Ketamine Alters Tuning of Neural and Behavioral Spatial Working Memory Precision

Abstract

Deficits in working memory (WM) are a hallmark of neuropsy-chiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, yet their neurobiological basis remains poorly understood. Glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are critical for spatial WM (sWM), with NMDAR antagonist ketamine known to attenuate task-evoked activation and reduce sWM accuracy. Cortical microcircuit models hypothesize that NMDAR antagonism impairs sWM by broadening neural spatial tuning, but this mechanism has not been directly tested in humans. Using a pharmacological fMRI approach, we showed how ketamine broadened neural spatial tuning, attenuated activation across visual, parietal, and frontal areas, and worsened sWM performance in healthy humans. Ketamine-induced changes in tuning were more consistent across individuals and brain regions than changes in overall activation and correlated with individual differences in sWM performance. These findings provide empirical evidence linking NMDAR antagonism to disruptions in cortical microcircuit dynamics, the resulting neural tuning alterations, and sWM impairments, advancing frameworks for therapeutic development.