Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is activated when we experience pleasure. It is also closely connected to our feelings when we fall in love, as well as substance abuse. It plays an important role in the learning process as the higher levels of it allow the brain to pick up and maintain more information. If dopamine is absent in the system, the person may have an inability to concentrate on information or may have difficulty remembering it later.
According to researchers from Virginia Tech's Carilion Institute, they already have an idea regarding the link between dopamine and learning, but they still want to learn more about it in a new study. Using advanced technology, the researchers analyzed dopamine levels of patients with Parkinson's who underwent brain surgery at a much quicker pace than those previously recorded. The outcome has led researchers to believe that their understanding about dopamine prior to this study was very limited. They have found that dopamine indeed played a major role in learning and mental disorders like depression, more than they thought.
Read Montague, director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and an author of the study explained that in the past 20 years of research in nonhuman model, organisms has given a very precise picture of dopamine's role in directing human behavior. Now, using the first-of-their-kind measurements, made specifically in humans, they have discovered that this situation was greatly incomplete.
The researchers worked hand in hand with neurosurgeons from Wake Forest University Health Science in examining dopamine levels of study participants suffering from Parkinson's disease. During the study, the researchers directed their attention on Parkinson's patients who were undergoing surgery to insert deep-brain stimulation electrodes.
The researchers revealed that they chose Parkinson's because it is the disease that involves "a system... falling apart in their brains." According to Ken Kishida, an author of the study said that Parkinson's disease is marked by the death of dopamine-releasing neurons. They are also trying to understand the hidden mechanisms of the disease process.
