Researchers found that serotonin helps reduce “belief stickiness” — the tendency to get stuck on an old idea despite new contradicting evidence. This discovery holds important implications for the understanding and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

>For the experiment, researchers gave 50 volunteers either a dose of escitalopram or a placebo. All participants played a computer game in which they had to collect different shells. The goal was to collect shells that provide pearls (which correlate to points) and avoid shells that contain dirt (which subtract points). As the game went on, the “seasons” would change: a shell that used to give pearls might start giving dirt. To win, players had to constantly infer which season a shell was currently in.
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>“A participant’s performance in the game served as evidence to the degree that they understand there are structures and dynamics in the environment that are reflecting something like a season, which is different from learning about an outcome through trial and error,” Petzschner said.
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>The researchers used computational models to compare task performance and correlated it with the level of escitalopram — and therefore, serotonin — in the participant’s blood.
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>The study showed that participants with sufficiently high escitalopram plasma levels had less belief stickiness, and therefore better inference about seasons (or the state of their world at that time), than participants who had been given the placebo.
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>Escitalopram, which is commonly known in the U.S. by the brand name Lexapro, is considered a front-line treatment for OCD. The inverse relationship of escitalopram with belief stickiness may explain the therapeutic effect of SSRIs on obsessive-compulsive disorder, the researchers concluded.
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[Serotonin reduces belief stickiness | Nature Mental Health](https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-026-00621-9)

this isn’t really a new discovery in a lot of ways. listen to the ologies podcast episode about OCD from 2-3 years ago and it was already pretty well understood that serotonin plays a big part in behavioral and decision making systems

yah, anyone who thinks a lot of modern politics isn’t a manifestation of brain chemistry when confronted with new ideas needs help.  brains can only absorb new information so fast before they rebel.

belief stickiness?
Is this rebranded thought rigidity?