Dopamine and reward-related vigor in younger and older adults

TY - JOUR

T1 - Dopamine and reward-related vigor in younger and older adults

AU - Hird, Emily J.

AU - Beierholm, Ulrik

AU - De Boer, Lieke

AU - Axelsson, Jan

AU - Backman, Lars

AU - Guitart-Masip, Marc

N1 - Funding Information: We thank Mats Erikson and Kajsa Burström for collecting the data. This research was supported by a research grant from the Swedish Research Council ( VR521-2013-2589 ) to Marc Guitart Masip. Emily J. Herd was funded by an Experimental Psychology Society Study Visit grant (January 2018 to March 2018). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)

PY - 2022/10

Y1 - 2022/10

N2 - Vigor reflects how motivated people are to respond to stimuli. We previously showed that, on average, humans are more vigorous when a higher rate of reward is available, and that this relationship is modulated by the dopamine precursor levodopa. Dopamine signaling and probabilistic reward learning deteriorate across the adult life span, and thus, the relationship between vigor and reward may also change in aging. We tested this assertion and assessed whether it correlates with D1 dopamine receptor availability, measured using Positron Emission Tomography. We registered response times of 30 older and 30 younger participants during an oddball discrimination task where rewards varied systematically between trials. The average reward rate had a similar impact on vigor in both age groups. There was a weak positive association between ventral striatal dopamine receptor availability and the effect of average reward rate on response time. Overall, the effect of reward on response vigor was similar in younger and older adults, and weakly correlated with dopamine D1 receptor availability.

AB - Vigor reflects how motivated people are to respond to stimuli. We previously showed that, on average, humans are more vigorous when a higher rate of reward is available, and that this relationship is modulated by the dopamine precursor levodopa. Dopamine signaling and probabilistic reward learning deteriorate across the adult life span, and thus, the relationship between vigor and reward may also change in aging. We tested this assertion and assessed whether it correlates with D1 dopamine receptor availability, measured using Positron Emission Tomography. We registered response times of 30 older and 30 younger participants during an oddball discrimination task where rewards varied systematically between trials. The average reward rate had a similar impact on vigor in both age groups. There was a weak positive association between ventral striatal dopamine receptor availability and the effect of average reward rate on response time. Overall, the effect of reward on response vigor was similar in younger and older adults, and weakly correlated with dopamine D1 receptor availability.

KW - Aging

KW - Dopamine

KW - Reward

KW - Vigor

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85134567849&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.06.003

DO - 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.06.003

M3 - Article

C2 - 35858491

AN - SCOPUS:85134567849

SN - 0197-4580

VL - 118

SP - 34

EP - 43

JO - Neurobiology of Aging

JF - Neurobiology of Aging

ER -