生物谷报道:英美科学家在6月5日的《科学》(Science)杂志发表论文称5-羟色胺在我们选择性地保持情绪控制上扮演着一个关键性的角色。
当有人没有像他们自己希望被对待的方式善待你的时候(即他们触犯了公平的黄金法则的时候),你是否曾经想发火?如果你设法控制住了自己的情绪并按捺住了进攻性的冲动,你应该感谢你大脑中的化学物质5-羟色胺。在玩一种“最后通牒游戏”的时候,那些体内5-羟色胺水平被损耗的人会更加容易地拒绝不公正提议,即使当时他们报告说并没有情绪不稳定或其它的可能会影响他们选择的能力损害。这种游戏现在已经被神经科学家和心理学家广泛应用,它的玩法是由一位玩家提出一种方法与另外一位玩家来分一罐钱。如果提议被接受的话,两位玩家都会得到薪酬。如果提议被拒绝的话,这两位玩家都不会赚取任何钱,这使得报复行为的代价很高。
在一项研究调查中,20位自愿者或是得到一颗安慰剂或是一颗能降低5-羟色胺的药物,然后再由他们接受或拒绝别人的提议。那些服用5-羟色胺阻断剂的人会更容易地拒绝不公正的提议。这些结果来自首次应用最后通牒游戏所作的基于生物化学的研究。(生物谷www.bioon.com)
生物谷推荐原始出处:
Science,DOI: 10.1126/science.1155577,Molly J. Crockett,Trevor W. Robbins
Serotonin Modulates Behavioral Reactions to Unfairness
Molly J. Crockett 1*, Luke Clark 1, Golnaz Tabibnia 2, Matthew D. Lieberman 2, Trevor W. Robbins 1
1 Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK.; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, UK.
2 Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Molly J. Crockett , E-mail: mc536@cam.ac.uk
Serotonin (5-HT) has long been implicated in social behavior and impulsivity, but the mechanisms through which it modulates self-control remain unclear. We observed the effects of manipulating 5-HT function on behavior in the Ultimatum Game, where players must decide whether to accept or reject fair or unfair monetary offers from another player. Participants with depleted 5-HT levels rejected a greater proportion of unfair, but not fair offers, without showing changes in mood, fairness judgments, basic reward processing, or response inhibition. Our results suggest that 5-HT plays a critical role in regulating emotion during social decision-making.