KarunaNews Story

Increasing serotonin can change how people learn from negative information, as well as improving how they respond to it, says a new study published in the journal Nature Communications. The study found people with increased serotonin levels had reduced sensitivity to punishing outcomes (for example, losing money in a game) without significantly affecting sensitivity to rewarding ones (winning money). "Our findings underscore the central role that serotonin plays in effortful cognitive processes, such as our ability to put the brakes on unwanted behaviors,” says Professor Susannah Murphy, Associate Professor at the University of Oxford. “This study helps to further understand why drugs that change serotonin levels are effective treatments for many mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder."