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

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

SUBMITTER: Michely J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9374781 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature