title: Serotonin and dopamine: unifying affective, activational, and decision functions.
abstract: Serotonin, like dopamine (DA), has long been implicated in adaptive behavior, including decision making and reinforcement learning. However, although the two neuromodulators are tightly related and have a similar degree of functional importance, compared with DA, we have a much less specific understanding about the mechanisms by which serotonin affects behavior. Here, we draw on recent work on computational models of dopaminergic function to suggest a framework by which many of the seemingly diverse functions associated with both DA and serotonin-comprising both affective and activational ones, as well as a number of other functions not overtly related to either-can be seen as consequences of a single root mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. roshan.cools@gmail.com
authors.forename: Roshan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cools
authors.forename: Kae
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Nathaniel D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Daw
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D012201:Reward; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012701:Serotonin; D004298:Dopamine