Difficulty updating one’s beliefs to reflect changing circumstances — ‘belief stickiness’ — might underpin some forms of inflexibility. We found that increasing serotonin decreased belief stickiness and that obsessions were associated with increased belief stickiness. These findings uncover a new role for serotonin and could have implications for the treatment of obsessions.
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This is a summary of: Conceição, V. A. et al. Serotonin reduces belief stickiness. Nat. Ment. Health https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-026-00621-9 (2026).
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‘Sticky’ beliefs about the state of the world relate to obsessions and are decreased by serotonin. Nat. Mental Health 4, 692–693 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-026-00622-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-026-00622-8
