Behavioral and Neural Representations of Subjective Effort Cost
Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc.
Summary
The goal of this proposal is to understand the common and distinct behavioral and neural representations of subjective effort valuation, and how these representations are influenced by fatigue and changes in motivation. It is hypothesized that the brain will use overlapping and distinct neural circuits to represent cognitive and physical effort value, and that fatigue and enhanced motivation will influence the subjective value of effort.
Description
How effortful a task feels is an integral aspect of human decision-making that shapes motivation. If a task feels very effortful one may be unwilling to perform the work required, whereas if a task feels less effortful one may be more likely to persevere. Despite the importance of these perceptions for decision-making, the behavioral and neural mechanisms of subjective effort valuation are not well understood. Furthermore, the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) has identified "Effort Valuation / Willingness to Work" as a key subconstruct for understandi…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–35 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * Right-handed * Age between 18 and 35 years old - Male or female * Any ethnicity Exclusion Criteria: Individuals with a history of any of the following will be excluded from the study: * Neurological problems such as stroke, head injury, epilepsy, seizures, brain tumors, brain surgery, Parkinson's Disease (self- report) * Diagnosed history of severe psychiatric disease such as depression, schizophrenia (self-report) * Metal in the head or eyes * If they are pregnant or suspect that you may be pregnant * If they experience discomfort from the MRI scan, such as severe cl…
Interventions
- BehavioralCognitive Fatigue
Participants will perform a cognitively demanding task (spatial attention task), repeatedly, to induce cognitive fatigue.
- BehavioralPhysical Fatigue
Participants will perform a physically demanding task (grip force exertion task), repeatedly, to induce cognitive fatigue.
- BehavioralRewarding Stimuli
Reward-associated stimuli will be used to study how reward-induced changes in motivational state influence effort choices.
Location
- Kennedy Krieger InstituteBaltimore, Maryland