Data on the neuropharmacological basis of risk-related decision making is emerging; some of the results discussed below are also presented in Table 2 for comparison purposes. The hypothesized role of serotonin in the decision-making process involves its regulation of the affective and behavioral responses to negative feedback.251 Serotonergic depletion produces a pattern of impaired decision-making in the Cambridge Gambling task similar to that observed in substance use disorders.227 On the other hand, a serotonin-1A agonist (8-OH-DPAT) impaired performance in the Rat Gambling Task219 while a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (citalopram) had no effect,252 suggesting that the relationship between serotonin and optimal decision-making is not necessarily linear.
