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Role of Dopamine in the Motivational and Cognitive Control of Behavior
Abstract
Brain dopamine has often been implicated in impulsive and/or inflexible behaviors, which may reflect failures of motivational and/or cognitive control. However, the precise role of dopamine in such failures of behavioral control is not well understood, not least because they implicate paradoxical changes in distinct dopamine systems that innervate dissociable neural circuits. In addition, there are large individual differences in the response to dopaminergic drugs with some individuals benefiting from and others being impaired by the same drug. This complicates progress in the understanding of dopamine's role in behavioral control processes, but also provides a major problem for neuropsychiatry, where some individuals are disproportionately vulnerable to the adverse effects of dopamine-enhancing drugs on motivation and cognition. Recent progress is reviewed from cognitive and behavioral neuroscience research on motivation and cognitive control, which begins to elucidate the factors that mediate the complex roles of mesolimbic, mesocortical, and nigrostriatal dopamine in behavioral control.
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In the citing paper
“Dopamine signaling in the striatum is part of a larger system that mediates impulsive behavior, which includes the prefrontal cortex (Cools, 2008; Dalley et al., 2011; George and Koob, 2010; Groman and Jentsch, 2012).”
From Imaging addiction: D2 receptors and dopamine signaling in the striatum as biomarkers for impulsivity (2014) · cites this paper as Cools, 2008
In the citing paper
“Cognitive control deficits are often associated with alterations in dopamine transmission in prefrontal cortex and striatum (Arnsten et al., 1994; Cai and Arnsten, 1997; Cools, 2008; Cools and D'Esposito, 2011; Landau et al., 2009; Vernaleken et al., 2007)”
From Imaging addiction: D2 receptors and dopamine signaling in the striatum as biomarkers for impulsivity (2014) · cites this paper as Cools, 2008
In the citing paper
“Frontostriatal circuits subserving affective, cognitive, and motor processes are significantly modulated by the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) (for reviews see (Schultz 2002; Wise 2004; Cools 2008), through facilitation of the direct pathway via the action of excitatory DA receptors (D1-like) and inhibition of the indirect pathway via the action of inhibitory DA receptors (D2-like).”
From Developmental imaging genetics: Linking dopamine function to adolescent behavior (2014) · cites this paper as Cools 2008
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“Future studies will need to investigate how these microcircuits are influenced by the underlying neurotransmitter receptor and transmitter densities not only in resting state, but also during task (Boot et al., 2017; Cools, 2008; Puig & Gulledge, 2011).”
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“This ability further rests on motivational control, which includes associating actions with their outcomes and selecting actions in order to experience positive, and avert negative events (Bromberg-Martin, Matsumoto, & Hikosaka, 2010; Cools, 2008; Schultz, 2006).”
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“Their neurotransmitters, dopamine and norepinephrine, play a key role in the regulation of many physiological (such as locomotor and endocrine) (Barishpolets et al., 2009) and cognitive (in particular, learning and memory) (Cools, 2008) functions of the central nervous system.”
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“Cortical and striatal dopamine tone can modulate TD (Arrondo et al., 2015; Cools, 2008; de Wit, 2002; Hamidovic et al., 2008; Kayser et al., 2012; Petzold et al., 2019; Pine et al., 2010; Wagner et al., 2020; Weber et al., 2016).”
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“…switching between complementary control modes (i.e., shielding goals from distracting information vs. shifting goals in response to significant changes in the environment) ( Cools, 2008 ; Dreisbach et al., 2005 ; Floresco, 2013 ; Goschke, 2013 ; Goschke and Bolte, 2014 ; Goschke and Bolte, 2018 ).”
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“Various authors have claimed that individuals can adopt different styles of processing (Beste et al. 2018; Cools 2008; Durstewitz and Seamans 2008; Goschke and Bolte 2014), which vary between persistence (or stability), a style in which information processing is strongly focused on stimuli aligning…”
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“Serotonin has been implicated in stress responses (Hu et al., 2020) and depression-like states in Drosophila (Ries et al., 2017), supporting the idea that serotonergic regulation of affective behavior is evolutionarily conserved (Cools, 2008).”
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“…and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), together with striatal structures and the subthalamic nucleus (STN) under dopaminergic modulation—circuitry that supports conflict monitoring, action gating, and outright stopping (Cools, 2008; Rid-derinkhof et al., 2004; Criaud & Boulinguez, 2013).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Cools, R.
- Affiliations
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Cools, Roshan
- ORCID
- Cools, Roshan
- Venue
- The Neuroscientist
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-08
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 381-395
- ISSN
- 1073-8584 (ISSN-L)
- 1089-4098
- OpenAlex
- W2147381727
- Cited by
- 352
- References
- 91
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 32
- FWCI
- 10.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Neuroscientist (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Clinical Neurology › Parkinson's Disease Mechanisms and Treatments
- Keywords
- dopamine, motivation, cognitive control, impulsive behavior, mesolimbic dopamine system, mesocortical dopamine system, nigrostriatal dopamine system, neuropsychiatry
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cognition, Dopamine, Humans, Motivation, Dopamine Agents
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