title: Does human presynaptic striatal dopamine function predict social conformity?
abstract: Socially desirable responding (SDR) is a personality trait which reflects either a tendency to present oneself in an overly positive manner to others, consistent with social conformity (impression management (IM)), or the tendency to view one's own behaviour in an overly positive light (self-deceptive enhancement (SDE)). Neurochemical imaging studies report an inverse relationship between SDR and dorsal striatal dopamine D₂/₃ receptor availability. This may reflect an association between SDR and D₂/₃ receptor expression, synaptic dopamine levels or a combination of the two. In this study, we used a [¹⁸F]-DOPA positron emission tomography (PET) image database to investigate whether SDR is associated with presynaptic dopamine function. Striatal [¹⁸F]-DOPA uptake, (k(i)(cer), min⁻¹), was determined in two independent healthy participant cohorts (n=27 and 19), by Patlak analysis using a cerebellar reference region. SDR was assessed using the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R) Lie scale, and IM and SDE were measured using the Paulhus Deception Scales. No significant associations were detected between Lie, SDE or IM scores and striatal [¹⁸F]-DOPA k(i)(cer). These results indicate that presynaptic striatal dopamine function is not associated with social conformity and suggests that social conformity may be associated with striatal D₂/₃ receptor expression rather than with synaptic dopamine levels.
authors.affiliation: 1Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology, Division of Brain Sciences, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Paul R A
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Stokes
authors.forename: Aaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benecke
authors.forename: Julita
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Puraite
authors.forename: Michael A P
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bloomfield
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shotbolt
authors.forename: Suzanne J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Reeves
authors.forename: Anne R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Lingford-Hughes
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Howes
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Egerton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment; D017729:Presynaptic Terminals / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D012925:Social Conformity; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D017448:Receptors, Dopamine D2; D004298:Dopamine
keywords: PET; [18F]-DOPA; dopamine; personality; social conformity