Nature Communications (Mar 2018)

Activation of serotonin neurons promotes active persistence in a probabilistic foraging task

  • Eran Lottem,
  • Dhruba Banerjee,
  • Pietro Vertechi,
  • Dario Sarra,
  • Matthijs oude Lohuis,
  • Zachary F. Mainen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03438-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Serotonin (5-HT) has been suggested to promote waiting through behavioral inhibition. Here, the authors use an active foraging task and optogenetic activation of 5-HT neurons to show that rather than passivity, these neurons enhance persistence in the face of delay.