van Steenbergen Henk, Weissman Daniel H, Stein Dan J, Malcolm-Smith Susan, van Honk Jack
Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, The Netherlands; Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, USA.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2017 Jun;80:99-103. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.03.002. Epub 2017 Mar 7.
The ability to adaptively increase cognitive control in response to cognitive challenges is crucial for goal-directed behavior. Recent findings suggest that aversive arousal triggers adaptive increases of control, but the neurochemical mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. Given the known contributions of the opioid system to hedonic states, we investigated whether blocking this system increases adaptive control modulations. To do so, we conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled psychopharmacological study (n=52 females) involving a Stroop-like task. Specifically, we assessed the effect of naltrexone, an opioid blocker most selective to the mu-opioid system, on two measures of adaptive control that are thought to depend differentially on aversive arousal: post-error slowing and conflict adaptation. Consistent with our hypothesis, relative to placebo, naltrexone increased post-error slowing without influencing conflict adaptation. This finding not only supports the view that aversive arousal triggers adaptive control but also reveals a novel role for the opioid system in modulating such effects.
为应对认知挑战而适应性地增强认知控制的能力对于目标导向行为至关重要。最近的研究结果表明，厌恶唤醒会触发控制的适应性增强，但其背后的神经化学机制仍不清楚。鉴于阿片系统对享乐状态的已知作用，我们研究了阻断该系统是否会增加适应性控制调节。为此，我们进行了一项双盲、安慰剂对照的心理药理学研究（n = 52名女性），涉及一项类似斯特鲁普任务。具体而言，我们评估了对μ-阿片系统最具选择性的阿片阻滞剂纳曲酮对两种适应性控制指标的影响，这两种指标被认为在不同程度上依赖于厌恶唤醒：错误后减缓以及冲突适应。与我们的假设一致，相对于安慰剂，纳曲酮增加了错误后减缓，而不影响冲突适应。这一发现不仅支持了厌恶唤醒触发适应性控制的观点，还揭示了阿片系统在调节此类效应中的新作用。
