Abstract
Episodic memory, working memory, emotional memory, and attention are subject to dopaminergic modulation. However, the potential role of dopamine on the generation of false memories is unknown. This study defined the role of the dopamine D2 receptor on true and false recognition memories. Twenty-four young, healthy volunteers ingested a single dose of placebo or 400 mg oral sulpiride, a dopamine D2-receptor antagonist, just before starting the recognition memory task in a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled trial. The sulpiride group presented more false recognitions during visual and verbal processing than the placebo group, although both groups had the same indices of true memory. These findings demonstrate that dopamine D2 receptors blockade in healthy volunteers can specifically increase the rate of false recognitions. The findings fit well the two-process view of causes of false memories, the activation/monitoring failures model.
Highlights
Memory has a reconstructive nature, and new details of an experience can be incorporated into a memory trace during reconsolidation
The phenomenon of false memories has drawn attention because some studies have indicated that certain psychotherapeutic techniques, which are based on the recovery of emotional memories from childhood, can produce vivid memories of events that did not occur, such as alleged cases of sexual violence suffered in childhood [4]
There is no evidence of the role of a D2 antagonist on false memories; here, we evaluate the effects of sulpiride, a selective dopamine D2 receptor antagonist on two emotional visual (DRM–International Affective Picture System (IAPS)) and verbal (DRM) tasks
Summary
Memory has a reconstructive nature, and new details of an experience can be incorporated into a memory trace during reconsolidation. It has been reported that negative events increase the incidence of false memories to the highest level, neutral events to an intermediate level, and positive stimuli to the lowest level, probably due to a monitoring failure to suppress erroneous acceptance [23] It was reported [24] that emotionally valenced words increase the tendency of false recollection of unstudied items (lures) due to their level of semantic cohesion. It was suggested [25] that emotional load increases semantic relatedness, which in turn may contribute to increased false recollection It has been reported [26] that emotional words (lures) elicited more positive event-related potentials than did neutral words, and the emotional distractors were falsely recognized more often than the neutral ones. There is no evidence of the role of a D2 antagonist on false memories; here, we evaluate the effects of sulpiride, a selective dopamine D2 receptor antagonist on two emotional visual (DRM–IAPS) and verbal (DRM) tasks
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