How Dopamine & Serotonin Shape Decisions, Motivation & Learning | Dr. Read Montague

Dr. Read Montague, PhD, is a professor and director of the Center for Human Neuroscience Research at Virginia Tech and an expert in how dopamine and serotonin shape human learning, motivation and decision-making. We discuss how they impact focused effort in the context of short- and long-term goals of all kinds. Also, how SSRIs and low-effort, high-engagement activities reduce the rewarding properties of dopamine, and how AI algorithms are revolutionizing understanding of the brain.

Articles

• Learning to predict by the methods of temporal differences (Machine Learning)
• A Theory of Pavlovian Conditioning: Variations in the Effectiveness of Reinforcement and Nonreinforcement (Classical Conditioning II: Current Research and Theory)
• Bee foraging in uncertain environments using predictive hebbian learning (Nature)
• Octopamine and tyramine dynamics predict learning rate phenotypes during associative conditioning in honey bees (bioRxiv)
• A framework for mesencephalic dopamine systems based on predictive Hebbian learning (The Journal of Neuroscience)
• Addiction as a computational process gone awry (Science)
• Corelease of dopamine and serotonin from striatal dopamine terminals (Neuron)
• State-specific gating of salient cues by midbrain dopaminergic input to basal amygdala (Nature Neuroscience)
• Opponent control of reinforcement by striatal dopamine and serotonin (Nature)
• Extraneous factors in judicial decisions (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

Books

• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
• Complete Collection of Fyodor Dostoevsky‍
• Your Brain Is (Almost) Perfect

Other Resources

• AlphaGo
• AlphaFold
• Google DeepMind
• Nobel Prize for Computational Protein Design
• NebulaNeuro
• Claude
• Grok
• Andrew trains back with Dorian Yates
• Long Strange Trip

Huberman Lab Episodes Mentioned

• Dr. Terry Sejnowski: How to Improve at Learning Using Neuroscience & AI
• Dr. Jonathan Haidt: How Smartphones & Social Media Impact Mental Health & the Realistic Solutions
• Healthy Eating & Eating Disorders - Anorexia, Bulimia, Binging

People Mentioned

• Ivan Pavlov: physiologist, Nobel laureate
• Rich Sutton: Professor of Computer Science, University of Alberta
• Andrew Barto: Professor of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Stephen Bartlett: podcaster, entrepreneur
• Christina Zelano: Professor of Neurology, Northwestern University
• Matt Walker: Professor of Psychology, UC Berkeley
• Brian Johnson: entrepreneur, author
• Geoffrey Schoenbaum: Chief, Behavioral Neurophysiology Neuroscience Section, NIDA
• Robert Bina: Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Arizona
• Vilayanur Ramachandran: Professor of Psychology, UC San Diego
• Geoffrey Hinton: Professor of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Nobel laureate
• Arthur Jones: Nautilus founder