Contribution of L-Tyrosine to Human Decision Making in Stressful Situations
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2022-09-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
L-tyrosine is a chemical precursor of dopamine. Under specific conditions, tyrosine
administration can increase brain dopamine levels and therefore several studies have explored
whether tyrosine supplementation can have a beneficial effect on cognitive and behavioural
performance that is dependent on dopaminergic function. However, the effects of tyrosine
supplementation are mixed: some studies show positive effects while others do not. Stress
leads to an increase in dopaminergic activity and turnover in the brain, resulting in a
decrease in brain dopamine levels. We propose to study the contribution of tyrosine to
decision making and more particularly to the processes of response selection (mediated by the
prefrontal cortex and under the influence of the dopaminergic system) in stressful
situations.