Dopamine modulation of motor and implicit learning contributions to auditory temporal attention

Auditory periodic temporal attention operates optimally around 1.5 Hz when temporal structure is judged explicitly. Synchronized rhythmic movements further enhance its efficacy, an effect thought to depend on basal ganglia dopamine, crucial for both motor and temporal processing. However, whether dopamine underpins the relationship between auditory temporal attention and motor activity remains unclear. Using an auditory temporal attention task in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients ON versus OFF the dopaminergic medication L-DOPA, alongside healthy controls, we found no evidence that dopamine modulates the ∼1.5 Hz optimal sampling rate of auditory temporal attention. However, dopamine enables motor synchronization to the auditory stream and is hence crucial for the motor benefits of auditory temporal attention. Performing the first session ON L-DOPA also improved performance in the following session. These findings underscore a selective role for dopamine in audio-motor interaction, with no evidence that the intrinsic rhythm of auditory attention depends on dopamine.