Empowerment in Parkinson's Disease
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Dopamine and Empowerment: Clinical and fMRI Studies in Parkinson's Disease and Healthy Controls
IRAS ID
137319
Contact name
Marjan Jahanshahi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
14/LO/2079, London-Camden & islington
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
People who feel empowered show better mood, better mental functioning and a readiness to act (Keltner, Gruenfeld, Anderson, 2003; Galinsky, Gruenfeld, & Magee, 2003). Powerful individuals more readily take action in a variety of everyday tasks, and more readily attain their goals compared to powerless individuals. It has been proposed that these effects of power derive from an activation of a brain system named the Behavioural Approach System (BAS, see Keltner et al., 2003). This system is responsive to the expectation of rewards, such as food or sex. It prepares the individual for action in the pursuit of rewards and valued goals. Crucially, BAS activity depends on pathways in the midbrain associated with the implementation of action and the neurotransmitter dopamine (Keltner et al., 2003). Yet little is known about the neural correlates of empowerment. Recent studies suggest that the position individuals occupy in naturally occurring power hierarchies correlates with differences in dopamine in parts of the brain associated with action and reward processing (Martinez et al., 2010; Morgan et al., 2002). Here, our aim is to test the hypothesis that dopamine is implicated in empowerment, and implements the effects of power on action described in past research. To examine the links between empowerment and dopamine in the midbrain we employ healthy participants, as well as participants who have naturally depleted dopamine levels – Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients. This research will advance the understanding of the neural bases of empowerment, and can be used to improve movement in PD patients.
PD is associated with a depletion of dopamine in some areas of the brain (the nigrostriatal dopamine system). PD patients are characterized by slowness of movement (bradykinesia), inability to inhibit dominant responses, and negative mood (see Rodriguez-Oroz et al, 2009; Obeso et al., 2011). An examination of the effects of empowerment on PD patients can contribute to an understanding of the role of dopamine in empowerment, and potentially contribute to an improvement of motor performance in PD patients.
In summary, we test the hypotheses that (i) dopamine is important in explaining empowerment (ii) dopamine replacement can improve motor functioning in PD through enhanced empowerment. (iii) dopamine will modulate brain activation in circuits mediating empowerment. Four studies will test these hypotheses. Two studies will employ empowerment techniques (recalling a past event in which participants were empowered vs. a neutral past event) to compare PD relative to healthy control participants in a first study, and PD on versus off dopaminergic medication is a second study, to determine the effects of empowerment and dopamine replacement on motor performance and mood. A third study will use a brain imaging technique (fMRI) to identify the neural substrates of empowerment in PD and control participants. A final study will use fMRI to examine the effects of dopamine agonists (i.e., drugs that enhance the concentration of dopamine) on empowerment in young healthy controls to determine how dopamine modulation affects the patterns of brain activation and connectivity in the neural circuits involved in empowerment in the healthy brain.REC name
London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/2079
Date of REC Opinion
5 Feb 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion