Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 8, 2026
Functional Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy at 7 T in the Rat Barrel Cortex During Whisker Activation
Published on: February 8, 2019
N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors and information processing: human choice reaction time under a subanaesthetic dose of
Y Guillermain1, J Micallef, C Possamaï
1Centre de Recherches en Neurosciences Cognitives, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France.
Abstract:
Ketamine is an N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist that induces cognitive dysfunctions. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of a subanesthetic dose of ketamine on human information processing, using the additive factor method. During perfusion of a subanesthetic dose of ketamine (0.5 mg/kg over 60 min) or a placebo (randomized double-blind, cross-over design), eight adults (aged 22-33, mean=27) performed a two-choice visual reaction time (RT) task. Signal intensity, stimulus-response mapping, and foreperiod duration were manipulated. The effects of these three variables were found to be additive on RT, indicating that three independent stages - namely, stimulus preprocessing, response selection and motor selection- were manipulated. Ketamine altered RT performance in a specific way: it interacted with foreperiod duration but its effect was additive with those of signal intensity and stimulus-response mapping. These results show that ketamine specifically affects the stage of motor adjustment, which suggests that the glutamatergic system plays an important role in motor processes.
