Norepinephrine and tradeoff between exploitation and exploration

In continuation of the yesterday's topic. Jonathan Cohen from Princeton and U. of Pittsburg claimes that the level of norepinephrine produced by LC (Locus ceruleus) serves as a switch between exploitation and exploration modes.

On monkeys: exploitation mode: low LC activity, phasic mode of firing of LC neurons; exploration mode: high LC activity, tonic mode of firing of LC neurons, a lot of norepinephrine, pupils dilation.( annealing paradigm )