Trial reportPsychopharmacology2011
Human cognitive flexibility depends on dopamine D2 receptor signaling.
Trial report in Psychopharmacology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 127 citations in OpenAlex.
- Within-Individual BOLD Signal Variability and its Implications for Task-Based Cognition: A Systematic Review.Neuropsychology review · 2024Pooled it
- Methylphenidate reorganizes cortical hierarchy through dopaminergic modulation.Nature communications · 2025Trial
- Dopaminergic Genetic Variation Influences Aripiprazole Effects on Alcohol Self-Administration and the Neural Response to Alcohol Cues in a Randomized Trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2018Trial
- Effects of Ginkgo biloba extract EGb 761® on cognitive control functions, mental activity of the prefrontal cortex and stress reactivity in elderly adults with subjective memory impairment - a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.Human psychopharmacology · 2016Trial
- DRD2 genotype predicts prefrontal activity during working memory after stimulation of D2 receptors with bromocriptine.Psychopharmacology · 2014Trial
- Dopaminergic influences on emotional decision making in euthymic bipolar patients.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2014Trial
- Dissociable fronto-striatal effects of dopamine D2 receptor stimulation on cognitive versus motor flexibility.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behaviorTrial
- The effects of increasing and decreasing dopamine on inhibition of return: a psychopharmacological investigation.Experimental brain research · 2026Article
- Physical activity moderates the mediating role of depression between experiential avoidance and Internet addiction.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Cranial radiation disrupts dopaminergic signaling and connectivity in the mammalian brain.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2025Article
- Alcohol, flexible behavior, and the prefrontal cortex: Functional changes underlying impaired cognitive flexibility.Neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- Tips and tricks in tremor treatment.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2024Review
- Role of dopamine agonists in Parkinson's disease therapy.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2023Review
- Altered Pain Processing Associated with Administration of Dopamine Agonist and Antagonist in Healthy Volunteers.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Neurotransmitters and molecular chaperones interactions in cerebral malaria: Is there a missing link?Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2022Review
- Neuromodulation of prefrontal cortex cognitive function in primates: the powerful roles of monoamines and acetylcholine.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Review
- Dopamine in Autism Spectrum Disorders-Focus on D2/D3 Partial Agonists and Their Possible Use in Treatment.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Review
- The Rise and Fall of Dopamine: A Two-Stage Model of the Development and Entrenchment of Anorexia Nervosa.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Targeting Hormones for Improving Cognition in Major Mood Disorders and Schizophrenia: Thyroid Hormones and Prolactin.Clinical drug investigation · 2020Review
- Dopaminergic gene methylation is associated with cognitive performance in a childhood monozygotic twin study.Epigenetics · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleAccumulating evidence indicates that the cognitive effects of dopamine depend on the subtype of dopamine receptor that is activated. In particular, recent work with animals as well as current theorizing has suggested that cognitive flexibility depends on dopamine D2 receptor signaling. However, there is no evidence for similar mechanisms in humans.
objectivesWe aim to demonstrate that optimal dopamine D2 receptor signaling is critical for human cognitive flexibility.
methodsTo this end, a pharmacological pretreatment design was employed. This enabled us to investigate whether effects of the dopamine receptor agonist bromocriptine on task-set switching were abolished by pretreatment with the D2 receptor antagonist sulpiride. To account for individual (genetic) differences in baseline levels of dopamine, we made use of a common variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism in the 3'-untranslated region of the dopamine transporter gene, DAT1.
resultsBromocriptine improved cognitive flexibility relative to placebo, but only in subjects with genetically determined low levels of dopamine (n = 27). This beneficial effect of bromocriptine on cognitive flexibility was blocked by pretreatment with the selective dopamine D2 receptor antagonist sulpiride (n = 14).
conclusionsThese results provide strong evidence in favor of the hypothesis that human cognitive flexibility implicates dopamine D2 receptor signaling.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.