Noradrenaline modulates decision urgency during sequential information gathering

Arbitrating between timely choice and extended information gathering is critical in effective decision making. Aberrant information gathering behaviour is said to be a feature of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. We know little about the neurocognitive control mechanisms that drive such information gathering. In a double-blind placebo-controlled drug study with 60 healthy humans (30 female), we examined the effects of noradrenaline and dopamine antagonism on information gathering. We show that modulating noradrenaline function with propranolol leads to decreased information gathering behaviour and this contrasts with no effect following a modulation of dopamine function. Using a Bayesian computational model, we show sampling behaviour is best explained when including an urgency signal that promotes commitment to an early decision. We demonstrate that noradrenaline blockade promotes the expression of this decision-related urgency signal during information gathering. We discuss the findings with respect to psychopathological conditions that are linked to aberrant information gathering. Significance Statement Knowing when to stop gathering information and commit to an option is non-trivial. This is an important element in arbitrating between information gain and energy conservation. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled drug study, we investigated to role of catecholamines noradrenaline and dopamine on sequential information gathering. We found that blocking noradrenaline led to a decrease in information gathering, with no effect seen following dopamine blockade. Using a Bayesian computational model, we show that this noradrenaline effect is driven by an increased decision urgency, a signal that reflects an escalating subjective cost of sampling. The observation that noradrenaline modulates decision urgency suggests new avenues for treating patients that show information gathering deficits.

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