Skip to content

The effects of sub-anaesthetic doses of ketamine on memory, cognitive performance and subjective experience in healthy volunteers.

G C Harborne, F L Watson, D T Healy, L Groves

Journal of Psychopharmacology January 1996 DOI: 10.1177/026988119601000208 (opens in new tab)

Read Full Text
Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Double-blind, Latin square crossover experiment Peer reviewed
Sample size 12
Population Healthy volunteers
Interventions Ketamine Saline placebo
Dose 25 mg ketamine, 10 mg ketamine, saline placebo, i.m.
Duration Test battery administered over 45 min
Topics Esketamine Ketamine
Key findings Ketamine at 25 mg significantly impaired verbal learning and memory, parallel visual search, some psychomotor measures, arousal, subjective mood, and visual perception, while attention and frontal lobe functioning were relatively unaffected. The authors argue that these selective, dose-related effects on memory and perceptual processes may help explain ketamine's unique subjective state.

Abstract

The cognitive and subjective effects of sub-anaesthetic doses of ketamine on healthy volunteers were examined. Twelve healthy volunteers received 25 mg ketamine, 10 mg ketamine and saline placebo, i.m. in a double-blind, Latin square design. A cognitive, perceptual and self-report test battery was administered over 45 min. The order of tests was rotated to control for timing effects. Ketamine (25 mg) significantly affected verbal learning and memory, parallel visual search, some measures of psychomotor performance, measures of arousal, subjective mood ratings and visual perception. Measures of attention and frontal lobe functioning were relatively unaffected. Thus, low doses of ketamine had selective, dose-related effects on memory, perceptual and psychomotor functions. The disruption of memory and perceptual processes may help to explain the unique subjective state induced by ketamine.

Comparable studies

Other randomized controlled trials on ketamine, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Subanesthetic Effects of the Noncompetitive NMDA Antagonist, Ketamine, in Humans Healthy human subjects recruited from the community 1994 Randomized controlled trial n = 19
Antidepressant Efficacy of Ketamine in Treatment-Resistant Major Depression: A Two-Site Randomized Controlled Trial Patients with treatment-resistant major depression experiencing a major depressive episode 2013 Randomized controlled trial n = 73
Remifentanil-induced Postoperative Hyperalgesia and Its Prevention with Small-dose Ketamine Patients undergoing major abdominal surgery 2005 Randomized controlled trial n = 75
Efficacy of Intravenous Ketamine for Treatment of Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Patients with chronic PTSD related to a range of trauma exposures 2014 Randomized controlled trial n = 41
Ketamine-Induced Deficits in Auditory and Visual Context-Dependent Processing in Healthy Volunteers Healthy volunteers 2000 Single-blind placebo-controlled study n = 20

Citations in the library

Cited by 12

and 7 more in the library

Cites 5

Related reading

Explore topics

Esketamine Ketamine