Dopamine and cognitive control:: The influence of spontaneous eyeblink rate and dopamine gene polymorphisms on perseveration and distractibility

One fundamental problem of intelligent organisms pursuing goal-directed behavior is how to dynamically regulate the balance between maintenance and flexibility. The authors show that central dopaminergic activity, as indicated by spontaneous eyeblink rate and dopamine gene polymorphisms, plays an important role in the modulation of this balance. Seventy-two young adults were examined. Participants with high blink rates showed increased cognitive flexibility but decreased cognitive stability compared with participants with low blink rates. This pattern of results was even more pronounced for carriers of the DRD4 exon III 4/7 genotype, even though no main effects were found for DRD4 and COMT polymorphisms. Results converge with neuropsychological models that suggest a modulatory role of prefrontal dopaminergic activity for processes of cognitive control.