Selective D2 Receptor Actions on the Functional Circuitry of Working Memory

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Abstract
Prefrontal neurons engaged by working memory tasks express a sequence of phasic and tonic activations linked to a train of sensory, mnemonic, and response-related events. Here, we report that the dopamine D2 receptor selectively modulates the neural activities associated with memory-guided saccades in oculomotor delayed-response tasks yet has little or no effect on the persistent mnemonic-related activity, which is instead modulated by D1 receptors. This associates the D2 receptor with a specific component of working memory circuitry and fractionates the modulatory effects of D1 and D2 receptors on the neural machinery of a cognitive process.