Given the established striatal hyperdopaminergic state in schizophrenia (Howes et al., 2024; Sekiguchi, Pavey, & Dean, 2019) and the associations between striatal DAT availability and attention or memory functions observed across various clinical populations (Cropley et al., 2006; Itagaki et al., 2024; Rieckmann, Johnson, Sperling, Buckner, & Hedden, 2018; Smith et al., 2018), we posit that downregulation secondary to hyperdopaminergia is the primary cause of reduced striatal DAT availability. This evidence concerns the gene SLC6A3 and schizophrenia.