# Brain circuit, behavior and experience signatures of human drug-altered states

> **NIH NIH P50** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $321,152

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY (Project 4)
MDMA (Ecstasy) and ketamine are drugs of abuse steadily gaining in popularity. Compared to more
traditional stimulants, however, less is known about their mode of action, their subjective effects, and how
these effects promote continued use. Our objective is to integrate self-report, behavior and neural measures to
develop a detailed characterization of the real-time effects of MDMA and ketamine. In doing so we will advance
our understanding of how drug altered brain states give rise to acute drug experiences and drug use outcomes.
We will first use neuroimaging to map both acute influence of these drugs on human experience, focusing on
dissociative, affective, and reward-related responses. Second, we will probe drug-induced effects on behavioral
targets that directly translate to targets used in rodent models. Third, we use functional neuroimaging at rest and
during affective as well as reward-related tasks to quantify neural circuit dynamics that underlie experiences and
behaviors induced by ketamine and MDMA. We will extend our approach to characterizing individual variability
in drug-induced brain-behavior-experience profiles and anchor our interpretation of these profiles by accounting
for potential confounding factors that include baseline inter-subject variability and drug-induced biochemical
stress. We use precisely controlled designs to address our aims and the important question of how brain-
behavior mechanisms produce the subjective effects of these drugs, helping to understand who seeks to use
them and why. The findings will advance our scientific understanding of what motivates people to use these
drugs and promise to provide a foundation for investigating tailored intervention strategies. Armed with
this knowledge, our field will ultimately be better positioned to suggest more effective strategies prevention of
the harmful use of these drugs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10494008
- **Project number:** 2P50DA042012-06
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Leanne Williams
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $321,152
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10494008

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10494008, Brain circuit, behavior and experience signatures of human drug-altered states (2P50DA042012-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10494008. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*