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Activation of serotonin neurons promotes active persistence in a probabilistic foraging task

Author

Listed:
  • Eran Lottem

    (Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown)

  • Dhruba Banerjee

    (University of California)

  • Pietro Vertechi

    (Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown)

  • Dario Sarra

    (Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown)

  • Matthijs oude Lohuis

    (University of Amsterdam)

  • Zachary F. Mainen

    (Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown)

Abstract

The neuromodulator serotonin (5-HT) has been implicated in a variety of functions that involve patience or impulse control. Many of these effects are consistent with a long-standing theory that 5-HT promotes behavioral inhibition, a motivational bias favoring passive over active behaviors. To further test this idea, we studied the impact of 5-HT in a probabilistic foraging task, in which mice must learn the statistics of the environment and infer when to leave a depleted foraging site for the next. Critically, mice were required to actively nose-poke in order to exploit a given site. We show that optogenetic activation of 5-HT neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus increases the willingness of mice to actively attempt to exploit a reward site before giving up. These results indicate that behavioral inhibition is not an adequate description of 5-HT function and suggest that a unified account must be based on a higher-order function.

Suggested Citation

  • Eran Lottem & Dhruba Banerjee & Pietro Vertechi & Dario Sarra & Matthijs oude Lohuis & Zachary F. Mainen, 2018. "Activation of serotonin neurons promotes active persistence in a probabilistic foraging task," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-03438-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03438-y
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    Cited by:

    1. Hiro Taiyo Hamada & Yoshifumi Abe & Norio Takata & Masakazu Taira & Kenji F. Tanaka & Kenji Doya, 2024. "Optogenetic activation of dorsal raphe serotonin neurons induces brain-wide activation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Milošević, Marija, 2022. "Stochastic serotonin model with discontinuous drift," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 359-374.

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