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Three weeks of SSRI administration enhances the visual perceptual threshold - a randomized placebo-controlled study

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Abstract

Rationale

The serotonergic system has been repeatedly linked to visual attention in general, but the effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) on specific components of visual attention remain unknown. Changes in distinct perceptual and cognitive processes are not readily evident in most attention paradigms.

Objective

In this study, we isolate basic components of visual attention to investigate potential effects of longer-term SSRI administration on non-emotional aspects of visual attention in healthy males.

Methods

In a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled design, 32 young healthy males were tested on multiple attentional parameters, before and after a 3-week SSRI intervention with fluoxetine (40 mg daily) or placebo. Data were modeled with a computational theory of visual attention to derive independent estimates of five distinct components of visual attention.

Results

The SSRI intervention selectively and significantly lowered the threshold for conscious visual perception. Specifically, we demonstrate that this improvement does not stem from a general increase in the speed of visual processing, as previously suggested, but specifically from a change in the perceptual threshold.

Conclusions

The study provides a novel description of the attentional dynamics affected by SSRI, while supporting previous findings on attentional effects of SSRI. Furthermore, it accentuates the utility of employing accuracy-based measures of attentional performance when conducting psychopharmacological research.

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Notes

  1. The models had 14 degrees of freedom (df): K, 5 df (the value reported is the expected K given a particular distribution of the probability that on a given trial, K = 1, 2,…, 6); C, 1 df; t0, 2 df (the perceptual threshold was assumed to be drawn trial-by-trial from a normal distribution with a given mean and standard deviation); windex, 5 df (one weight for each of the six locations under the restriction that the relative weights sum to 1); and α, 1 df.

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Funding

The project was funded by a center grant from the Lundbeck Foundation to Center for Integrated Molecular Brain Imaging (Cimbi, www.cimbi.dk). JL is supported by a grant from the Lundbeck Foundation: Attention, impulsivity, and monoamines: from psychological functions to molecular mechanisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 2A, 1353, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Jon Lansner, Christian G. Jensen, Anders Petersen & Signe Vangkilde

  2. Neurobiology Research Unit, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Jon Lansner, Christian G. Jensen, Patrick M. Fisher, Vibe G. Frokjaer & Gitte M. Knudsen

  3. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services, Capital Region, Denmark

    Signe Vangkilde

  4. Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Gitte M. Knudsen

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  1. Jon Lansner
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  2. Christian G. Jensen
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  3. Anders Petersen
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  4. Patrick M. Fisher
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  5. Vibe G. Frokjaer
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  6. Signe Vangkilde
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  7. Gitte M. Knudsen
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Correspondence to Jon Lansner.

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Signe Vangkilde and Gitte M. Knudsen shared last authorship

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Lansner, J., Jensen, C.G., Petersen, A. et al. Three weeks of SSRI administration enhances the visual perceptual threshold - a randomized placebo-controlled study. Psychopharmacology 236, 1759–1769 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-018-5158-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-018-5158-3

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