Eye-blink rate predicts individual differences in pseudoneglect.
Most healthy individuals display a subtle spatial attentional bias, exhibiting relative inattention for stimuli on one side of the visual field, a phenomenon known as pseudoneglect. Prior work in animals and patients has implicated dopamine in spatial attention asymmetries. The current study therefore examined - in healthy individuals - the relationship between the attentional bias and spontaneous eye-blink rate (EBR), a putative measure of central dopaminergic function. We found that those individuals, who blinked more often under resting conditions, displayed greater preference for the right side of the visual display in a subsequent attention task. This finding may support the idea that the observed attentional bias in healthy individuals reflects asymmetries in dopaminergic circuits, and corroborates previous findings implicating dopamine in spatial attention.
Slagter
Heleen A
HA
Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. h.a.slagter@uva.nl
Davidson
Richard J
RJ
Tomer
Rachel
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; C493214:SLC6A3 protein, human