Effort-based decision-making in schizophrenia

Publication date: August 2018 Source:Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 22 Author(s): Adam J Culbreth, Erin K Moran, Deanna M Barch Motivational impairment has long been associated with schizophrenia but the underlying mechanisms are not clearly understood. Recently, a small but growing literature has suggested that aberrant effort-based decision-making may be a potential contributory mechanism for motivational impairments in psychosis. Specifically, multiple reports have consistently demonstrated that individuals with schizophrenia are less willing than healthy controls to expend effort to obtain rewards. Further, this effort-based decision-making deficit has been shown to correlate with severity of negative symptoms and level of functioning, in many but not all studies. In the current review, we summarize this literature and discuss several factors that may underlie aberrant effort-based decision-making in schizophrenia.
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research