less stress one week later
The researchers also came across another effect: one week after taking LSD, the participants reported feeling less stress and, in some cases, greater cognitive flexibility.

However, these results should be treated with caution: all the participants knew when they had received the psychedelic substance. Their expectations could therefore have influenced how they assessed their stress levels and cognitive flexibility.

What happens after a trip?
For Calder and her team, a most exciting question arises: What does LSD do to our brains when the immediately noticeable effect has worn off?

So far, research has focused heavily on what happens during a psychedelic experience. This new study suggests that the time afterwards could be especially interesting. Additional research is needed to show whether the learning effect observed in this study lasts longer than one day, whether it can also be seen in other abilities and whether it could be used therapeutically at some point in the future.

Study
Abigail E. Calder et al.: “Acute and post-acute neurobehavioral responses to lysergic acid diethylamide in healthy subjects: a randomized controlled study”, Neuropsychopharmacology 51 (2026), 1577–1587. DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-026-02454-7