CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 289Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesTryptophan and brain disorders

Tryptophan depletion impairs stimulus-reward learning while methylphenidate disrupts attentional control in healthy young adults: implications for the monoaminergic basis of impulsive behaviour

Rogers, R. D., Blackshaw, A. J., Middleton, H. C., Matthews, K., Hawtin, K., Crowley, C., Hopwood, A., Wallace, C. +3 more·1999·Psychopharmacology
DOI 10.1007/pl00005494
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Rationale Altered serotonergic and dopaminergic function have been widely implicated in behavioural disorders associated with impulsivity and risk-taking. However, little research has addressed the specific cognitive consequences of changed monoaminergic function that might contribute to the production of impulsive behaviour.Objectives and methods We compared the effects of rapid plasma tryptophan depletion, acute doses of the mixed indirect catecholamine agonist, methylphenidate (40 mg), and acute doses of the alpha(1)/alpha(2 )agonist, clonidine (1.5 microg/kg), on aspects of visual discrimination learning involving either acquisition of altered stimulus-reward associations (i.e. updating the affective valence of exteroceptive stimuli) or the control of attention towards relevant as opposed to irrelevant stimulus dimensions.Results Relative to subjects who received placebo, subjects with reduced tryptophan exhibited a deficit in the ability to learn changed stimulus-reward associations, but were still able to shift an acquired attentional set away from a now-irrelevant stimulus dimension towards a newly relevant dimension. By contrast, subjects who received methylphenidate were able to learn effectively about changing stimulus-reward associations, but showed an enhanced ability to shift an attentional bias, in combination with slowed response times. Subjects who received clonidine showed neither of these changes.Conclusions These results suggest that reduction in central serotonin leads to altered neuromodulation of the cortical and subcortical regions (e.g. orbitofrontal cortex, striatum and anterior temporal structures) that mediate important aspects of associative learning whereby exteroceptive stimuli acquire altered incentive motivational value. On the other hand, facilitation of catecholamine neurotransmitters may disrupt the allocation of attention between relevant and irrelevant features of the environment, perhaps through altered modulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The implications of these results for understanding the differential neuromodulation of cognitive functions are discussed.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/pl00005494

Cites

71 of 71 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The effects of methylphenidate and related stimulant drugs in healthy individuals have been shown to be baseline-dependent; i.e. those subjects with relatively low performance levels exhibit greater benefit after the drug.

    “The effects of methylphenidate and related stimulant drugs in healthy individuals have been shown to be baseline-dependent; i.e. those subjects with relatively low performance levels exhibit greater benefit after the drug (Naylor et al., 1985; Rogers et al., 1999; Mehta et al., 2000; Turner et al., 2003; Clatworthy et al., 2009).”

    From A positron emission tomography study of nigro-striatal dopaminergic mechanisms underlying attention: implications for ADHD and its treatment (2013) · cites this paper as Rogers et al., 1999

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Rogers, R. D., Blackshaw, A. J., Middleton, H. C., Matthews, K., Hawtin, K., Crowley, C., Hopwood, A., Wallace, C., Deakin, J. F. W., Sahakian, B. J., & Robbins, T. W.
Affiliations
  • University of Cambridge (GB)
  • University of Manchester (GB)
  • University of Nottingham (GB)
  • University of Dundee (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Psychopharmacology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
1999-10-21
Volume
146
Issue
4
Pages
482-491
ISSN
0033-3158 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1007/pl00005494
OpenAlex
W2067012376
Cited by
289
References
71
Citations by year
2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 12
FWCI
2.29
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Psychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Discovery Research Portal (University of Dundee) (publishedVersion)
  • Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Wellcome Trust
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
Keywords
tryptophan depletion, methylphenidate, clonidine, impulsivity, attentional control, set-shifting, serotonin, catecholamines, dopaminergic activity, reward valuation, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, risk-taking
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Attention, Clonidine, Discrimination Learning, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Impulsive Behavior, Male, Methylphenidate, Reward, Tryptophan, Adrenergic Agents

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review