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

High: avoid shockLow: get reward

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Ambiguous-cue interpretation test

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

Dopamine enhances an optimism bias in humans

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Sharot et al., 2012 Corrent Biology

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

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.