The neural basis of effort valuation: A meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies

Abstract

Choosing how much effort to expend is a critical for everyday decisions. While effort-based decision-making is altered in common psychopathologies and many neuroimaging studies have been conducted to examine how effort is valued, it remains unclear where the brain processes effort-related costs and integrates them with rewards. Using meta-analyses of combined maps and coordinates of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies (total N = 22), we showed that raw effort demands consistently activated the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA). In contrast, the net value of effortful reward consistently activated regions, such as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and ventral striatum (VS), that have been previously implicated in value integration in other cost domains. The opposite activation patterns of the pre-SMA and vmPFC imply a double dissociation of these two regions, in which the pre-SMA is involved in pure effort cost representation and the vmPFC in net value integration. These findings advance our understanding of the neural basis of effort-related valuation and reveal potential brain targets to treat motivation-related disorders.

Value, confidence, deliberation: a functional partition of the medial prefrontal cortex demonstrated across rating and choice tasks

“…They rather suggest that the vmPFC might compute a net value, integrating reward benefit and effort cost, so as to prescribe whether or not an action is worth engaging. This idea is in line with early demonstrations that the vmPFC integrates costs such as potential loss or delay in reward delivery (Hare et al, 2009;Kable and Glimcher, 2007;Talmi et al, 2009;Tom et al, 2007) and with recent mounting evidence that it also integrates effort-related costs (Aridan et al, 2019;Hogan et al, 2019;Lopez-Gamundi et al, 2021;Westbrook et al, 2019). Consistent with these studies, we observed that vmPFC activity increases with potential benefit and decreases with potential cost, which is compatible with the idea of net value computation.…”

“…A related view is that the vmPFC signals values in a space of goods, whereas the dmPFC encodes values in a space of actions. Although this view has received considerable empirical support (Padoa-Schioppa, 2011; Rangel and Hare, 2010; Rudebeck et al, 2008; Rushworth et al, 2012), it has also been contradicted by representations of effort cost found in vmPFC activity (Aridan et al, 2019; Arulpragasam et al, 2018; Gläscher et al, 2009; Hogan et al, 2019; Lopez-Gamundi et al, 2021; Seaman et al, 2018; Westbrook et al, 2019) and reward value in dmPFC activity (Cai and Padoa-Schioppa, 2012; Fouragnan et al, 2015; Klein-Flugge et al, 2016; Pisauro et al, 2017). The latter observations would rather suggest that both regions integrate the expected values of outcomes and the expected costs of actions.…”

Distinct neural representations for prosocial and self-benefitting effort

“…In addition, a recent meta-analysis of fMRI studies highlights consistent evidence that these regions signal the SV during effort-based decisionmaking 28 . It has been argued that responses in these areas may be domain-general, with SV encoded regardless of the nature of the effort, whether it is physical or cognitive 18,28 . Our results extend this notion, as previous work has exclusively used univariate approaches.…”

“…Activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)/dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and anterior insula (AI) has consistently been shown to covary with the magnitude of rewards and level of task difficulty, both prior to and during the performance of a task 18,[21][22][23][24][25] . In addition, activity in these regions tracks subjective value during effort-based decisions 18,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] . Lesions to these brain areas have been linked to reductions in motivated behaviour and to a reduced willingness to exert effort 32 .…”

“…Such findings suggest that the VTA is engaged exclusively in making choices about whether it is worth exerting effort to benefit oneself, and vAI tracks subjective value more closely during self-benefitting than other-benefitting decisions. Previous research using univariate approaches has repeatedly implicated the dACC/dmPFC and AI in signalling SV during self-benefitting, effort-based choices in a domain-general manner regardless of the nature of the cost 18,24,28 . Next, we tested whether these regions contain information about SV when making both self-benefitting and prosocial choices (see Methods).…”