Making sense: Dopamine activates conscious self‐monitoring through medial prefrontal cortex |
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| Authors: | Morten Joensson Kristine Rømer Thomsen Lau M. Andersen Joachim Gross Kim Mouridsen Kristian Sandberg Leif Østergaard Hans C. Lou |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark;2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, OX37JX Oxford, United Kingdom;3. Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark;4. Cognitive Neurosciences Research Unit (CNRU), Hammel Neurorehabilitation Centre and University Research Clinic, Aarhus University, N?rrebrogade 44, Building 10G, Aarhus C, Denmark;5. Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom;6. UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Alexandra House, London WC1N 3AR, UK |
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| Abstract: | When experiences become meaningful to the self, they are linked to synchronous activity in a paralimbic network of self‐awareness and dopaminergic activity. This network includes medial prefrontal and medial parietal/posterior cingulate cortices, where transcranial magnetic stimulation may transiently impair self‐awareness. Conversely, we hypothesize that dopaminergic stimulation may improve self‐awareness and metacognition (i.e., the ability of the brain to consciously monitor its own cognitive processes). Here, we demonstrate improved noetic (conscious) metacognition by oral administration of 100 mg dopamine in minimal self‐awareness. In a separate experiment with extended self‐awareness dopamine improved the retrieval accuracy of memories of self‐judgment (autonoetic, i.e., explicitly self‐conscious) metacognition. Concomitantly, magnetoencephalography (MEG) showed increased amplitudes of oscillations (power) preferentially in the medial prefrontal cortex. Given that electromagnetic activity in this region is instrumental in self‐awareness, this explains the specific effect of dopamine on explicit self‐awareness and autonoetic metacognition. Hum Brain Mapp 36:1866–1877, 2015. © 2015 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. . |
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| Keywords: | dopamine self‐awareness metacognition medial prefrontal default mode |
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