title: Neural substrates of the impaired effort expenditure decision making in schizophrenia.
abstract: Unwillingness to expend more effort to pursue high value rewards has been associated with motivational anhedonia in schizophrenia (SCZ) and abnormal dopamine activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). The authors hypothesized that dysfunction of the NAcc and the associated forebrain regions are involved in the impaired effort expenditure decision-making of SCZ.
  
  
  
  A 2 (reward magnitude: low vs. high) × 3 (probability: 20% vs. 50% vs. 80%) event-related fMRI design in the effort-expenditure for reward task (EEfRT) was used to examine the neural response of 23 SCZ patients and 23 demographically matched control participants when the participants made effort expenditure decisions to pursue uncertain rewards.
  
  
  
  SCZ patients were significantly less likely to expend high level of effort in the medium (50%) and high (80%) probability conditions than healthy controls. The neural response in the NAcc, the posterior cingulate gyrus and the left medial frontal gyrus in SCZ patients were weaker than healthy controls and did not linearly increase with an increase in reward magnitude and probability. Moreover, NAcc activity was positively correlated with the willingness to expend high-level effort and concrete consummatory pleasure experience.
  
  
  
  NAcc and posterior cingulate dysfunctions in SCZ patients may be involved in their impaired effort expenditure decision-making. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
authors.forename: Xin-Hua
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Education, Rural Children and Adolescents Research Center for Health Promotion, Hunan Agricultural University.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Education, Rural Children and Adolescents Research Center for Health Promotion, Hunan Agricultural University.
authors.forename: Cui-Ying
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Central South University.
authors.forename: Xiao-Qun
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of Second Xiangya Hospital, National Technology Institute of Psychiatry, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University.
authors.forename: Ye-Fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Castle Peak Hospital, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
authors.forename: Eric F C
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of Second Xiangya Hospital, National Technology Institute of Psychiatry, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University.
authors.forename: Guang-Rong
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
authors.forename: Raymond C K
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012201:Reward; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*