Work

Serotonin Selectively Modulates Reward Value in Human Decision-Making

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: Establishing a function for the neuromodulator serotonin in human decision-making has proved remarkably difficult because if its complex role in reward and punishment processing. In a novel choice task where actions led concurrently and independently to the stochastic delivery of both money and pain, we studied the impact of decreased brain serotonin induced by acute dietary tryptophan depletion. Depletion selectively impaired both behavioral and neural representations of reward outcome value, and hence the effective exchange rate by which rewards and punishments were compared. This effect was computationally and anatomically distinct from a separate effect on increasing outcome-independent choice perseveration. Our results provide evidence for a surprising role for serotonin in reward processing, while illustrating its complex and multifarious effects.

Source: Journal of Neuroscience

DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0053-12.2012

Authors: Ben Seymour, Nathaniel D. Daw, Jonathan P. Roiser, Peter Dayan, Ray Dolan

Institutions: Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, New York University

Language: English

Topic: Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: Wellcome Trust