Dopamine on turns: What does the hormone of joy actually do?
For a long time, dopamine has been considered a hormone of joy, a substance that is responsible for pleasure and a sense of reward. It seemed that the more dopamine we had, the happier we felt. But new research shows that it's not that simple. Scientists have found that dopamine is involved not only in pleasure seeking, but also in decision-making, movement control, habit formation, and learning. Moreover, there are several types of dopamine signals in the brain, each of which performs its own special role. Izvestia reports on how the hormone of joy actually works and what discoveries the researchers have made.
Why the old model turned out to be too simple
Dopamine, the "hormone of joy," turned out to be much more complicated than previously thought. Classical theory, which has served as a pillar for neuroscience for decades, is now bursting at the seams.
For a long time, everything seemed pretty clear: dopamine is about reward. We got something pleasant - there was an outburst, and the brain "remembered" that it was good to do this. That's why he's been associated with scrolling through social media, sweet food, and other fast-paced pleasures. Scientists, of course, understood that not everything was so clear, but it was a slim and comfortable model.
It is based on the hypothesis of reward prediction error (RPE). According to her, dopamine helps the brain to learn: connects incentives with rewards and adjusts expectations. The theory was formulated in 1997 after experiments with monkeys: first, their neurons reacted to the unexpected receipt of juice, then to the signal that preceded it. If the reward did not appear, the activity decreased.
Modern methods have made it possible to more accurately track dopamine emissions. It turned out that these neurons respond not only to rewards, but also to threats, novelty, movement, and even social behavior. Moreover, some of them encode, for example, the position in space or the speed of movement, and not at all the "value" of the goal.
According to some studies, dopamine is also involved in shaping actions. In the work of 2025, it was found that it helps to predict one's own thoughts and consolidate them. This means that the mechanisms of habits and addictions may be arranged differently than previously thought. Moreover, dopamine can also be released in response to stress, for example, during weak electrical discharges.
Against this background, alternative theories are emerging. One of them suggests that the brain doesn't so much predict a reward as try to explain in hindsight why it happened. Experiments with mice showed that when a reward was randomly received, dopamine activity did not decrease over time, as would be expected in the framework of RPE, but, on the contrary, increased.
This shift in data and interpretation leads to a broader revision of the very role of dopamine in the brain.
How can discovery be useful to a person?
New data on dopamine is gradually changing not only the scientific picture, but also the practical view of behavior and mental health. Oksana Zinchenko, a senior researcher at the HSE Center for Neuroeconomics and Cognitive Research, notes that dopamine has long been associated primarily with movement, largely because of its role in Parkinson's disease. However, today it is clear that its functions are much broader.
— Dopamine is involved in the initiation, scaling, and coordination of movements, as well as in the formation of automated behavioral sequences. In other words, it's not just about the desire to do something, but also about the ability to launch and automate this action," she explains.
This shift also changes the understanding of dependencies. Previously, they were explained as an "overload of the pleasure system," but now scientists' attention is shifting to how dopamine anchors repetitive behavioral chains. Moreover, as the expert points out, it can enhance motivation even under stress or negative experiences, which helps explain why bad habits are so persistent.
The practical significance of these discoveries is particularly noticeable in the field of mental disorders. New approaches involve more targeted work with dopamine signals, not only those related to pleasure, but also with learning, attention, and flexible behavior.
"This opens up prospects for the development of methods that can improve motivation and cognitive flexibility in patients with depression, ADHD and schizophrenia," the expert notes.
In a broader sense, such research helps to take a fresh look at everyday behavior. They show that our habits are formed not just through the search for pleasure, but through a complex system of consolidating actions, which means that they can be changed by influencing not only the "reward", but also the behavioral sequences themselves.
How Dopamine actually works
Today, researchers are increasingly saying that dopamine is not just a "pleasure signal" or even a reward prediction mechanism. Rather, it is a universal system that helps the brain to learn, adapt and build behavior in conditions of uncertainty.
One of the key directions was the idea of retrospective training. According to her, receiving an award does not trigger confirmation of an expectation, but an analysis of actions already performed. The brain "looks back" to understand which steps led to success, and on this basis corrects behavior in the future.
— We are coming to understand that dopamine is involved in correcting predictions about future outcomes of a situation, especially in conditions of uncertainty, and increases attention to relevant stimuli. He actually forms the "learning value" of events through "looking back," explains Oksana Zinchenko.
This understanding is in good agreement with new experimental data: dopamine reacts not only to rewards, but also to significant events in general, helps to identify important information and link experiences with subsequent actions.
— As a result, dopamine is increasingly considered as a key element of the adaptation system: it does not just "reward", but participates in the analysis of past experiences, attunement of attention and formation of behavioral strategies. This is what makes it a central mechanism that allows a person to learn and flexibly respond to a changing world," the expert summarizes.
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