Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

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

Nature Neuroscience volume 13, pages 825–827 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

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).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Methodology (example data from one individual).
Figure 2: GABA in the frontal region correlates with saccade distraction.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Walker, R., Mannan, S., Maurer, D., Pambakian, A.L.M. & Kennard, C. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 267, 431–438 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Olivier, E., Dorris, M.C. & Munoz, D.P. Behav. Brain Sci. 22, 694–695 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Schlag, J., Dassonville, P. & Schlag-Rey, M. J. Neurophysiol. 79, 64–72 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Godijn, R. & Theeuwes, J. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 28, 1039–1054 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. McSorley, E., Haggard, P. & Walker, R. J. Neurophysiol. 96, 1420–1424 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Schiller, P.H. & Tehovnik, E.J. Eur. J. Neurosci. 18, 3127–3133 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Pouget, P., Wattiez, N., Rivaud-Pechoux, S. & Gaymard, B. PLoS One 4, e5208 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Mescher, M., Merkle, H., Kirsch, J., Garwood, M. & Gruetter, R. NMR Biomed. 11, 266–272 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Muthukumaraswamy, S.D., Edden, R.A.E., Jones, D.K., Swettenham, J.B. & Singh, K.D. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106, 8356–8361 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Evans, C.J., McGonigle, D.J. & Edden, R.A. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 31, 204–209 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Bompas, A. & Sumner, P. J. Vision 9, 1–14 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Lewis, D.A., Hashimoto, T. & Volk, D.W. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 6, 312–324 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kalueff, A.V. & Nutt, D.J. Depress. Anxiety 24, 495–517 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Rommelse, N.N., Van der Stigchel, S. & Sergeant, J.A. Brain Cogn. 68, 391–414 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Thaker, G.K., Nguyen, J.A. & Tamminga, C.A. Biol. Psychiatry 25, 49–59 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank F. Boy, S. Muthukumaraswamy, B. Taud, M. Husain, C. Chambers, T. Freeman, R. Honey and L. Wilkinson. R.A.E.E. thanks G. Barker and D. Shungu for pulse programming advice. This work was supported by the ESRC, the Wellcome Trust, the Wales Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and the Schools of Psychology, Biosciences and Chemistry at Cardiff University. Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre was established with support from the UK Department of Trade and Industry, Cardiff University and the Welsh Assembly government. R.A.E.E. held an RCUK fellowship.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Petroc Sumner and Richard A E Edden: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Petroc Sumner, Richard A E Edden, Aline Bompas, C John Evans & Krish D Singh

  2. Russell H Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Richard A E Edden

  3. FM Kirby Research Center for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Richard A E Edden

Authors
  1. Petroc Sumner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Richard A E Edden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Aline Bompas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. C John Evans
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Krish D Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

P.S., R.A.E.E. and K.D.S. conceived and planned the experimental study. R.A.E.E., P.S. and C.J.E. carried out and analyzed the magnetic resonance imaging and P.S. and A.B. performed and analyzed the behavioral experiments. All authors contributed to interpretation and presentation.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Petroc Sumner.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–5, Supplementary Methods and Supplementary Results (PDF 1300 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sumner, P., Edden, R., Bompas, A. et al. More GABA, less distraction: a neurochemical predictor of motor decision speed. Nat Neurosci 13, 825–827 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2559

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2559

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing