In this episode of Deep Dive we unpack how two neuromodulators — dopamine and serotonin — tune your confidence, patience, impulsivity, and overall rationality. Through a clinical vignette of a software engineer on an SSRI, interviews with expert researchers, and a tour of circuit neuroscience and computational (Bayesian) models, we show why calming anxiety can sometimes blunt motivation and decisiveness.
Topics covered include reward prediction errors, model-free learning, behavioral inhibition, circuit-specific serotonin pathways, clinical implications (Parkinson’s, SSRI effects), and key studies by leading labs. Expert commentary and research citations illuminate how these chemicals adjust the brain’s precision weighting and influence moral and risk decisions.
Key takeaways: dopamine energizes action and tunes reward confidence, serotonin promotes caution and harm aversion, their dynamic balance underlies rational choice, and you can use a practical “precision diary” to track mood, decisions, and levers (sleep, diet, exercise, medication) to better calibrate your decision-making.
