Testing the dopamine overdose hypothesis in action control: A study in people with Parkinson's disease

Marit F. L. Ruitenberg, Elger L. Abrahamse, Patrick Santens, Wim Notebaert

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

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    Abstract

    Prior work on patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) has shown that the administration of dopaminergic medication in the early to intermediate stages of PD benefits (motor) functions associated with the dopamine-depleted dorsal striatal circuitry but may 'overdose' and interfere with (cognitive) functions associated with the relatively intact ventral striatal circuitry. The present study aimed to elucidate this so-called dopamine overdose hypothesis for the action control domain. Using a within-subject design in a sample of 13 people with PD, we evaluated the effect of dopaminergic medication on two cognitive processes underlying goal-directed behaviour, namely action selection and initiation through event binding and conflict adaptation. We also investigated whether individual differences in the magnitude of medication effects were associated across these processes. Results showed no indications that dopaminergic medication affects action selection and initiation or conflict adaptation in PD patients. Additionally, we observed no correlations between both cognitive processes nor between individual differences in medication effects. Our findings do not support the notion that dopaminergic medication modulates action control processes, suggesting that the dopamine overdose hypothesis may only apply to a specific set of cognitive processes and should potentially be refined.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)264-278
    Number of pages15
    JournalJournal of Neuropsychology
    Volume17
    Issue number2
    Early online dateOct 2022
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2023

    Keywords

    • Parkinson's disease
    • Action control
    • Dopamine
    • Movement

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