Rationale: Serotonin (5-HT) plays a key role in different aspects of value-based decision-making. A recent framework proposed that tonic 5-HT (together with dopamine, DA) codes future average reward expectations, providing a baseline against which possible choice outcomes are compared to guide decision-making.
Objectives: To test whether high 5-HT levels decrease loss aversion, risk-seeking for gains, and risk-seeking for losses.
Methods: In a first session, 611 participants were genotyped for 5-HTTLPR and performed a mixed gambles (MGA) task and two probability discounting tasks for gains and losses, respectively (PDG/PDL). Afterwards, a subsample of 105 participants (44 with S/S, 6 with S/L, 55 with L/L genotype) completed the pharmacological study using a crossover design with tryptophan depletion (ATD), loading (ATL), and balanced (BAL) conditions. The same decision constructs were assessed.
Results: We found increased risk-seeking for losses in S/S compared to L/L individuals at the first visit (p = 0.002). Neither tryptophan depletion nor loading affected decision-making, nor did we observe an interaction between intervention and 5-HTTLPR genotype.
Conclusion: Our data do not support the idea that transient changes of tonic 5-HT affect value-based decision-making. We provide evidence for an association of 5-HTTLPR with risk-seeking for losses, independent of acute 5-HT levels. This indicates that the association of 5-HTTLPR and risk-seeking for losses is mediated via other mechanisms, possibly by differences in the structural development of neural circuits of the 5-HT system during early life phases.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-018-4913-9 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Choosing the right frame: how context preferences facilitate subsequent decisions.
Sci Rep
December 2024
Division of Computational & Data Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Context shapes how we perceive choices and, therefore, how we decide between them. For instance, a large body of literature on the "framing effect" demonstrates that people become more risk-seeking when choices are framed in terms of losses. Despite this research, it remains unknown how people make choices between contexts and how these choices affect subsequent decision making.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtomoxetine Reduces Decisional Impulsivity in Human Cocaine Addiction.
Biol Psychiatry
October 2024
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; Department of Addictive Behaviour and Addiction Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany. Electronic address:
Background: Impulsivity is a well-known determinant of maladaptive behavior in cocaine use disorder (CUD), but there are currently no effective strategies for managing excessive impulsivity. Growing evidence from preclinical and clinical studies suggests that atomoxetine, a selective noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor, is effective in improving impulse control in both healthy individuals and individuals with neuropsychiatric conditions.
Methods: We investigated the effects of atomoxetine on decisional impulsivity in patients with CUD.
Connection Failure: Differences in White Matter Microstructure Are Associated with but Not with Risk Seeking for Losses.
Int J Mol Sci
June 2024
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany.
S/S carriers of have been found to be more risk seeking for losses compared to L/L carriers. This finding may be the result of reduced top-down control from the frontal cortex due to altered signal pathways involving the amygdala and ventral striatum. The serotonergic system is known to be involved in neurodevelopment and neuroplasticity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo risk or not: The impact of socioeconomic status on preschoolers' risky decision-making for gains and losses.
Dev Sci
July 2024
Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Disparities in socioeconomic status (SES) may affect individuals' risk preferences, which have important developmental consequences across the lifespan. Yet, previous research has shown inconsistent associations between SES and risky decision-making, and little is known about how this link develops from a young age. The current research is among the first to examine how SES influences preschoolers' risky decisions in both gain and loss frames.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFValue-based decision-making predicts alcohol use and related problems in young men.
J Psychopharmacol
December 2023
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Background: Alcohol consumption is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, disproportionately affecting young men. Heavy episodic drinking is particularly prevalent among men, with this behavior peaking between the ages of 20 and 24.
Aims: We sought to identify dimensions of decision-making in men that would predict the development of hazardous alcohol use through emerging adulthood.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!