Serotonin Modulates Behavioral Reactions to Unfairness
Open accessAbstract
Serotonin (5-HT) has long been implicated in social behavior and impulsivity, but the mechanisms through which it modulates self-control remain unclear. We observed the effects of manipulating 5-HT function on behavior in the ultimatum game, where players must decide whether to accept or reject fair or unfair monetary offers from another player. Participants with depleted 5-HT levels rejected a greater proportion of unfair offers, but not fair offers, without showing changes in mood, fairness judgment, basic reward processing, or response inhibition. Our results suggest that 5-HT plays a critical role in regulating emotion during social decision-making.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Acute treatment affects moral judgements as previously reported.
“We also did not find any effects of escitalopram on moral judgements as previously reported following acute treatment [18, 23].”
From Chronic escitalopram in healthy volunteers has specific effects on reinforcement sensitivity: a double-blind, placebo-controlled semi-randomised study (2023) · cites this paper as [18]
The passage on the Ultimatum Game reports that acute tryptophan depletion increased rejection of unfair offers, but did not affect participants’ judgments of what constituted a fair offer (section labelled Abstract; page unavailable). The paper therefore does not report the attributed effect on judgments; its observed effect was on behavioral reactions to unfairness. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredATD has been shown to affect measures of both 'cold' and 'hot' cognition.
“ATD has been shown to affect measures of both ‘cold’ (rational and non-emotional), and ‘hot’ (social and emotional) cognition [13–18].”
From Chronic escitalopram in healthy volunteers has specific effects on reinforcement sensitivity: a double-blind, placebo-controlled semi-randomised study (2023) · cites this paper as [18]
The paper reports that ATD increased rejection of unfair offers in the Ultimatum Game, supporting an effect on hot, social-emotional cognition. It also reports no effect on fairness judgments, basic reward processing, or response inhibition, so this source does not support the sentence’s claim about effects on cold cognition. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredLowering serotonin levels by depleting the serotonin precursor tryptophan produced increased rejection of unfair offers.
“lowering serotonin levels by depleting of the serotonin precursor tryptophan produced increased rejection of the unfair offers (Crockett et al., 2010(Crockett et al., , 2008)).”
From Social functioning in major depressive disorder (2016) · cites this paper as Crockett et al., 2008
These neurotransmitter systems play key roles in neurotransmission, brain maturation, cortical organisation, and behaviours including social and repetitive behaviour.
“These systems play key roles in neurotransmission, brain maturation, cortical organisation and behaviours (including social behaviour and repetitive behaviour) [180,181,182,183,184].”
From Vitamin D and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Literature Review (2016) · cites this paper as [180]
Multiple lines of evidence suggest an involvement of dysregulated neurotransmitter systems (serotonergic, oxytocinergic, and dopaminergic) in autism.
“Multiple lines of evidence suggest an involvement of dysregulated neurotransmitter systems (serotonergic, oxytocinergic and dopaminergic systems) in autism.”
From Vitamin D and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Literature Review (2016) · cites this paper as [180]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
An experimental analysis of ultimatum bargaining
Güth, W., Schmittberger, R., & Schwarze, B. (1982) · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · doi:10.1016/0167-2681(82)90011-7 · Cited by 4,753 · see citing works
The neural basis of economic decision-making in the Ultimatum Game.
Sanfey, A. G., Rilling, J. K., Aronson, J. A., Nystrom, L. E., & Cohen, J. D. (2003) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1082976 · Cited by 3,375 · see citing works
Diminishing reciprocal fairness by disrupting the right prefrontal cortex
Knoch, D., Pascual-Leone, A., Meyer, K., Treyer, V., & Fehr, E. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1129156 · Cited by 1,024 · see citing works
Koenigs, M. R., & Tranel, D. (2007) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4606-06.2007 · Cited by 595 · see citing works
Tabibnia, G., Satpute, A. B., & Lieberman, M. D. (2008) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02091.x · Cited by 552 · see citing works
Self-citationPrefrontal Serotonin Depletion Affects Reversal Learning But Not Attentional Set Shifting
Clarke, H. F., Walker, S. C., Crofts, H. S., Dalley, J. W., Robbins, T. W., & Roberts, A. C. (2005) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3690-04.2005 · Cited by 358 · see citing works
Self-citationEvers, E. A. T., van der Veen, F. M., van Deursen, J. A., Schmitt, J. A. J., Deutz, N. E. P., & Jolles, J. (2006) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-006-0411-6 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Neuroscience of Social Decision-Making
Rilling, J. K., & Sanfey, A. G. (2011) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.121208.131647 · Cited by 775 · see citing works
Social functioning in major depressive disorder
Kupferberg, A., Bicks, L., & Hasler, G. (2016) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.07.002 · Cited by 663 · see citing works
Serotonin selectively influences moral judgment and behavior through effects on harm aversion
Crockett, M. J., Clark, L., Hauser, M. D., & Robbins, T. W. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1009396107 · Cited by 526 · see citing works
Self-citationSerotonin in Affective Control
Dayan, P., & Huys, Q. J. M. (2009) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.051508.135607 · Cited by 381 · see citing works
Emotion regulation: a transdiagnostic perspective on a new RDoC domain
Fernandez, K. C., Jazaieri, H., & Gross, J. J. (2016) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-016-9772-2 · Cited by 329 · see citing works
The reciprocal interaction between serotonin and social behaviour
Kiser, D., SteemerS, B., Branchi, I., & Homberg, J. R. (2012) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.12.009 · Cited by 214 · see citing works
Crockett, M. J., Clark, L., Lieberman, M. D., Tabibnia, G., & Robbins, T. W. (2010) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0019861 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Self-citationSerotonin Modulates Striatal Responses to Fairness and Retaliation in Humans
Crockett, M. J., Apergis-Schoute, A., Herrmann, B., Lieberman, M. D., Müller, U., Robbins, T. W., & Clark, L. (2013) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2761-12.2013 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Self-citationThe impact of depression on social economic decision making
Harlé, K. M., Allen, J. J. B., & Sanfey, A. G. (2010) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0018612 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Vitamin D and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Literature Review
Mazahery, H., Camargo, C., Conlon, C., Beck, K., Kruger, M., & Von Hurst, P. (2016) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu8040236 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Serotonin regulation of behavior via large-scale neuromodulation of serotonin receptor networks
Salvan, P., Fonseca, M., Winkler, A. M., Beauchamp, A., Lerch, J. P., & Johansen-Berg, H. (2023) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41593-022-01213-3 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Haruno, M., Kimura, M., & Frith, C. D. (2014) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00589 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Moral injury: An overview of conceptual, definitional, assessment, and treatment issues
Litz, B. T., & Walker, H. E. (2025) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-081423-022604 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Social-economical decision making in current and remitted major depression
Pulcu, E., Thomas, E. J., Trotter, P. D., McFarquhar, M., Juhasz, G., Sahakian, B. J., Deakin, J. F. W., Anderson, I. M., Zahn, R., & Elliott, R. (2015) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291714002414 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Better to give than to take? Interactive social decision-making in severe major depressive disorder
Destoop, M., Schrijvers, D., De Grave, C., Sabbe, B., & De Bruijn, E. R. A. (2012) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2011.12.010 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Langley, C., Armand, S., Luo, Q., Savulich, G., Segerberg, T., Søndergaard, A., Pedersen, E. B., Svart, N., Overgaard-Hansen, O., Johansen, A., et al. (2023) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/s41386-022-01523-x · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Self-citationThe anger syndrome hwa-byung and its comorbidity
Min, S. K., & Suh, S.-Y. (2010) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2009.10.011 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Impaired social decision making in patients with major depressive disorder
Wang, Y., Zhou, Y., Li, S., Wang, P., Wu, G.-W., & Liu, Z.-N. (2014) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/1471-244x-14-18 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Kanen, J. W., Arntz, F. E., Yellowlees, R., Cardinal, R. N., Price, A., Christmas, D. M., Apergis-Schoute, A. M., Sahakian, B. J., & Robbins, T. W. (2021) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-020-00880-9 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Self-citationHonesty mediates the relationship between serotonin and reaction to unfairness
Takahashi, H., Takano, H., Camerer, C. F., Ideno, T., Okubo, S., Matsui, H., Tamari, Y., Takemura, K., Arakawa, R., Kodaka, F., et al. (2012) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1118687109 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Reward sensitivity and anger in euthymic bipolar disorder
Duek, O., Osher, Y., Belmaker, R. H., Bersudsky, Y., & Kofman, O. (2014) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2013.10.028 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Radke, S., Schäfer, I. C., Müller, B. W., & de Bruijn, E. R. A. (2013) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2013.07.017 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
The Neurochemical Modulation of Prefrontal Control Processes
Robbins, T. W., & Kehagia, A. A. (2017) · The Wiley Handbook of Cognitive Control · doi:10.1002/9781118920497.ch19 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Crockett, M. J., Clark, L., Tabibnia, G., Lieberman, M. D., & Robbins, T. W.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Crockett, Molly J.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2008-06-27
- Volume
- 320
- Issue
- 5884
- Pages
- 1739-1739
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- PMC
- PMC2504725
- OpenAlex
- W2052710610
- Cited by
- 421
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 32 · 2012: 35
- FWCI
- 12.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (076244/Z/04/Z, 75491, 076274/Z/04/Z)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Keywords
- serotonin, unfairness, ultimatum game, social decision-making, self-control, emotion regulation, rejection of unfair offers, serotonin depletion, fairness judgments, reward processing, response inhibition
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Decision Making, Emotions, Games, Experimental, Humans, Male, Serotonin, Social Behavior, Social Perception, Prefrontal Cortex
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
