More GABA, less distraction: a neurochemical predictor of motor decision speed

Nat Neurosci. 2010 Jul;13(7):825-7. doi: 10.1038/nn.2559. Epub 2010 May 30.

Abstract

People vary markedly in the efficiency with which they can resolve competitive action decisions, even simple ones such as shifting gaze to one stimulus rather than another. We found that an individual's ability to rapidly resolve such competition is predicted by the concentration of GABA, the main inhibitory neurotransmitter, in a region of frontal cortex that is relevant for eye movements, but not in a control region (occipital cortex).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Attention / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping*
  • Conflict, Psychological
  • Decision Making / physiology*
  • Eye Movements / physiology
  • Field Dependence-Independence
  • Frontal Lobe / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Neural Inhibition / physiology
  • Occipital Lobe / metabolism
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
  • Visual Pathways / physiology
  • gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / metabolism*

Substances

  • gamma-Aminobutyric Acid