Catecholaminergic modulation of the avoidance of cognitive control

Abstract

Abstract:The catecholamines have long been associated with cognitive control and value-based decision-making. More recently, we proposed that the catecholamines might modulate value-based decision-making about whether or not to engage in cognitive control. We test this hypothesis by assessing effects of a catecholamine challenge in a large sample of young, healthy adults (n = 100) on the avoidance of a cognitively demanding control process: task switching. Prolonging catecholamine transmission by blocking reuptake with methylphenidate altered the avoidance, but not the execution of cognitive control. Crucially, these effects could be isolated by taking into account individual differences in trait impulsivity, so that participants with higher trait impulsivity became more avoidant of cognitive control, despite faster task performance. One implication of these findings is that performance-enhancing effects of methylphenidate may be accompanied by an undermining effect on the willingness to exert cognitive control. Taken together, these findings integrate hitherto segregated literatures on catecholamines' roles in value-based learning/choice and cognitive control.

Catecholaminergic modulation of the cost of cognitive control in healthy older adults

“…Specifically, the (demand-induced) subjective value of control decreased with tyrosine administration in participants with high baseline impulsivity, while it was increased, if anything, in less impulsive participants. This interaction between drug status and impulsivity is a small effect, but interesting because it mirrors a similar interaction between the catecholamine agonist methylphenidate and impulsivity in our previous study that had greater statistical power to assess individual differences (n = 100) (4). In that study, participants with low impulsivity showed neutral or even reduced avoidance of cognitive demand, while those with high baseline impulsivity increased demand avoidance when given methylphenidate.…”

“…According to the expected value of control account, people recruit cognitive control in proportion to expected instrumental value (3), such that degree (and intensity) of engagement in an upcoming cognitive computation is based on a cost-benefit analysis. Recently, we demonstrated that acute administration of a single oral dose of the catecholamine transporter blocker methylphenidate indeed modulated the avoidance of, but not ability to perform cognitive control in young adults (4). The effect depended on trait impulsivity, with the most impulsive subjects exhibiting the greatest increases in control avoidance.…”

“…In one study, amphetamine motivated rodent 'slackers' (but not 'workers') to choose a more perceptually-demanding option for a higher reward (21). In parallel, our recent work with young healthy adults has shown that the administration of methylphenidate (20 mg, oral) altered the avoidance of higher task-switching demands, in a demand selection paradigm (4). The effect of methylphenidate depended on participants' trait impulsivity, a measure previously associated with drug-induced dopamine release and D2/D3 (auto-)receptor availability (22).…”

“…Although we do not have direct measures of baseline catecholamine function in our sample, we explored in supplemental analyses whether the effects of tyrosine depended on two commonly used proxy measures of baseline dopamine levels: trait impulsivity and working memory capacity (see also 4,40): trait impulsivity scores for their association with dopamine (auto)receptor availability and striatal dopamine release (22), as well as working memory span, associated with striatal dopamine synthesis capacity (41,42). Previously, we have shown that trait impulsivity predicts the degree to which methylphenidate modulates demand avoidance (4). Thus, while our study was set up to assess the hypothesis that tyrosine administration would increase the value of cognitive control, we also explored whether tyrosine altered the value of cognitive control in a manner that depended on either of two dopamine proxy measures.…”

Dopamine and proximity in motivation and cognitive control

“…Beyond altering control performance, DA can also increase the degree to which individuals explicitly choose to avoid high versus low control-demanding tasks. Specifically, the DA transporter blocker methylphenidate caused high trait-impulsive participants to avoid control demands more [38], suggesting that DA may undermine control by altering when individuals choose to exert it.…”