title: Making sense: Dopamine activates conscious self-monitoring through medial prefrontal cortex.
abstract: When experiences become meaningful to the self, they are linked to synchronous activity in a paralimbic network of self-awareness and dopaminergic activity. This network includes medial prefrontal and medial parietal/posterior cingulate cortices, where transcranial magnetic stimulation may transiently impair self-awareness. Conversely, we hypothesize that dopaminergic stimulation may improve self-awareness and metacognition (i.e., the ability of the brain to consciously monitor its own cognitive processes). Here, we demonstrate improved noetic (conscious) metacognition by oral administration of 100 mg dopamine in minimal self-awareness. In a separate experiment with extended self-awareness dopamine improved the retrieval accuracy of memories of self-judgment (autonoetic, i.e., explicitly self-conscious) metacognition. Concomitantly, magnetoencephalography (MEG) showed increased amplitudes of oscillations (power) preferentially in the medial prefrontal cortex. Given that electromagnetic activity in this region is instrumental in self-awareness, this explains the specific effect of dopamine on explicit self-awareness and autonoetic metacognition.
authors: Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, OX37JX Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors: Morten
authors: M
authors: Joensson
authors: Kristine Rømer
authors: KR
authors: Thomsen
authors: Lau M
authors: LM
authors: Andersen
authors: Joachim
authors: J
authors: Gross
authors: Kim
authors: K
authors: Mouridsen
authors: Kristian
authors: K
authors: Sandberg
authors: Leif
authors: L
authors: Østergaard
authors: Hans C
authors: HC
authors: Lou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D058256:Brain Waves / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002230:Carbidopa / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003243:Consciousness / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D018491:Dopamine Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004338:Drug Combinations; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D007980:Levodopa / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D000067489:Metacognition / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018491:Dopamine Agonists; D004338:Drug Combinations; C009265:carbidopa, levodopa drug combination; D007980:Levodopa; D002230:Carbidopa; D004298:Dopamine
keywords: default mode; dopamine; medial prefrontal; metacognition; self-awareness
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