A specific role for serotonin in overcoming effort cost

MEYNIEL, Florent, GOODWIN, Guy M, DEAKIN, JF William, KLINGE, Corinna, MACFADYEN, Christine, MILLIGAN, Holly, MULLINGS, Emma, PESSIGLIONE, Mathias and GAILLARD, Raphaël (2016). A specific role for serotonin in overcoming effort cost. eLife, 5, e 17282.

Preview

PDF elife-17282-v1.pdf - Published Version Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Serotonin is implicated in many aspects of behavioral regulation. Theoretical attempts to unify the multiple roles assigned to serotonin proposed that it regulates the impact of costs, such as delay or punishment, on action selection. Here, we show that serotonin also regulates other types of action costs such as effort. We compared behavioral performance in 58 healthy humans treated during 8 weeks with either placebo or the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor escitalopram. The task involved trading handgrip force production against monetary benefits. Participants in the escitalopram group produced more effort and thereby achieved a higher payoff. Crucially, our computational analysis showed that this effect was underpinned by a specific reduction of effort cost, and not by any change in the weight of monetary incentives. This specific computational effect sheds new light on the physiological role of serotonin in behavioral regulation and on the clinical effect of drugs for depression.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.17282
Page Range:	e 17282
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Elements
Depositing User:	Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited:	01 Apr 2019 10:38
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 05:50
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/23495

Actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads

Publication Metrics