Dopamine and cognitive control: The influence of spontaneous eyeblink rate, DRD4 exon III polymorphism and gender on flexibility in set-shifting

作者：Mueller Johannes; Drei**ach Gesine; Brocke Burkhard; Lesch Klaus Peter; Strobel Alexander; Goschke Thomas

来源：Brain Research, 2007, 1131(1): 155-162.

DOI：10.1016/j.brainres.2006.11.002

• dopamine
• cognitive control
• eyeblink rate (EBR)
• gender
• DRD4 exon III polymorphism

Converging evidence suggests a modulatory role of dopamine in cognitive control. We investigated the influence of two correlates of dopaminergic activity, the spontaneous eyeblink rate and the DRD4 exon III polymorphism, and the potential impact of gender on flexibility in an attentional set-shifting paradigm. The objective of the study was to confirm previous findings of an association between high eyeblink rates and increased cognitive flexibility. These findings were replicated in 87 healthy volunteers this time using a continuous variable for eyeblink rates instead of a dichotomized variable. The interaction between eyeblink rate and DRD4 found in the previous study was lower and failed significance. Analysis of the collapsed sample of n=150 revealed a main effect of gender and an interaction of gender and eyeblink rate on cognitive control. The complete prediction model explained 26% of the total variance. These data suggest that (1) the eyeblink rate is a reliable predictor of dopamine-mediated flexibility of cognitive control and (2) it is useful to include gender as predictor in future studies of dopaminergic modulation of cognitive control.

• 出版日期2007-2-2