title: Altered Striatal Response During Effort-Based Valuation and Motivation in Alcohol-Dependent Individuals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural circuitry behind effort-related valuation and motivation in a population of alcohol-dependent participants and healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventeen alcohol-dependent participants and a comparison group of 17 healthy control participants completed an effort-based motivation paradigm during an fMRI scan, in which they were required to exert effort at varying levels in order to earn a monetary reward.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that alcohol-dependent participants were less motivated during trials requiring high levels of effort. The whole-brain fMRI analysis revealed that alcohol-dependent participants displayed an increased blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal during low and unknown effort cues in the dorsal and ventral striatum compared with healthy controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings provide the first evidence that alcohol-dependent participants and healthy controls differ in their effort-based valuation and motivation processing. Alcohol-dependent participants displayed a hyperactive mesolimbic reward circuitry recruited by non-drug rewards, potentially reflecting a sensitization to reward in this patient population.
authors.affiliation: Clinical NeuroImaging Research Core, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA Brown-National Institutes of Health Graduate Partnership Program, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Erica N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Grodin
authors.affiliation: Clinical NeuroImaging Research Core, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Leah E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Steckler
authors.affiliation: Clinical NeuroImaging Research Core, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA rezam@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Momenan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology; D012201:Reward