Apathy but not diminished expression in schizophrenia is associated with discounting of monetary rewards by physical effort.

ABSTRACT: Negative symptoms in schizophrenia have been grouped into the 2 factors of apathy and diminished expression, which might be caused by separable pathophysiological mechanisms. Recently, it has been proposed that apathy could be due to dysfunctional integration of reward and effort during decision making. We asked whether apathy in particular is associated with stronger devaluation ("discounting") of monetary rewards that require physical effort. Thirty-one patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy control participants performed a computerized effort discounting task in which they could choose to exert physical effort on a handgrip to obtain monetary rewards. This procedure yields an individual measure for the strength of effort discounting. The degree of effort discounting was strongly cor

SUBMITTER: Hartmann MN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4332944 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature