{
  "abstract": "Time estimation is critical to many cognitive operations, including decision-making, working memory, and action planning. Neural correlates of interval timing have been described across multiple cortical and subcortical networks, both at a single-neuron level (as ramping activity) and population level (as dynamical motifs). Low-dose ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic and potent antidepressant, is known to distort time perception, but how it affects these neural correlates is unknown. In two male macaques performing a time-anticipation task, we administered subanesthetic doses of ketamine under a pharmacokinetically guided intravenous infusion protocol. We recorded neural activity from the parietal area LIP, a region associated with interval timing. Behaviorally, ketamine caused monkeys to respond as though less time had elapsed than had actually passed under objective clock time, a dose-dependent dilation of time estimation. This behavioral change was accompanied by parallel effects on the neural representation of elapsed time. At the single-neuron level, ketamine flattened anticipatory ramping activity. At the population level, it induced a rotation of delay-period activity in neural state space, away from the pre-ketamine configuration. By linking a graded pharmacological manipulation to concurrent shifts in behavior and cortical neural activity, we show that ketamine dilates perceived time while reshaping LIP population dynamics. These findings offer a route to probe how cortical activity supports time estimation and point to a network mechanism that could contribute to ketamine's dissociative and antidepressant effects.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University; Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "J. R. Waters"
    },
    {
      "name": "B. Madeira"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. N. Shadlen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "S. Shushruth"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3e82192jhynx7.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.12.758574",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.12.758574v1.full",
  "id": "3e82192jhynx7",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.12.758574v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2805|Neuroscience and Music Perception"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222934202",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.12.758574v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-12",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3e82192jhynx7.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:28:35Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.12.758574",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.12.758574v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Neural correlates of ketamine-induced dilation of temporal expectation",
  "title_text": "Neural correlates of ketamine-induced dilation of temporal expectation",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:28:35Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3e82192jhynx7",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}