For the first time, scientists have confirmed a neurobiochemical link between dopamine and cognitive flexibility, according to new research published in the March issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. PET imaging shows that the brain increases dopamine production when completing cognitively demanding tasks, and that the more dopamine released, the more efficiently the tasks are completed. Armed with this information, physicians may soon be able to develop more precise treatment strategies for neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Cognitive flexibility is the ability to adapt one’s thinking and behavior appropriately to a changing environment and is considered an aspect of executive function. Cognitive flexibility differs among people and is reported to be impaired in several psychiatric and neurologic disorders,…