Dopamine signaling in nucleus accumbens may shape confidence in decision-making

Decision-making, the process through which humans choose between different available options, has been the topic of countless neuroscience, psychology and behavioral science studies. This process does not only include the moment in which a person comes to a decision, but also the evaluation of different options and, at times, changing one’s mind.

While earlier research has shed some light on the brain regions and neural processes that support decision-making, these have not yet been fully uncovered. One brain region that has been found to play a role in the weighing of different options and the prediction of their possible outcomes is the nucleus accumbens.

The nucleus accumbens is a structure within a larger set of subcortical brain regions known as the basal ganglia. This structure is known to contribute to the processing of rewards and motivation, yet some studies have found that it is particularly active in individuals diagnosed with some mental health disorders, such as addiction and anxiety disorders.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School carried out a study aimed at further investigating the contribution of the nucleus accumbens and particularly of dopamine signaling in this brain region to some aspects of the decision-making process.

Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, hint at a link between dopamine signaling dynamics in the nucleus accumbens and people’s confidence in specific decisions while they are still weighing different options.

“Nucleus accumbens dopamine signaling is an important neural substrate for decision-making,” wrote Adrina Kocharian, A. David Redish and Patrick E. Rothwell in their paper.

“Dominant theories generally discretize and homogenize decision-making, when it is in fact a continuous process, with evaluation and re-evaluation components that extend beyond simple outcome prediction into consideration of past and future value.

“Extensive work has examined mesolimbic dopamine in the context of reward prediction error, but major gaps persist in our understanding of how dopamine regulates volitional and self-guided decision-making. Moreover, there is little consideration of individual differences in value processing that may shape how dopamine regulates decision-making.”

To further explore the role of dopamine signaling in decision-making, Kocharian, Redish and Rothwell carried out a series of experiments involving adult mice.

The mice completed an economic foraging task, a behavioral experiment during which the animals could choose to do different things that would result in different rewards. Most notably, they could choose whether to pull a lever that would instantly drop a quantity of sugar water that would decrease over time or to leave and search for a new source of sustainment.

While the mice completed this task, the researchers recorded dopamine activity in their nucleus accumbens. In addition, they used optogenetic techniques to selectively increase or decrease the release of dopamine and observed the animals’ resulting behavior.

“Using an economic foraging task in mice, we found that dopamine dynamics in the nucleus accumbens core reflected decision confidence during evaluation of decisions as well as both past and future value during re-evaluation and change-of-mind,” wrote Kocharian, Redish and Rothwell.

“Optogenetic manipulations of mesolimbic dopamine release selectively altered evaluation and re-evaluation of decisions in mice whose dopamine dynamics and behavior reflected future value.”

The experimental evidence gathered by the researchers suggests that dopamine signals in the nucleus accumbens reflected the mice’s confidence in their decisions. Specifically, higher dopamine activity was associated with greater levels of confidence in a decision, and lower levels with less confidence.

Interestingly, the team found that dopamine dynamics also offered an indication of whether an animal would change its mind about a specific decision, opting for another one instead.

Their observations could pave the way for new studies investigating the relationship between nucleus accumbens dopamine signaling and people’s confidence in their decisions. Moreover, they could inform the study of various disorders associated with poor decision-making, including addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

© 2025 Science X Network

Decision-making, the process through which humans choose between different available options, has been the topic of countless neuroscience, psychology and behavioral science studies. This process does not only include the moment in which a person comes to a decision, but also the evaluation of different options and, at times, changing one’s mind.

While earlier research has shed some light on the brain regions and neural processes that support decision-making, these have not yet been fully uncovered. One brain region that has been found to play a role in the weighing of different options and the prediction of their possible outcomes is the nucleus accumbens.

The nucleus accumbens is a structure within a larger set of subcortical brain regions known as the basal ganglia. This structure is known to contribute to the processing of rewards and motivation, yet some studies have found that it is particularly active in individuals diagnosed with some mental health disorders, such as addiction and anxiety disorders.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School carried out a study aimed at further investigating the contribution of the nucleus accumbens and particularly of dopamine signaling in this brain region to some aspects of the decision-making process.

Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, hint at a link between dopamine signaling dynamics in the nucleus accumbens and people’s confidence in specific decisions while they are still weighing different options.

“Nucleus accumbens dopamine signaling is an important neural substrate for decision-making,” wrote Adrina Kocharian, A. David Redish and Patrick E. Rothwell in their paper.

“Dominant theories generally discretize and homogenize decision-making, when it is in fact a continuous process, with evaluation and re-evaluation components that extend beyond simple outcome prediction into consideration of past and future value.

“Extensive work has examined mesolimbic dopamine in the context of reward prediction error, but major gaps persist in our understanding of how dopamine regulates volitional and self-guided decision-making. Moreover, there is little consideration of individual differences in value processing that may shape how dopamine regulates decision-making.”

To further explore the role of dopamine signaling in decision-making, Kocharian, Redish and Rothwell carried out a series of experiments involving adult mice.

The mice completed an economic foraging task, a behavioral experiment during which the animals could choose to do different things that would result in different rewards. Most notably, they could choose whether to pull a lever that would instantly drop a quantity of sugar water that would decrease over time or to leave and search for a new source of sustainment.

While the mice completed this task, the researchers recorded dopamine activity in their nucleus accumbens. In addition, they used optogenetic techniques to selectively increase or decrease the release of dopamine and observed the animals’ resulting behavior.

“Using an economic foraging task in mice, we found that dopamine dynamics in the nucleus accumbens core reflected decision confidence during evaluation of decisions as well as both past and future value during re-evaluation and change-of-mind,” wrote Kocharian, Redish and Rothwell.

“Optogenetic manipulations of mesolimbic dopamine release selectively altered evaluation and re-evaluation of decisions in mice whose dopamine dynamics and behavior reflected future value.”

The experimental evidence gathered by the researchers suggests that dopamine signals in the nucleus accumbens reflected the mice’s confidence in their decisions. Specifically, higher dopamine activity was associated with greater levels of confidence in a decision, and lower levels with less confidence.

Interestingly, the team found that dopamine dynamics also offered an indication of whether an animal would change its mind about a specific decision, opting for another one instead.

Their observations could pave the way for new studies investigating the relationship between nucleus accumbens dopamine signaling and people’s confidence in their decisions. Moreover, they could inform the study of various disorders associated with poor decision-making, including addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

© 2025 Science X Network