Dopamine modulates default mode network deactivation in elderly individuals during the Tower of London task

Task-induced deactivation is frequently reported in the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), regions considered to belong to the default mode network. To investigate the effect of dopamine on task-induced deactivation, we used positron emission tomography to measure cerebral blood flow during performance of the Tower of London task before and after administration of the dopamine receptor agonist apomorphine in six healthy volunteers (49-66 years old) and six Parkinson disease patients (52-69 years old). Although task-induced deactivation was observed in the vmPFC and PCC in both groups and in both conditions, an inverse correlation between activation and problem complexity was observed in the vmPFC only in the apomorphine condition.