Increased dopamine release in the human amygdala during performance of cognitive tasks

Fried, Itzhak; Wilson, Charles L.; Morrow, Jack W.; Cameron, Katherine A.; Behnke, Eric; Ackerson, Larry C.; Maidment, Nigel T.

doi:10.1038/84041

Cited by 90 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Firstly, in vivo microdialysis studies show that DA levels increase in distinct subnuclei of the amygdala during Pavlovian approach conditioning, during discriminated instrumental training, during drug challenge, and during drug-cue exposure in rats (Harmer et al, 1997;Harmer and Phillips, 1999;Hori et al, 1993;Weiss et al, 2000). Amygdalar DA also increases in humans during reading or performance of a working memory task (Fried et al, 2001). Secondly, immunohistochemical data corroborate the finding that DA activity is elevated in the amygdala during Pavlovian conditioning and during instrumental conditioning (Phillips et al, 2003).…”

Section: Da In the Amygdala Mediates The Acquisition Of Significance supporting

confidence: 71%

Instrumental learning, but not performance, requires dopamine D1-receptor activation in the amygdala

2005

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Substantial experimental evidence exists suggesting a critical role for dopamine in reinforcer-related processes, such as learning and drug addiction. Dopamine receptors, and in particular D1 receptors, are widely considered as modulators of synaptic plasticity. The amygdala contains both dopamine terminals and dopamine D1 receptors and is intimately involved in motivation and learning. However, little is known about the involvement of D1 receptor activation in two subnuclei of the mammalian amygdala, the central nucleus and basolateral complex in instrumental learning. Following recovery from surgery and preliminary training, rats with bilateral indwelling cannulae aimed at the central nucleus or basolateral complex were trained to lever-press for sucrose pellets over 12 sessions. Infusion of the selective D1 antagonist R(+)-7-chloro-8-hydroxy-3-methyl-1-phenyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-3-benzazepine hydrochloride (0.3 nmol and 3.0 nmol) prior to the first five training sessions dose-dependently impaired instrumental learning when compared with vehicleinfused controls. All rats were then exposed to five sessions drug-free; lever-pressing quickly reached equal levels across groups. A drug infusion prior to an 11th session revealed no effect on performance. Control experiments indicated that basic motivational processes and general motor responses were intact, such as spontaneous feeding and locomotor activity. These results show an essential role for D1-receptor activation in both the central nucleus and basolateral complex on the acquisition of lever pressing for sucrose pellets in rats, but not the performance of the behavior once conditioned. We propose that instrumental learning is dependent on plasticity in the central nucleus and basolateral complex amygdala, and that D1 receptor activation participates in transcriptional processes that underlie this plasticity.Keywords instrumental learning; amygdala; dopamine; D1; plasticity; rats Biologically important events, such as procurement of food, escape from predation, and access to sexual partners, often require flexible patterns of behavior in order to produce themforaging, vigilance, and defense, for example. Important biological reinforcers (Reinf), in turn, change the behavior that produced them, illustrating a form of adaptability termed "instrumental learning." Many Reinf-related processes are mediated by the mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) system, consisting of DA neurons in the ventral tegmental area and their projections to the nucleus accumbens, medial prefrontal cortex, striatum, amygdala and other *Corresponding author. Tel: +1-608-262-9332. E-mail address: mandrzejewsk@wisc.edu (M. E. Andrzejewski). (Beninger and Miller, 1998;Cardinal et al., 2002;Kelley and Berridge, 2002). Specifically, studies have shown that D1 receptor activation throughout this corticolimbicstriatal network plays a critical role in learning (Beninger and Gerdjikov, 2004). Indeed, D1 receptor activation is thought to serve a crucial modulatory function in the induction o...

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Section: Da In the Amygdala Mediates The Acquisition Of Significance supporting

confidence: 71%

Instrumental learning, but not performance, requires dopamine D1-receptor activation in the amygdala

2005

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“…Consistent with these findings, recent studies using voxel-based morphometry have shown an association of FSIQ with the density of GM and WM in regions of the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes that subserve verbal and performance abilities (Haier, Jung, Yeo, Head, & Alkire, 2004;Thompson et al, 2001). In addition, a vast number of animal and human studies have suggested that mesolimbic structures, including the hippocampus and amygdala, also play an important role in learning, memory, and cognition (Bechara, Damasio, & Damasio, 2003;Burns, Everitt, & Robbins, 1999;Everitt et al, 1999;Fried, Cameron, Yashar, Fong, & Morrow, 2002;Fried et al, 2001;Jones-Gotman, 1986;Kahn et al, 2002;Squire, Stark, & Clark, 2004). Moreover, the volume of the hippocampus has been shown to correlate positively and significantly with IQ in healthy adults (Andreasen, Flaum, Swayze, O'Leary, et al, 1993), although another more recent study using voxel-based morphometry failed to demonstrate any correlation of IQ with volumes of GM or WM volume in mesolimbic structures (Haier, et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Correlates of intellectual ability with morphology of the hippocampus and amygdala in healthy adults

Amat

Bansal

Whiteman

et al. 2008

Brain and Cognition

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Several prior imaging studies of healthy adults have correlated volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala with measures of general intelligence (IQ), with variable results. In this study, we assessed correlations between volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala and full-scale IQ scores (FSIQ) using a method of image analysis that permits detailed regional mapping of this correlation throughout the surface contour of these brain structures. We delineated the hippocampus and amygdala in high-resolution magnetic resonance images of the brain from 34 healthy individuals. We then correlated FSIQ with overall volumes and with the surface morphologies of each of these structures. Hippocampus volumes correlated significantly and inversely with FSIQ independently of gender, age, socioeconomic status, and whole brain volume. Left and right hippocampus volumes correlated respectively with verbal and performance IQ subscales. Higher IQs were significantly associated with large inward deformations of the surface of the anterior hippocampus bilaterally. These findings suggest that a smaller anterior hippocampus contributes to an increased efficiency of neural processing that subserves overall intelligence.

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“…There is increasing evidence that amygdala is involved in positive reward assessment as well as its more familiar role in fear (Baxter and Murray, 2002;Schultz, 2002). Recently, Fried et al, (2001) have shown through micro dialysis that the dopaminergic input to the amygdala in human subjects increases during cognitive tasks not involving fear.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental processes and strategic equilibration: An fMRI study of selling strategies in second price auctions

et al. 2007

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This study is the first to attempt to isolate a relationship between cognitive activity and equilibration to a Nash Equilibrium. Subjects, while undergoing fMRI scans of brain activity, participated in second price auctions against a single competitor following predetermined strategy that was unknown to the subject. For this auction there is a unique strategy that will maximize the subjects’ earnings, which is also a Nash equilibrium of the associated game theoretic model of the auction. As is the case with all games, the bidding strategies of subjects participating in second price auctions most often do not reflect the equilibrium bidding strategy at first but with experience, typically exhibit a process of equilibration, or convergence toward the equilibrium. This research is focused on the process of convergence. In the data reported here subjects participated in sixteen auctions, after which all subjects were told the strategy that will maximize their revenues, the theoretical equilibrium. Following that announcement, sixteen more auctions were performed. The question posed by the research concerns the mental activity that might accompany equilibration as it is observed in the bidding behavior. Does brain activation differ between being equilibrated and non-equilibrated in the sense of a bidding strategy? If so, are their differences in the location of activation during and after equilibration? We found significant activation in the frontal pole especially in Brodmann’s area 10, the anterior cingulate cortex, the amygdala and the basal forebrain. There was significantly more activation in the basal forebrain and the anterior cingulate cortex during the first sixteen auctions than in the second sixteen. The activity in the amygdala shifted from the right side to the left after the solution was given. Copyright Economic Science Association 2007Experiments, Auctions,

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Increased dopamine release in the human amygdala during performance of cognitive tasks

Cited by 90 publications

References 28 publications

Instrumental learning, but not performance, requires dopamine D1-receptor activation in the amygdala

Instrumental learning, but not performance, requires dopamine D1-receptor activation in the amygdala

Correlates of intellectual ability with morphology of the hippocampus and amygdala in healthy adults

Mental processes and strategic equilibration: An fMRI study of selling strategies in second price auctions

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