A new study found individuals supplementing with GABA may have an increased ability to prioritize and react to different actions. This study which was published in Nature’s Scientific Reports tested whether GABA supplementation could improve both planning and controlling different actions which would be critical skills in situations like driving a car in stop and go traffic.
30 healthy adults participated in this double-blind, randomized study. Participants received either 800 mg of GABA or 800 mg of microcrystalline cellulose (a placebo). Participants performed a stop-change paradigm test which was designed to assess their reaction time to a changing signal. In this specific test participants were required to stop an ongoing response to a GO stimulus when they were presented with a STOP and then a CHANGER stimulus. The STOP stimulus was followed by a CHANGE stimulus which told participants to shift to an alternative response. The time between the STOP and the CHANGE signals were manipulated to either happen at the same time or with a very short delay. The reaction time (RT) on STOP-CHANGE trials can be taken to reflect the efficiency of executive action control processes in the brain. The shorter the RT the more efficient is the action selection.
The GABA supplement participants showed increased efficiency in action selection response time both when the STOP and CHANGE signals were given simultaneously and when there was a short delay between the STOP and CHANGE signals.
Researchers concluded that GABA is important for STOP-CHANGE processes as opposed to automatic responding processes. Controlling multiple and different actions while responding to stimuli that are constantly changing is controlled by a variety of systems in the brain. One of the main systems involved in this “action selection” is believed to be controlled by GABA a inhibitory neurotransmitter. GABA plays a crucial and very specific role in the coordination and selection of different actions by suppressing competing response options.
Further studies are needed.
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