Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Although serotonin is an extensively studied neuromodulator, its role in economic and financial decision-making remains conceptually underdeveloped compared to dopaminergic frameworks. Existing approaches frequently treat serotonin as an auxiliary mechanism, despite evidence showing its central regulatory function in affective control, behavioral inhibition, learning from punishment, and modulating risk and loss responses. This review systematically integrates the neurobiological foundations of the serotonergic system with core behavioral finance and neurofinance phenomena. Drawing upon neuroanatomy, receptor pharmacology, genetics, and psychopharmacology, this study examines how serotonergic signaling shapes self-regulation, impulsivity, reward-punishment learning, cognitive control, and emotional responses to uncertainty. Particular attention is devoted to serotonin receptor subtypes, genetic polymorphisms such as the serotonin-transporter-linked polymorphic region, and their interactions with dopaminergic and noradrenergic systems. From a neurofinance perspective, the review demonstrates that serotonin acts as a key neuromodulatory mechanism underlying loss aversion, risk perception, feedback processing, and behavioral stability during financial decision-making. By synthesizing cross-disciplinary findings, the study conceptualizes the serotonergic system not merely as an inhibitor of impulsivity or a pathological mechanism, but as a fundamental neurobiological regulator that stabilizes economic behavior under conditions of uncertainty, stress, and potential loss.
Source: İşletme
Author: Yusuf Polat
Institution: Aksaray University
Language: Turkish
Subfield: General Decision Sciences
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7140047618