Without a clear goal, motivation will not come out even if serotonin of the neurological substance related to "motivation" is released

ByWhologwhy

Known as one of the three major neuromuscular substancesSerotoninHas been pointed out with "depression" and "motivation". About this, we conducted experiments to induce the secretion of serotonin using mice, and found that the activity was modest in mice who were in "no goal" situation. On the other hand, if the secretion of serotonin is elicited in the long term regardless of the goal setting, the mouse has become more active.

Transient inhibition and long-term facilitation of locomotion by phasic optogenetic activation of serotonin neurons | eLife
https://elifesciences.org/content/6/e20975


More Serotonin, Less Motivation? It Depends on the Circumstances - Neuroscience News
http://neurosciencenews.com/serotonin-motivation-6112/

This research was conducted by Zakary · F · Meinen, Researcher of the Champaulimau Foundation · Unknown World Center (CCU). The result is published in eLife of Open Access magazine.

Serotonin plays an important role in coordination such as "sleep" and "motor function" indispensable for living beings to live. Because low serotonin concentration in the brain is also involved in depression, you can use it as an antidepressant like ProzacSelective serotonin reuptake inhibitorIt is known. However, it is difficult to conduct experiments on neurons that produce serotonin (serotonin producing neurons), so we did not know how this drug works in the brain.

It came out thereOptogenetics (photogenetics)It is a technique to selectively activate or inhibit individual cells of living organisms using light called light. The CCU research team is optogenetics, the dorsal side of the mouseRaphe nucleusActivated serotonin producing neurons.

Then, the mouse induced to produce serotonin only for a few seconds was reduced by approximately 50% only when not acting like "search for water" or "dig a hole". This speed reduction is almost irrelevant to the moving speed owned by individuals,Movement disorderThere was nothing to raise

According to the research team, this result shows that "Serotonin reduces motivation, but overcomes the decline of motivation if there is a clear purpose".

In addition, repeated serotonin induction for several weeks, it seems that mice now act more quickly.