Neurobiological basis of motivational deficits in psychopathology

Ventral striatal hypoactivation is associated with apathy but not diminished expression in patients with schizophrenia

“…30 The present study extends this work by providing a specific link between the clinical expression of apathy and dysfunctional striatal reward anticipation, which strongly supports the hypothesis of different neural bases for apathy and diminished expression. 34 In this context, our present findings highlight the importance of assessing both negative symptom domains separately when investigating the neural basis of negative symptoms. 1,7,8,34 For the study of apathy it is crucial to account for secondary negative symptoms, which are related to medication side effects, as well as positive psychotic and depressive symptoms.…”

“…34 In this context, our present findings highlight the importance of assessing both negative symptom domains separately when investigating the neural basis of negative symptoms. 1,7,8,34 For the study of apathy it is crucial to account for secondary negative symptoms, which are related to medication side effects, as well as positive psychotic and depressive symptoms. 53,54 We aimed to reduce the potential influence of secondary negative symptoms on our main findings using the following approach.…”

“…In addition, relatively small samples likely made it difficult to disentangle between apathy and diminished expression. 34 The primary aim of the present study was to investigate the specific association between apathy and diminished expression and neural correlates of reward processing in individuals with schizophrenia. We used the new Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) 35 to assess these 2 psychopathological dimensions.…”

Can we make cannabis safer?

“…This may explain their unwillingness to stop using in spite of the negative effect the drug has on them and the failure of interventions in this population. Another potential factor is that reducing substance use usually depend on the subject having motivation and insight, both of which are impaired in patients with psychotic disorders 49 .…”

Perturbations in Effort-Related Decision-Making Driven by Acute Stress and Corticotropin-Releasing Factor

“…However, individuals with this disorder also suffer from a number of energy-related deficiencies, including a substantial lack of motivation, or anergia, with depressed patients reluctant to expend effort in exchange for pleasurable experiences (Tylee et al, 1999;Stahl, 2002). Indeed, it is this lack of motivation, and not an inability to experience pleasure per se, that is the most debilitating symptom of depression, rendering sufferers unable to participate in everyday activities (Salamone et al, 2015). With this in mind, depressed patients tested on a back-translated assay of effort-based decision-making show a marked reduction in preference for larger rewards associated with greater effort costs (Treadway et al, 2012) and increased decision latencies on various tests of executive functioning (Rubinsztein et al, 2000;Murphy et al, 2001).…”