Basal ganglia dopamine influences the updating of task-set representation

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Basal ganglia dopamine influences the updating of task-set representation Manuel Garcia-Garcia1*, F. Barceló2, I. Clemente3 and Carles Escera1 1 Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group,University of Barcelona, Spain 2 Clinical Neuropsychology Research Group, University of Balearic Islands, Spain 3 Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Spain Everyday life requires flexible and ongoing adjustment to different task situations. We examined the role of the genotype for the dopamine transporter (DAT) in task-set reconfiguration using a task-cueing protocol inspired by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and adapted for measuring event-related potentials. The cueing patterns were set to dissociate the effects of task switching (red line) from those of mere sensory change (blue line). Two experimental groups were created depending on the presence of the 9 repetition (9R) allele of the DAT 40 basepair (bp) variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism: twenty participants with presence of the 9R allele and thus High basal ganglia dopamine (BG DA), and eighteen with absence of the 9R allele and thus Low BG DA. A very early frontal N1 increase was found for all participants when the task switched (F(1,29)=4.45, p=0.044), even before any modulation related to sensory processing became evident. The Low BG DA group showed a delay in response time when the task switched and a specific N4 modulation for task switching (F(1,23)=6.80, p=0.022), whereas the High BG DA group had no behavioral task switch cost nor N4 modulation. However, the High BG DA group showed a substantially larger P2 than the Low BG DA, irrespective of task condition. These results suggest that task-relevance was detected before orienting attention towards auditory novelty. P2 may reflect BG activation to all sensory stimulation, while N4 could reflect task-updating processes needed to integrate any new task representation with the previous task context and seems to be specifically mediated by BG DA. garcia-part2 tn_garcia-part2 Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Turkey, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Genetics of Cognition Citation: Garcia-Garcia M, Barceló F, Clemente I and Escera C (2008). Basal ganglia dopamine influences the updating of task-set representation. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.235 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 09 Dec 2008; Published Online: 09 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: Manuel Garcia-Garcia, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group,University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, mgarciagarcia@ub.edu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Manuel Garcia-Garcia F. Barceló I. Clemente Carles Escera Google Manuel Garcia-Garcia F. Barceló I. Clemente Carles Escera Google Scholar Manuel Garcia-Garcia F. Barceló I. Clemente Carles Escera PubMed Manuel Garcia-Garcia F. Barceló I. Clemente Carles Escera Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.