ArticlePLoS biology2024
Dopamine and acetylcholine have distinct roles in delay- and effort-based decision-making in humans.
Article in PLoS biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Differential Associations of Dopamine and Serotonin With Reward and Punishment Processes in Humans: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Dopamine D2-receptor blockade in humans disrupts the effect of effort on learning.PLoS biology · 2026Trial
- Dopamine and Temporal Discounting: Revisiting Pharmacology and Individual Differences.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Trial
- Present-Biased Preferences Associated with Socioeconomic Status in Intertemporal Decision-Making: Evidence from Behavioral and Electroencephalographic Measures.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Neurochemical drivers of effort: The roles of dopamine and beyond in physical and cognitive exertion.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Acetylcholine in Brain-Body Communication: Biological Mechanisms and Physiological Roles.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Environmental uncertainty shapes human effort learning.PLoS biology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In everyday life, we encounter situations that require tradeoffs between potential rewards and associated costs, such as time and (physical) effort. The literature indicates a prominent role for dopamine in discounting of both delay and effort, with mixed findings for delay discounting in humans. Moreover, the reciprocal antagonistic interaction between dopaminergic and cholinergic transmission in the striatum suggests a potential opponent role of acetylcholine in these processes. We found opposing effects of dopamine D2 (haloperidol) and acetylcholine M1 receptor (biperiden) antagonism on specific components of effort-based decision-making in healthy humans: haloperidol decreased, whereas biperiden increased the willingness to exert physical effort. In contrast, delay discounting was reduced under haloperidol, but not affected by biperiden. Together, our data suggest that dopamine, acting at D2 receptors, modulates both effort and delay discounting, while acetylcholine, acting at M1 receptors, appears to exert a more specific influence on effort discounting only.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.