Session 6 | Dissociable Effects of Dopamine and Serotonin on Reversal Learning

On our 6th session Mona presented : den Ouden, Hanneke EM, et al. "Dissociable Effects of Dopamine and Serotonin on Reversal Learning." Neuron 80.4 (2013): 1090-1100.

At first we had a discussion on Dopamine and Serotonin's role in behavioral control. Mona described us the previous researches and experimental findings in electrophysiological, pharmacological and fMRI studies.
We understand that these neurotransmitters are involved in learning from reinforcement and dopamine enhances relative learning from reward, while serotonin has been associated with learning from negative events.
We talked about the experimental paradigm and had a long debate on behavioral measurements used for the task, there is a significant difference between correct/incorrect and rewarding/punishing choice in their task.
Mona described us that polymorphism of serotonin and dopamine transporter genes can be used to investigate effects of the dopamine and serotonin systems.
We spent a good time on understanding results in figure 2 and computational models proposed for investigating the mechanisms that underlie genotype results.
A discussion on different aspects of this research may be started in future posts.