Previous studies have shown that appetitive motivation enhances episodic memory formation via a network including the substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area (SN/VTA), striatum and hippocampus. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study now contrasted the impact of aversive and appetitive motivation on episodic long-term memory. Cue pictures predicted monetary reward or punishment in alternating experimental blocks. One day later, episodic memory for the cue pictures was tested. We also investigated how the neural processing of appetitive and aversive motivation and episodic memory were modulated by dopaminergic mechanisms. To that end, participants were selected on the basis of their genotype for a variable number of tandem repeat polymorphism of the dopamine transporter (DAT) gene. The resulting groups were carefully matched for the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene. Recognition memory for cues from both motivational categories was enhanced in participants homozygous for the 10-repeat allele of the DAT, the functional effects of which are not known yet, but not in heterozygous subjects. In comparison with heterozygous participants, 10-repeat homozygous participants also showed increased striatal activity for anticipation of motivational outcomes compared to neutral outcomes. In a subsequent memory analysis, encoding activity in striatum and hippocampus was found to be higher for later recognized items in 10-repeat homozygotes compared to 9/10-repeat heterozygotes. These findings suggest that processing of appetitive and aversive motivation in the human striatum involve the dopaminergic system and that dopamine plays a role in memory for both types of motivational information. In accordance with animal studies, these data support the idea that encoding of motivational events depends on dopaminergic processes in the hippocampus.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.07.018 | DOI Listing |
Mov Disord
January 2025
Department of Neurology and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
Background: Cognitive impairment is common at all stages of Parkinson's disease (PD), but there is no consensus on which neuropsychological tests to use or how to interpret cognitive battery results. A cognitive summary score (CSS) combines the richness of a neuropsychological battery with the simplicity of a single score.
Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether a CSS created using robust norming can detect early cognitive deficits in de novo, untreated PD.
Hippocampus
January 2025
Cognitive Science Program and Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
Numerous scientific advances and discoveries have arisen from research on the hippocampal formation. This special issue provides first-person historical descriptions of these advances and discoveries in hippocampal research, written by those directly involved in the research. This is the first section of a special issue that will also include future articles on this topic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFiScience
December 2024
Florida Institute of Technology, Department of Psychology, 150 W. University Dr., Melbourne, FL 32905, USA.
Episodic memory is accounted for with two processes: "familiarity" when generally recognizing an item and "recollection" when retrieving the full contextual details bound with the item. We tested a combination of item recognition confidence and source memory, focusing upon three conditions: "item-only hits with source unknown" ('item familiarity'), "low-confidence hits with correct source memory" ('context familiarity'), and "high-confidence hits with correct source memory" ('recollection'). Behaviorally, context familiarity was slower than the others during item recognition, but faster during source memory.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRes Aging
January 2025
Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
This study tests associations between purpose in life and coping, and whether coping mediates the association between purpose and cognitive function. Longitudinal data from the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) study were used to investigate associations between purpose at MIDUS I and coping at MIDUS II ( = 2386). Emotion-focused and problem-focused coping were tested as mediators between purpose and cognitive function (memory, executive function, global cognition) at MIDUS III.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci
January 2025
Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
Objective: Social connectedness is a modifiable lifestyle factor that delays age-related cognitive decline. Using cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental approaches, we examined whether theory of mind - inferring what others think or feel - is a potential mechanism underlying this relationship.
Methods: In Study 1, 305 community-dwelling older adults participating in two different, but related, studies completed comprehensive measures of general cognition, theory of mind, and personal social networks.
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