Non-cholinergic modulation of antisaccade performance : a modafinil-nicotine comparison

The antisaccade task provides a powerful tool with which to investigate the cognitive and neural systems underlying goal-directed behaviour, particularly in situations when the correct behavioural response requires the suppression of a prepotent response. Antisaccade errors (failures to suppress ref...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychopharmacologia 2007-12, Vol.195 (2), p.245-253
Main Authors: RYCROFT, N, HUTTON, S. B, DOWRY, O, GROOMSBRIDGE, C, SIERAKOWSKI, A, RUSTED, J. M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Attention - drug effects
Behavior
Benzhydryl Compounds - pharmacology
Biological and medical sciences
Central Nervous System Stimulants - pharmacology
Cognition & reasoning
Double-Blind Method
Eyes & eyesight
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Memory
Memory - drug effects
Neuropharmacology
Nicotine
Nicotine - pharmacology
Nicotinic Agonists - pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer
Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease)
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopharmacology
Reaction Time - drug effects
Saccades - drug effects
Task Performance and Analysis
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Summary:The antisaccade task provides a powerful tool with which to investigate the cognitive and neural systems underlying goal-directed behaviour, particularly in situations when the correct behavioural response requires the suppression of a prepotent response. Antisaccade errors (failures to suppress reflexive prosaccades towards sudden-onset targets) are increased in patients with damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and in patients with schizophrenia. Nicotine has been found to improve antisaccade performance in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. This performance enhancing effect may be due to direct effects on the cholinergic system, but there has been no test of this hypothesis. In a double blind, double dummy, placebo-controlled design, we compared the effect of nicotine and modafinil, a putative indirect noradrenergic agonist, on antisaccade performance in healthy non-smokers. Both compounds reduced latency for correct antisaccades, although neither reduced antisaccade errors. These findings are discussed with reference to the pharmacological route of performance enhancement on the antisaccade task and current models of antisaccade performance.
ISSN:0033-3158
1432-2072
DOI:10.1007/s00213-007-0885-x