Harriet de Wit is an experimental psychologist at the University of Chicago. She is one of the first scientists to take it upon herself to research the effects of microdosing. She is currently conducting one of the first double-blind studies on the influence of microdoses of LSD on the emotional well-being of people who have a depressed mood. She would like to find out if microdosing is just hype or if there is more to it. However, the study is not yet complete and the data are not yet available.

Chemical neuroscientist David Olson is studying the effects of psychedelics in rats at the University of California. He gave rats a microdose of DMT (the same psychedelic substance found in Ayahuasca). They were treated for two weeks to see, among other things, the effect on their cognitive functions. The tests were done during the two-day rest between doses. The study showed that in the areas of cognition and social behavior, no limitations or improvements were seen. This is striking because it contradicts people’s user experiences.

Another research team collected the data of hundreds of participants they had recruited via Reddit. Participants had to complete a very comprehensive questionnaire, which had relationships on nine items, including personality, mental health and well-being. Each day they noted how they felt and whether they had taken a microdose. At the end of a six-week test period, they completed the same test again.

The data showed that participants scored better than normal on the days they microdosed. This was evident in a variety of areas, including cognition (concentration and productivity). It was noticeable that especially in these two areas, there was still improvement in the days that followed, i.e. on the days that they did not take the microdose. This is consistent with reports that the effect of microdosing lasts for several days.