title: Levodopa: faster and better word learning in normal humans.
abstract: Dopamine is a potent modulator of learning and has been implicated in the encoding of stimulus salience. Repetition, however, as required for the acquisition and reacquisition of sensorimotor or cognitive skills (e.g., in aphasia therapy), decreases salience. We here tested whether increasing brain levels of dopamine during repetitive training improves learning success. Forty healthy humans took 100mg of the dopamine precursor levodopa or placebo daily for 5 days in a randomized double-blind and parallel-group design. Ninety minutes later on each day, subjects were trained on an artificial vocabulary using a high-frequency repetitive approach. Levodopa significantly enhanced the speed, overall success, and long-term retention of novel word learning in a dose-dependent manner. These findings indicate new ways to potentiate learning in a variety of domains if conventional training alone fails.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Strasse 33, D-48129 Münster, Germany. knecht@uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knecht
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Breitenstein
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bushuven
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wailke
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamping
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Flöel
authors.forename: Pienie
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zwitserlood
authors.forename: E Bernd
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Ringelstein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015259:Dopamine Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D007980:Levodopa / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010919:Placebos; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D014825:Vocabulary
chemical_list: D015259:Dopamine Agents; D010919:Placebos; D007980:Levodopa