No effect of a dopaminergic modulation fMRI task by amisulpride and L-DOPA on reward anticipation in healthy volunteers

ConclusionThe present results cast doubt on the sensitivity of reward anticipation contrast in the MID task for assessing dopamine-specific changes in healthy volunteers by pharmaco-fMRI. While our task was not well-suited for detailed analysis of the outcome phase, we provide reasonable arguments that the lack of effect in the anticipation phase is not due to an inefficient task but points to unexpected behavior of the reward system during pharmacological challenge. Group differences of reward anticipation should therefore not be seen as simple representatives of dopaminergic states.
Source: Psychopharmacology - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research