Advances in Dopamine and Cognition

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Cognitive, Social and Affective Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 7724

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
College of International Management, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Beppu, Oita, Japan
Interests: cognitive flexibility; dopaminergic system; reinforcement learning; neuropsychi-atric disorders; psychopharmacology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Dopamine is a central neuromodulator traditionally studied for its role in reward and motor function. More recently, however, it has become clear that dopamine also influences higher-order cognitive processes such as attention, learning, memory, motivation, and decision making.

This Special Issue of Brain Sciences aims to highlight recent advances in the field of dopamine and cognition. We welcome original research articles, reviews, and meta-analyses that investigate dopaminergic function using behavioural, pharmacological, neuroimaging, computational, or genetic approaches. Topics may include, but are not limited to, reinforcement learning, cognitive flexibility, working memory, decision making, motivation, neuromodulation, dopaminergic dysfunction in psychiatric or neurological disorders, and individual differences in dopamine-regulated traits. Both human and animal studies are welcome.

We are particularly interested in studies that attempt to explain the mechanisms by which the dopaminergic system influences cognition, or that integrate multiple levels of analysis—from molecular to behavioural—to advance theoretical models of dopamine function.

Dr. Luca Aquili
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • dopaminergic system
  • cognitive neuroscience
  • reinforcement learning
  • neuropsychopharmacology
  • motivation and decision making

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Review

17 pages, 578 KB  
Review
Dopamine and Acetylcholine in the Striatum: Circuit Interactions and Behavioral Control in Substance Use Disorders
by Oyku Dinckol, Noah H. Wenger, Aryanna Copling, Bhumiben P. Patel and Munir Gunes Kutlu
Brain Sci. 2026, 16(4), 397; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci16040397 - 7 Apr 2026
Viewed by 1641
Abstract
Substance use disorder (SUD) is a chronic neuropsychiatric condition characterized by persistent drug seeking and impaired behavioral control. Dopaminergic signaling has long been recognized as a central regulator of reinforcement learning, motivation, and habit formation. Addictive substances profoundly alter dopamine transmission through multiple [...] Read more.
Substance use disorder (SUD) is a chronic neuropsychiatric condition characterized by persistent drug seeking and impaired behavioral control. Dopaminergic signaling has long been recognized as a central regulator of reinforcement learning, motivation, and habit formation. Addictive substances profoundly alter dopamine transmission through multiple mechanisms. These drug-induced changes contribute to the initiation, escalation, and persistence of addictive behaviors. In addition to dopamine, the cholinergic system has emerged as an important modulator of striatal circuit function. Acetylcholine and its receptors interact extensively with dopaminergic pathways, shaping striatal signaling dynamics and influencing learning and action selection, with particularly strong relevance for nicotine dependence. In this review, we discuss how striatal dopamine and acetylcholine contribute to learning, habit formation, and addiction-related behaviors, as well as how these systems interact at the circuit level. By integrating these findings, we propose a framework for understanding how dopamine–acetylcholine interactions may influence behavioral regulation relevant to substance use disorders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Dopamine and Cognition)
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14 pages, 249 KB  
Review
Balancing Risk and Reward: Dopamine’s Central Role in Economic Decision-Making
by Luca Aquili and Lee Wei Lim
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(8), 857; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15080857 - 12 Aug 2025
Viewed by 5401
Abstract
Dopamine has been increasingly implicated in shaping economic and financial decision-making, yet much of the evidence remains fragmented across paradigms and mechanistic levels, and heavily based on preclinical or clinical populations. This review synthesises pharmacological, neuroimaging, and genetic findings from studies involving healthy [...] Read more.
Dopamine has been increasingly implicated in shaping economic and financial decision-making, yet much of the evidence remains fragmented across paradigms and mechanistic levels, and heavily based on preclinical or clinical populations. This review synthesises pharmacological, neuroimaging, and genetic findings from studies involving healthy human participants, highlighting dopamine’s role in risk-taking, delay discounting, social fairness, reward sensitivity, and feedback learning. It distinguishes between transient state-related effects and stable trait-level influences, and clarifies how dopaminergic tone, receptor subtype activity—particularly D2—and corticostriatal circuitry modulate economic choices. In doing so, the review advances a mechanism-focused framework for understanding adaptive and biased decision strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Dopamine and Cognition)
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