Activity patterns of serotonin neurons underlying cognitive flexibility.
Serotonin is implicated in mood and affective disorders. However, growing evidence suggests that a core endogenous role is to promote flexible adaptation to changes in the causal structure of the environment, through behavioral inhibition and enhanced plasticity. We used long-term photometric recordings in mice to study a population of dorsal raphe serotonin neurons, whose activity we could link to normal reversal learning using pharmacogenetics. We found that these neurons are activated by both positive and negative prediction errors, and thus report signals similar to those proposed to promote learning in conditions of uncertainty. Furthermore, by comparing the cue responses of serotonin and dopamine neurons, we found differences in learning rates that could explain the importance of serotonin in inhibiting perseverative responding. Our findings show how the activity patterns of serotonin neurons support a role in cognitive flexibility, and suggest a revised model of dopamine-serotonin opponency with potential clinical implications.
Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal.|MIT-Portugal Program, Porto Salvo, Portugal.
Sara
0000-0002-7432-6754
S
Matias
Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal.
Eran
0000-0001-5852-928X
E
Lottem
Institut de Biologie de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR8197, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France.
Guillaume P
0000-0002-4106-6132
GP
Dugué
Champalimaud Research, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal.
Zachary F
0000-0001-7913-9109
ZF
Mainen
D000818:Animals; D065847:Dorsal Raphe Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D012193:Reversal Learning; D059326:Serotonergic Neurons / Q000502:physiology*
Serotonin; Serotonin-dopamine opponency; Surprise; mouse; neuroscience; perseveration; reversal learning