A study of 39 people in which researchers examined the brain regions involved when humans change their beliefs about the environment in the face of sensory observations showed that neural encoding of sensory information that leads to belief updates is negatively related to dopamine receptor availability in the midbrain and dopamine release capacity in the striatum; further, paranoid ideation was negatively related to sensitivity to meaningful sensory information, suggesting a role for dopamine in humans' ability to flexibly update beliefs.
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Article #18-09298: "Dopaminergic basis for signaling belief updates, but not surprise, and the link to paranoia," by Matthew M. Nour et al.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Matthew M. Nour, King's College London, UNITED KINGDOM; tel: +447952698509; e-mail: matthew.nour@kcl.ac.uk ; Oliver Howes, King's College London, UNITED KINGDOM; e-mail: oliver.howes@kcl.ac.uk
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences