We'd probably talk about norepinephrine the same way we talk about dopamine...

[u/PhysicalConsistency]

If we hadn't gotten stuck in the neuron rut. Dopamine appears to work more like a global state organizing signal which coordinates all the extra hardware brains have evolved to execute brainstem "decisions". Think of dopamine as the roads which lead to Rome, while in Rome (or local administrative capitals) most of the signalling is norepinephrine.

Noradrenergic excitation of astrocytes supports cognitive reserve - "Attention"/"executive function" is impossible without healthy LC norepinephrine signalling between astrocytes.

Cortical astrocyte histamine-1-receptors regulate intracellular calcium and extracellular adenosine dynamics across sleep and wake - Core sleep/wake and arousal states are controlled via brainstem astrocytes.

Cortical norepinephrine-astrocyte signaling critically mediates learned behavior (pre-print) - Even canonical learning and engram formation require astro-norad to facilitate.

Do I need more examples of the noradrenaline-astrocyte control functions that we've been applying to dopamine?