Dopamine promotes cognitive effort by biasing the benefits versus costs of cognitive work
Responsible use of psychostimulants
Psychostimulants have a place in the therapy of attentional disorders. However, they are also widely used off-label to enhance cognitive performance, and their mechanisms of action remain elusive. Westbrook et al. studied the effects of these drugs and concurrently measured striatal dopamine synthesis capacity in young, healthy participants (see the Perspective by Janes). They administered a placebo, methylphenidate (a dopamine and noradrenaline reuptake blocker), and sulpiride (a selective D2 receptor antagonist) while participants made explicit cost-benefit decisions about whether to engage in cognitive effort. Higher dopamine synthesis capacity in the caudate nucleus was associated with greater willingness to allocate cognitive effort. In addition, methylphenidate and sulpiride increased subjective values and motivation to work specifically for people with low dopamine synthesis capacity. Cognition-enhancing drugs may thus act at the motivational level rather than directly boosting cognition per se.
Abstract
Stimulants such as methylphenidate are increasingly used for cognitive enhancement but precise mechanisms are unknown. We found that methylphenidate boosts willingness to expend cognitive effort by altering the benefit-to-cost ratio of cognitive work. Willingness to expend effort was greater for participants with higher striatal dopamine synthesis capacity, whereas methylphenidate and sulpiride, a selective D2 receptor antagonist, increased cognitive motivation more for participants with lower synthesis capacity. A sequential sampling model informed by momentary gaze revealed that decisions to expend effort are related to amplification of benefit-versus-cost information attended early in the decision process, whereas the effect of benefits is strengthened with higher synthesis capacity and by methylphenidate. These findings demonstrate that methylphenidate boosts the perceived benefits versus costs of cognitive effort by modulating striatal dopamine signaling.
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Supplementary Material
Summary
Materials and Methods
Supplementary Results
Figs. S1 to S5
Tables S1 to S7
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File (aaz5891-westbrook-sm.pdf)
References and Notes
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νi ~ β0 + β1(gBenA – gBenB) + β2(gCostA – gCostB) + β3gBenΔVBen + β4gCostΔVCost + β5gCostΔVBen + β6gBenΔVCost (Eq. 1), where the rate at which participants accumulate evidence in favor of offer A versus B (ν) on trial (i) is given by proportion gaze at benefits (gBen) and its interaction with the benefits of A versus B (ΔVBen), proportion gaze at costs (gCost) and its interaction with costs (ΔVCost), as well as additive contributions of gaze at offer A for both benefits (gBenA – gBenB) and costs (gCostA – gCostB).
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Science
Volume 367 | Issue 6484
20 March 2020
20 March 2020
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Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.
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Submission history
Received: 21 September 2019
Accepted: 20 January 2020
Published in print: 20 March 2020
Acknowledgments
We thank the individuals who participated in this study and J. Wilmott for eye-tracking code and consultation. Funding: This work was supported by NWO VICI grant 453-14-005 (2015/01379/VI) to R.C., NIH grant F32MH115600-01A1 to A.W., and NIH grant R01MH080066 to M.J.F. Author contributions: Conceptualization: R.C., A.W., M.J.F., Data curation: J.I.M., R.v.d.B., L.H., D.P., Formal analysis: A.W., R.v.d.B., R.C., M.J.F., Funding acquisition: R.C., A.W., Investigation: J.I.M., R.v.d.B., L.H., D.P., Project administration: J.I.M. and R.C., Software: A.W., Writing: A.W., M.J.F., R.C., Supervision: R.C. and M.J.F. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Data and materials availability: Data and analysis scripts will be made publicly available at the conclusion of the parent study at http://hdl.handle.net/11633/aac2qvfx.
Authors
Funding Information
National Institutes of Health: R01MH080066
National Institute of Mental Health: F32MH115600-01A1
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek: 453-14-005 (2015/01379/VI)
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