Effect of S-Ketamine on Body and Self Perception in Healthy Adults

Abstract

The selective NMDA-antagonist ketamine is widely used as a general anesthetic and is increasingly being prescribed as an anti-depressant for patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD). Whereas ketamine’s psychotropic effects, including feelings of dissociation, disembodiment and derealization, have long been considered side-effects, recent evidence indicates that ketamine-induced changes in implicit body and self-perception may contribute to its therapeutic efficacy. Addressing these changes and their underlying neurocognitive mechanisms, bears relevance for the understanding of other disorders that are also characterized by aberrant processing of interoceptive and exteroceptive bodily signals, such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and anorexia nervosa. To this end, the current study integrates previous neurochemical models of ketamine with recent computational and Bayesian models of implicit body- and self-perception. By using state-of-the-art experimental cognitive tasks combined with electroencephalogaphy (EEG) measures, central predictions regarding the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying ketamine-induced changes in implicit body perception and self-referential processing will be assessed.

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