Just Do It: A Neuropsychological Theory of Agency, Cognition, Mood, and Dopamine (original) (raw)

Agency is the sense that one has control over one’s own actions and the consequences of those actions. Despite the critical role that agency plays in the human condition, little is known about its neural basis. A novel theory proposes that increases in agency disinhibit the dopamine system and thereby increase the number of tonically active dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area. The theory, called ADDS (Agency Disinhibits the Dopamine System), proposes a specific neural network that mediates these effects. ADDS accurately predicts a variety of relevant neuroscience results, and makes many novel predictions, including that increases in agency will 1) increase motivation, 2) improve executive function, 3) facilitate procedural learning, but only in the presence of immediate trial-by-trial feedback, 4) have little or no effect on learning-related effects of stimulus repetition, 5) facilitate the development of automatic behaviors, but have little or no effect on the production...