Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, United Kingdom,
Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom, and.
J Neurosci. 2019 Sep 25;39(39):7715-7721. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0401-19.2019. Epub 2019 Aug 12.
Episodic memory is sensitive to the influence of neuromodulators, such as dopamine and noradrenaline. These influences are considered important in the expression of several known memory biases, though their specific role in memory remains unclear. Using pharmacological agents with relatively high selectivity for either dopamine (400 mg amisulpride) or noradrenaline (40 mg propranolol) we examined their specific contribution to incidental memory. In a double-blind placebo-controlled human study (30 females, 30 males in total), we show that a memory selectivity bias was insensitive to propranolol but sensitive to amisulpride, consistent with a dominant influence from dopamine. By contrast, a putative arousal-induced memory boosting effect was insensitive to amisulpride but was sensitive to propranolol, consistent with a dominant noradrenaline effect. Thus, our findings highlight specific functional roles for dopamine and noradrenaline neurotransmission in the expression of incidental memory. Why some information is preferentially encoded into memory while other information is not is a central question in cognitive neuroscience. The neurotransmitters dopamine and noradrenaline are often assumed critical in influencing this selectivity, but their specific contributions remain obscure. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subjects drug study, we investigate the contributions of noradrenaline and dopamine to episodic memory. Using an incidental memory task, we find that blocking dopamine (400 mg amisulpride) eliminates a neural-gain related memory selectivity bias. Blocking noradrenaline function (40 mg propranolol), in contrast, abolishes an arousal-related memory enhancement. In this assessment of dopamine and noradrenaline neuromodulatory effects we reveal their specific contributions to episodic memory.
情景记忆对神经调质的影响很敏感，如多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素。这些影响被认为在几种已知的记忆偏差的表达中很重要，尽管它们在记忆中的具体作用仍不清楚。我们使用对多巴胺（400 毫克安非他命）或去甲肾上腺素（40 毫克普萘洛尔）具有相对高选择性的药物来检查它们对偶然记忆的特定贡献。在一项双盲安慰剂对照的人体研究中（共 30 名女性，30 名男性），我们表明记忆选择性偏差对普萘洛尔不敏感，但对安非他命敏感，这与多巴胺的主要影响一致。相比之下，假定的唤醒诱导的记忆增强效应对安非他命不敏感，但对普萘洛尔敏感，这与去甲肾上腺素的主要效应一致。因此，我们的研究结果突出了多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素神经传递在情景记忆表达中的特定功能作用。为什么有些信息优先编码到记忆中，而有些信息则没有，这是认知神经科学的一个核心问题。神经递质多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素通常被认为对影响这种选择性至关重要，但它们的具体贡献仍然不清楚。在这项双盲、安慰剂对照、被试间药物研究中，我们研究了去甲肾上腺素和多巴胺对情景记忆的贡献。使用偶然记忆任务，我们发现阻断多巴胺（400 毫克安非他命）会消除与神经增益相关的记忆选择性偏差。相比之下，阻断去甲肾上腺素功能（40 毫克普萘洛尔）会消除与唤醒相关的记忆增强。在对多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素神经调质作用的评估中，我们揭示了它们对情景记忆的特定贡献。
