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Effects of acute and chronic manipulations of the
serotonergic system on cognitive judgment bias in
rats
Joanna GołębiowskaAffective Cognitive Neuroscience Lab
Department of Behavioral Neuroscience and Drug Development Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland
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Are you an optimist?
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Cognitive bias
distorted perception of reality
„Information processing by humans can be
biased by their emotions — for example,
anxious and depressed people tend to
make negative judgements about events
and to interpret ambiguous stimuli unfavourably „
Emma J.Harding et all. Nature 2004
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Optimism (a cognitive judgment bias)
• What do we know about optimism?• How to study optimism?• Emotions• Stability (state or trait)• Motivation• Neurotransmission
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Optimism (a cognitive judgment bias)
• What do we know about optimism?• How to study optimism?• Emotions• Stability (state or trait)• Motivation• Neurotransmission
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Cognitive judgment bias in humans
How unrealistic optimism is maintained in the face of reality
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Probability of winning
1 in 13 983 816
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Optimism (a cognitive judgment bias)
• What do we know about optimism• How to study optimism• Emotions• Stability (state or trait)?• Motivation• Neurotransmission
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Ambiguous-cue interpretation test
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Low: get reward
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Ambiguous-cue interpretation test
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High: avoid shockLow: get reward
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Ambiguous-cue interpretation test
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Ambiguous-cue interpretation testIntermediate:
what do you
think?
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Optimism (a cognitive judgment bias)
• What do we know about optimism• How to study optimism• Emotions• Stability (state or trait)?• Motivation• Neurotransmission
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Cognitive affective bias is associated with emotions
Jaak Panksepp
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Cognitive affective bias is associated with emotions
Laughing rats are optimistic
Jaak Panksepp
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Chronic psychosocial stress makes rats more ‘pessimistic’
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Optimism (a cognitive judgment bias)
• What do we know about optimism• How to study optimism• Emotions• Stability (state or trait)?• Motivation• Neurotransmission
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Cognitive judgement bias is a stable and enduring behavioural
trait
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Optimism (a cognitive judgment bias)
• What do we know about optimism• How to study optimism• Emotions• Stability (state or trait)?• Motivation• Neurotransmission
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Optimism in rats is associated with increased motivation to gain
reward
Effects of optimism on motivation in rats
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Optimism (a cognitive judgment bias)
• What do we know about optimism• How to study optimism• Emotions• Stability (state or trait)?• Motivation• Neurotransmission
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Dopamine and serotonin are involved in processing reward and punishment expectancies
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Dopamine enhances an optimism bias in humans
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Sharot et al., 2012 Corrent Biology
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Dopamine enhances an optimism bias in rats
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Role of serotonin in cognitive judgement bias
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Role of serotonin in cognitive judgement bias
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prozac
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Acute serotonergic system stimulation
Saline Esc 0,5 Esc 1 Esc 2-1.0
-0.5
0.0
0.5
1.0
Cog
nit
ive
Bia
s In
dex
Optimism Index
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Acute
adm
inis
tratio
n
1 wee
k
2 wee
k-100
-50
0
50
100%
of
con
trol
Optimism index
Chronic serotonergic system stimulation
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Role of serotonin in cognitive judgement bias
Depletion of serotonin
PCPA
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Serotonergic system depletion
Acute
adm
inis
tratio
n
1 wee
k
2 wee
k-100
-50
0
50
100
% o
f co
ntr
olOptimism index
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• positive emotions are associated with optimism
Summary
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• positive emotions are associated with optimism
• stress produces pessimism
Summary
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• positive emotions are associated with optimism
• stress produces pessimism• optimism/pessimism is stable in
time
Summary
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• positive emotions are associated with optimism
• stress produces pessimism• optimism/pessimism is stable in
time• optimism/pessimism is associated
with motivation
Summary
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• positive emotions are associated with optimism
• stress produces pessimism• optimism/pessimism is stable in
time• optimism/pessimism is associated
with motivation• dopaminergic and serotonergic
neurotransmission systems affect optimism
Summary
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Conclusions
• Stimulation of dopamine and serotonin depletion enhance optimism
• A functional opponency exists between dopamine and serotonin in processing the reward and punishment expectancies
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This work was supported by the National Science Centre (Research grant: Sonata BIS Nr. dec-2012/07/E/NZ4/00196)
and the statutory funds of the Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences.