L-Dopa medication remediates cognitive inflexibility, but increases impulsivity in patients with Parkinson's disease.
In the current study we investigated the role of dopamine in attentional and socio-emotional functioning by examining effects of withdrawing dopaminergic medication in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Patients "on" medication exhibited abnormal betting strategies on a task of decision-making, reflecting impulsive behaviour and/or delay aversion, whilst the same patients "off" medication exhibited abnormally increased switch costs when switching between two tasks, reflecting attentional inflexibility. Hence, these data replicate and extend previous findings that dopaminergic medication improves or impairs cognitive performance depending on the nature of the task and the basal level of dopamine function in underlying cortico-striatal circuitry.
Cools
Roshan
R
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB3 9DF, UK. rc245@cam.ac.uk
Barker
Roger A
RA
Sahakian
Barbara J
BJ
Robbins
Trevor W
TW
D000368:Aged; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000187:drug effects*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000503:physiopathology; D007980:Levodopa / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects
D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D007980:Levodopa