Dopamine and working memory

Dopamine plays a role in cognitive processes, including working memory. Working memory refers to the active maintenance and manipulation of information over a short interval of time. It has often been associated with the prefrontal cortex.

Research suggests an inverted U-shaped relationship between dopamine and working memory capacity. Both low and high levels of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex are bad for the working memory. Working memory capacity is being measured here with the listening span test.

Discussion

The results confirm that working memory capacity, as measured with the listening span test, is associated with dopamine synthesis capacity in the striatum. A significant positive correlation was found between dopamine synthesis capacity in the left caudate nucleus and listening span. This means that people with a low working memory capacity have low dopamine synthesis rates, and that people with a high working memory capacity have high dopamine synthesis rates.

The results support the hypothesis that the dependency of dopaminergic drug effects on baseline working memory capacity reflects differential baseline levels of dopamine function.