Journal article
The effects of pramipexole on motivational vigour during a saccade task: a placebo-controlled study in healthy adults
- Abstract:
- Motivation allows us to energise actions when we expect reward and is reduced in depression. This effect, termed motivational vigour, has been proposed to rely on central dopamine, with dopaminergic agents showing promise in the treatment of depression. This suggests that dopaminergic agents might act to reduce depression by increasing the effects of reward or by helping energise actions. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the dopamine agonist pramipexole enhanced motivational vigour during a rewarded saccade task. In addition, we asked whether the effects of pramipexole on vigour differ between reward contingent on performance and guaranteed reward. Healthy adult participants were randomised to receive either pramipexole (n = 19) or placebo (controls n = 18) for 18 days. The vigour of saccades was measured twice, once before the administration of study medication (Time 1) and after taking it for 12-15 days (Time 2). To separate motivation by contingency vs. reward, saccadic vigour was separately measured when (1) rewards were contingent on performance (2) delivered randomly with matched frequency, (3) when reward was guaranteed, (4) when reward was not present at all. Motivation increased response vigour, as expected. Relative to placebo, pramipexole also increased response vigour. However, there was no interaction, meaning that the effects of reward were not modulated by drug, and there was no differential drug effect on contingent vs. guaranteed rewards. The effect of pramipexole on vigour could not be explained by a speed/accuracy trade-off, nor by autonomic arousal as indexed by pupillary dilation. Chronic D2 stimulation increases general vigour, energising movements in healthy adults irrespective of extrinsic reward.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 1.6MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1007/s00213-024-06567-z
Authors
+ National Institute for Health and Care Research
More from this funder
- Grant:
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- Publisher:
- Springer Nature
- Journal:
- Psychopharmacology More from this journal
- Volume:
- 241
- Issue:
- 7
- Pages:
- 1365–1375
- Place of publication:
- Germany
- Publication date:
- 2024-03-18
- Acceptance date:
- 2024-02-28
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
1432-2072
- ISSN:
-
0033-3158
- Pmid:
-
38494550
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
-
1885335
- Local pid:
-
pubs:1885335
- Deposit date:
-
2024-06-25
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Au-Yeung et al
- Copyright date:
- 2024
- Rights statement:
- © 2024 The Authors. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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