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Dölen and her postdoctoral student and first author of the current study, Romain Nardou, also observed that MDMA works to reopen the critical period only if the drug is given to mice when they are with other mice, not if it is given to mice while they are alone. This suggests that reopening the critical period using MDMA may depend on whether the animals are in a social setting, say the scientists. Their choice of substances to study was not random. Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a classic hallucinogen that is thought to act at serotonin receptors (other neurotransmitter systems are involved at higher doses). LSD acutely induces marked alterations of waking consciousness. Scientists are interested in LSD because the way in which some patients respond to its psychedelic experience might predict long-term changes in mental health. Essentially, LSD may be able to unmask underlying psychological vulnerabilities and strengths. A similar logic is guiding research using the hallucinogen psilocybin as an adjunct to standard psychotherapies.