NeuroGRIT NEWS
Ketamine Temporarily Rewires Brain Networks, Study Finds
Denver, June 19, 2025 — A small new study presented at Psychedelic Science 2025 suggests that a single dose of ketamine may temporarily “flatten” the brain’s functional hierarchy by increasing connectivity between higher‑order and lower‑level brain networks.
Involving 11 healthy male volunteers, researchers conducted fMRI scans before ketamine infusion, then scanned participants either 24 hours or seven days later. The scans showed that connectivity between typically segregated networks — such as the higher-level default mode network (DMN) and lower-level sensory/motor networks — significantly increased after ketamine administration livescience.com.
Specifically, the study reported reduced segregation (i.e., “flattening”) across cortical hierarchies, with higher-order hubs like the posterior cingulate cortex playing a less dominant coordinating role, while sensory networks became more integrated livescience.com.
Dr. Claudio Agnorelli, a neuroscientist from Imperial College London who co-authored the study, noted this suggests a collapse of the usual hierarchy, leading to a “more globally interconnected brain state” livescience.com.
Although not yet peer‑reviewed and conducted in a small sample without a placebo control, the findings align with animal studies showing ketamine’s rapid effects on synaptic plasticity livescience.com.
Researchers speculate this transient neural reconfiguration may underlie ketamine’s rapid antidepressant effects — by disrupting rigid brain patterns and creating a “window” of enhanced neuroplasticity where therapy or learning could be more effective.
🧠 NeuroGRIT Explains — What This Means for You
Temporary neural flexibility: The study supports the idea that ketamine can disrupt entrenched brain network patterns, potentially making it easier to change thought and behavior.
Opportunity for growth: If similar effects occur in clinical populations, pairing ketamine with structured therapy or effortful practice during this “plasticity window” might significantly boost the effectiveness of habit formation or emotional change.
Action matters: Temporary brain flexibility alone won’t change habits — it needs to be combined with purposeful action, reflection, and learning. That’s the NeuroGRIT strategy: pharmacologically open the mind, then actively sculpt it through planning, discipline, and repetition.
Citation:
Palmer, J. (19 June 2025). Ketamine may treat depression by “flattening the brain’s hierarchies,” small study suggests. Live Science livescience.com.
Presented at Psychedelic Science 2025, Denver, CO.