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A causal role for estradiol in human reinforcement learning

View ORCID ProfileSebastijan Veselic, View ORCID ProfileGerhard Jocham, Christian Gausterer, View ORCID ProfileBernhard Wagner, View ORCID ProfileMiriam Ernhoefer-Reßler, View ORCID ProfileRupert Lanzenberger, View ORCID ProfileClaus Lamm, View ORCID ProfileChristoph Eisenegger, View ORCID ProfileAnnabel Losecaat Vermeer
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.18.954982
Sebastijan Veselic
1Neuropsychopharmacology and Biopsychology Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
2Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, University College London, London, UK
3Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
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  • For correspondence: sebastijan.veselic.18@ucl.ac.uk annabel.losecaat.vermeer@univie.ac.at
Gerhard Jocham
4Biological Psychology of Decision Making, Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
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Christian Gausterer
5FDZ-Forensisches DNA Zentrallabor GmbH, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
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Bernhard Wagner
6Laboratory for Chromatographic & Spectrometric Analysis, FH JOANNEUM, Graz, Austria
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Miriam Ernhoefer-Reßler
6Laboratory for Chromatographic & Spectrometric Analysis, FH JOANNEUM, Graz, Austria
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Rupert Lanzenberger
7Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Claus Lamm
1Neuropsychopharmacology and Biopsychology Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
8Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Austria
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Christoph Eisenegger
1Neuropsychopharmacology and Biopsychology Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
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Annabel Losecaat Vermeer
1Neuropsychopharmacology and Biopsychology Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
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  • For correspondence: sebastijan.veselic.18@ucl.ac.uk annabel.losecaat.vermeer@univie.ac.at
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Abstract

The sex hormone estrogen is hypothesized to play a key role in human cognition via its interactions with the dopaminergic system. Work in rodents has shown that estrogen’s most potent form, estradiol, impacts striatal dopamine functioning predominately via increased D1-receptor signalling and correlational evidence in humans has suggested high estradiol levels alter reward sensitivity. Here, we addressed two fundamental questions: 1) whether estradiol causally alters reward sensitivity in men, and 2) whether this effect of estradiol is moderated by individual variation in polymorphisms of dopaminergic genes. To test this, we performed a double-blind placebo-controlled administration study in which hundred men received either a single dose of estradiol (2 mg) or placebo. We found that estradiol administration increased reward sensitivity, which was moderated by baseline dopamine. This was observed in choice behaviour and increased learning rates. These results confirm a causal role of estradiol in reinforcement learning in men that is moderated by striatal and prefrontal dopaminergic pathways.

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Posted February 20, 2020.
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A causal role for estradiol in human reinforcement learning
Sebastijan Veselic, Gerhard Jocham, Christian Gausterer, Bernhard Wagner, Miriam Ernhoefer-Reßler, Rupert Lanzenberger, Claus Lamm, Christoph Eisenegger, Annabel Losecaat Vermeer
bioRxiv 2020.02.18.954982; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.18.954982
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A causal role for estradiol in human reinforcement learning
Sebastijan Veselic, Gerhard Jocham, Christian Gausterer, Bernhard Wagner, Miriam Ernhoefer-Reßler, Rupert Lanzenberger, Claus Lamm, Christoph Eisenegger, Annabel Losecaat Vermeer
bioRxiv 2020.02.18.954982; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.18.954982

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