Serotonin modulates asymmetric learning from reward and punishment in healthy human volunteers

Jochen Michely; Eran Eldar; Alon Erdman; Ingrid M. Martin; Raymond J. Dolan

doi:10.1038/s42003-022-03690-5

Serotonin modulates asymmetric learning from reward and punishment in healthy human volunteers

Jochen Michely^*, Eran Eldar, Alon Erdman, Ingrid M. Martin, Raymond J. Dolan

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Instrumental learning is driven by a history of outcome success and failure. Here, we examined the impact of serotonin on learning from positive and negative outcomes. Healthy human volunteers were assessed twice, once after acute (single-dose), and once after prolonged (week-long) daily administration of the SSRI citalopram or placebo. Using computational modelling, we show that prolonged boosting of serotonin enhances learning from punishment and reduces learning from reward. This valence-dependent learning asymmetry increases subjects’ tendency to avoid actions as a function of cumulative failure without leading to detrimental, or advantageous, outcomes. By contrast, no significant modulation of learning was observed following acute SSRI administration. However, differences between the effects of acute and prolonged administration were not significant. Overall, these findings may help explain how serotonergic agents impact on mood disorders.

Original language	American English
Article number	812
Journal	Communications Biology
Volume	5
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03690-5
State	Published - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
J.M. was supported by a fellowship from the German Research Foundation (MI 2158/1-1) and is participant in the BIH Charité (Junior) (Digital) Clinician Scientist Program funded by the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH). R.J.D. holds a Wellcome Trust Investigator award (098362/Z/12/Z). The Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research is a joint initiative supported by the Max Planck Society and University College London. The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging is supported by core funding from the Wellcome Trust (091593/Z/10/Z).

Funding Information:
J.M. was supported by a fellowship from the German Research Foundation (MI 2158/1-1) and is participant in the BIH Charité (Junior) (Digital) Clinician Scientist Program funded by the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH). R.J.D. holds a Wellcome Trust Investigator award (098362/Z/12/Z). The Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research is a joint initiative supported by the Max Planck Society and University College London. The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging is supported by core funding from the Wellcome Trust (091593/Z/10/Z).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

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abstract = "Instrumental learning is driven by a history of outcome success and failure. Here, we examined the impact of serotonin on learning from positive and negative outcomes. Healthy human volunteers were assessed twice, once after acute (single-dose), and once after prolonged (week-long) daily administration of the SSRI citalopram or placebo. Using computational modelling, we show that prolonged boosting of serotonin enhances learning from punishment and reduces learning from reward. This valence-dependent learning asymmetry increases subjects{\textquoteright} tendency to avoid actions as a function of cumulative failure without leading to detrimental, or advantageous, outcomes. By contrast, no significant modulation of learning was observed following acute SSRI administration. However, differences between the effects of acute and prolonged administration were not significant. Overall, these findings may help explain how serotonergic agents impact on mood disorders.",

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Serotonin modulates asymmetric learning from reward and punishment in healthy human volunteers

Abstract

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