Researchers at New York University have identified how estrogen shapes learning by strengthening dopamine-based reward signals in the brain. In experiments with rats, learning performance improved when estrogen levels were high and declined when the hormone’s activity was suppressed. The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, may help explain cognitive fluctuations across hormonal cycles and offer clues to psychiatric disorders linked to dopamine.
Hormones such as estrogen have long been known to influence brain function, including emotions and decision-making, but their precise effects on learning have been less clear. A new study led by Carla Golden, a postdoctoral fellow at New York University’s Center for Neural Science, with senior author Christine Constantinople, a professor there, offers fresh insight into this process.
According to news releases from New York University and coverage in ScienceDaily and SciTechDaily, the team conducted experiments using laboratory rats and monitored brain activity as the animals learned to associate audio cues with rewards—in this case, access to water. The cues signaled when water would be available and how much the rats would receive. The study reports that the rats’ learning performance improved when estrogen levels were elevated.
The authors conclude that estrogen boosts dopamine activity in brain regions involved in reward processing, thereby strengthening the reward prediction error signals that support reinforcement learning. The work is detailed in the Nature Neuroscience article “Estrogen modulates reward prediction errors and reinforcement learning” (DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-02104-z).
By contrast, when estrogen activity was reduced, limiting its ability to regulate dopamine, the rats’ learning capabilities declined. The researchers emphasize that the hormone’s influence in these experiments was specific to learning and did not measurably alter cognitive decision-making, according to summaries from NYU and EurekAlert!.
“Our results provide a potential biological explanation that bridges dopamine’s function with learning in ways that better inform our understanding of both health and disease,” Golden said in an NYU statement reported by ScienceDaily and SciTechDaily. Constantinople added, “All neuropsychiatric disorders show fluctuations in symptom severity over hormonal states, suggesting that a better understanding of how hormones influence neural circuits might reveal what causes these diseases.”
The findings highlight how hormonal cycles may contribute to variations in cognitive performance and to changes in symptoms of certain neuropsychiatric conditions. While the study itself is conducted in rats and does not test treatments, NYU’s release notes that the work could inform future research on disorders involving dopamine, including some psychiatric illnesses.
The research team also included collaborators from NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Neuroscience Institute and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. According to NYU and EurekAlert!, the work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (DP2MH126376, F32MH125448, 5T32MH019524, 1S10OD010582-01A1), the National Cancer Institute (P30CA016087), NYU Langone Health, and the Simons Foundation.
The study appears in the journal Nature Neuroscience under the title “Estrogen modulates reward prediction errors and reinforcement learning,” with an article publication date of November 11, 2025, and DOI 10.1038/s41593-025-02104-z.
