Internet and Psychiatry
  • Home
    • Editorials
    • Research news
    • Research papers
    • Interviews with eminent psychiatrists
    • Ten years ago
    • Fifteen years ago
  • Topics
    • Alcohol and Drug Abuse
    • Anxiety Disorders
    • Biomedical Science
    • Compulsive gambling
    • Disaster Medicine
    • Education
    • General Medicine
      • Acupuncture
      • Physical medicine and Rehabilitation
    • Human Rights
    • Interviews with eminent psychiatrists
    • Mood Disorders
      • Bipolar Disorder
      • Depression
      • Seasonal Affective Disorder
    • Neurological Disorders
    • Other Psychiatric Disorders
    • Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
    • Sexual Behavior
  • Books
    • Comorbidity of Depression and Alcohol Use Disorders
    • “Immigration and Mental Health” chapter abstracts
    • “Internet and Suicide” chapter abstracts
    • “Neurobiology of PTSD” chapter abstracts
    • “Suicidal Behavior in Alcohol…” chapter abstracts
    • “Suicide in the Military” chapter abstracts
    • “Terror and Suicide” chapter abstracts
    • “War and Suicide” chapter abstracts
  • Editors
    • Leo Sher, M.D.
    • Alexander Vilens, M.S.
  • Guests
    • Distinguished Guests
    • Our Contributors
  • Reflections
    • Poetry
    • Quotes

Compulsive gambling

Pupil Dilation Signals Surprise: Evidence for Noradrenaline’s Role in Decision Making

October 16, 2011

Preuschoff K, ‘t Hart BM, Einhäuser W.
Social and Neural Systems Lab, University of Zurich Zurich, Switzerland.
Front Neurosci. 2011;5:115. Epub 2011 Sep 30.

Our decisions are guided by the rewards we expect. These expectations are often based on incomplete knowledge and are thus subject to uncertainty. While the neurophysiology of expected rewards is well understood, less is known about the physiology of uncertainty. We hypothesize that uncertainty, or more specifically errors in judging uncertainty, are reflected in pupil dilation, a marker that has frequently been associated with decision making, but so far has remained largely elusive to quantitative models.To test this hypothesis, we measure pupil dilation while observers perform an auditory gambling task. This task dissociates two key decision variables – uncertainty and reward – and their errors from each other and from the act of the decision itself. We first demonstrate that the pupil does not signal expected reward or uncertainty per se, but instead signals surprise, that is, errors in judging uncertainty. While this general finding is independent of the precise quantification of these decision variables, we then analyze this effect with respect to a specific mathematical model of uncertainty and surprise, namely risk and risk prediction error. Using this quantification, we find that pupil dilation and risk prediction error are indeed highly correlated. Under the assumption of a tight link between noradrenaline (NA) and pupil size under constant illumination, our data may be interpreted as empirical evidence for the hypothesis that NA plays a similar role for uncertainty as dopamine does for reward, namely the encoding of error signals.

Related Posts

Compulsive gambling /

Partial Agonist Therapy in Schizophrenia: Relevance to Diminished Criminal Responsibility

Compulsive gambling /

Gambling and Problem Gambling Across the Lifespan

Compulsive gambling /

Treatments for PTSD and Pathological Gambling: What Do Patients Want?

‹ The Hippocratic Oath › Translational Neuroscience and Treatment Development for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Editorials

  • Navigating ethical dilemmas in genetic testing for Huntington’s Disease
  • Loneliness: Surgeon General Dr. Murthy’s warning
  • Intranasal esketamine ought to be more widely available
  • Kratom – what ?: another widely available opioid… should it be ?… should it be regulated ?… what to do?

Research Papers

  • COVID-19 mortality in Europe and the ’Iron Curtain’ between East and West
  • Examination of depressive signs and symptoms among 803 University students in seven Universities and Colleges. Hungary, Romania, Serbia.
  • Examination of spirituality and the dimensions of spirituality among 803 students in seven different Universities. Hungary, Romania and Serbia.
  • Examination of depressive signs and symptoms among 932 students in eight different secondary schools in Hungary

Research News

  • Age and antisuicidal effect of lithium
  • Obesity is associated with increased risk for psychiatric disorders
  • The effect of multivitamin supplementation on memory in older adults
  • Vitamin D serum levels, supplementation, and suicide attempts and intentional self-harm among Veterans

Latest News

  • Suicide rates in the United States in 2022
  • Suicide rates in the United States in 2001-2021
  • Leading world experts on suicide. Expertscape, the January 9, 2023, report
  • Best universities in the world

Interviews with eminent psychiatrists

  • Interview with Professor Shih-Ku Lin
  • Interview with Professor Masahito Fushimi
  • Interview with Professor Maurizio Pompili
  • Interview with Professor Marco Sarchiapone

Ten Years Ago

  • Plasma testosterone levels in bipolar suicide attempters
  • Teaching medical professionals and trainees about suicide prevention
  • Suicidal ideation in depressed patients with or without comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
  • Treatment of suicide attempters with bipolar disorder: a randomized clinical trial

Back to Top

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
Copyright © 2023 AVCalc LLC. All rights reserved worldwide.