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Dopamine and semantic activation: An investigation of masked direct and indirect priming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2004

ANTHONY J. ANGWIN ,
HELEN J. CHENERY ,
DAVID A. COPLAND ,
WENDY L. ARNOTT ,
BRUCE E. MURDOCH  and
PETER A. SILBURN
ANTHONY J. ANGWIN
Affiliation:
Centre for Research in Language Processing and Linguistics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
HELEN J. CHENERY
Affiliation:
Centre for Research in Language Processing and Linguistics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
DAVID A. COPLAND
Affiliation:
Centre for Research in Language Processing and Linguistics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
WENDY L. ARNOTT
Affiliation:
Centre for Research in Language Processing and Linguistics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
BRUCE E. MURDOCH
Affiliation:
Centre for Research in Language Processing and Linguistics, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
PETER A. SILBURN
Affiliation:
Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Australia
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Abstract

To investigate the effects of dopamine on the dynamics of semantic activation, 39 healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to ingest either a placebo (n = 24) or a levodopa (n = 16) capsule. Participants then performed a lexical decision task that implemented a masked priming paradigm. Direct and indirect semantic priming was measured across stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) of 250, 500 and 1200 ms. The results revealed significant direct and indirect semantic priming effects for the placebo group at SOAs of 250 ms and 500 ms, but no significant direct or indirect priming effects at the 1200 ms SOA. In contrast, the levodopa group showed significant direct and indirect semantic priming effects at the 250 ms SOA, while no significant direct or indirect priming effects were evident at the SOAs of 500 ms or 1200 ms. These results suggest that dopamine has a role in modulating both automatic and attentional aspects of semantic activation according to a specific time course. The implications of these results for current theories of dopaminergic modulation of semantic activation are discussed. (JINS, 2004, 10, 15–25.)

Keywords

LevodopaSemantic primingSignal-to-noise ratioMasked primingGain/decay hypothesis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , January 2004 , pp. 15 - 25
Copyright
© 2004 The International Neuropsychological Society

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