title: Dopamine Does Double Duty in Motivating Cognitive Effort.
abstract: Cognitive control is subjectively costly, suggesting that engagement is modulated in relationship to incentive state. Dopamine appears to play key roles. In particular, dopamine may mediate cognitive effort by two broad classes of functions: (1) modulating the functional parameters of working memory circuits subserving effortful cognition, and (2) mediating value-learning and decision-making about effortful cognitive action. Here, we tie together these two lines of research, proposing how dopamine serves "double duty", translating incentive information into cognitive motivation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. Electronic address: jawestbrook@wustl.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Westbrook
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Todd S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Braver
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009042:Motivation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004298:Dopamine