Thomas Anderson, BA, MA

(Graduate Student)

Best to get in touch with me by email at metathomas.anderson [at] mail.utoronto.ca

Find my personal website at http://thomasanderson.ca
Find my business website at https://psychedelicscience.ca
Find me on the Open Science Framework here: https://osf.io/98meg/
Find me on ResearchGate here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas_Anderson10

You know that moment when you notice that your mind was wandering? Maybe you're reading a book and notice that you've been scanning the page with your eyes but not actually reading? In my doctoral studies I'm working on figuring out what the brain does that makes you notice. More precisely, I am working on understanding "meta-awareness" and the cognitive neuroscience of how we notice when we are not paying attention. Meta-awareness is part of a cycle: it occurs after focussed attention has dissolved into mind-wandering. It could be thought of as antithetical to mindfulness. My goal is to increase the frequency of meta-awareness through an understanding of its neural underpinnings.

I am also Co-founder and Director of the Canadian Centre for Psychedelic Science and the Research Director of the Psychedelic Studies Research Program at the University of Toronto. We ran the first pre-registered scientific study on microdosing psychedelic substances. Check out my ResearchGate page for more.

I also have a line of research studying meditation. Most modern meditations use the breath to anchor attention, but my work suggests that other anchors, such as mental phrase-repetition, might be more suitable for some people. I have also studied the less-often discussed drawbacks of meditation.

I am also interested in promoting intellectual conversation outside of academia. There's no need to such conversations to stop after you get a degree and I aim to promote life-long personal development.