Genetic variation in dopaminergic neuromodulation influences the ability to rapidly and flexibly adapt decisions.

ABSTRACT: The ability to rapidly and flexibly adapt decisions to available rewards is crucial for survival in dynamic environments. Reward-based decisions are guided by reward expectations that are updated based on prediction errors, and processing of these errors involves dopaminergic neuromodulation in the striatum. To test the hypothesis that the COMT gene Val(158)Met polymorphism leads to interindividual differences in reward-based learning, we used the neuromodulatory role of dopamine in signaling prediction errors. We show a behavioral advantage for the phylogenetically ancestral Val/Val genotype in an instrumental reversal learning task that requires rapid and flexible adaptation of decisions to changing reward contingencies in a dynamic environment. Implementing a reinforcement learning mode

SUBMITTER: Krugel LK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2760487 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature