# Effort-Based Decision Making and Motivated Behavior in Everyday Life

> **NIH NIH R37** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $760,823

## Abstract

Motivational impairments are a key feature of both psychotic and mood disorders. Decreases in motivation
impair work and social function transdiagnostically, reduce quality of life, and increase public health demands.
Current treatments are not sufficiently effective at reducing impairments in motivation, in part due to the need
to better understand the mechanisms that give rise to these symptoms. The work in the prior round of funding
provided strong evidence that abnormal effort-cost decision-making (ECDM; Effort valuation/Willingness to
work in the RDoC Positive Valence System) may be a key contributor to motivational deficits in psychotic
pathology (i.e., individuals with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder), but not among
individuals with mood pathology (i.e., Major Depression). ECDM refers to calculations that individuals perform
to estimate the amount of physical or cognitive "work" required to obtain a reward. Individuals with
schizophrenia, schizoaffective, bipolar disorder are less motivated than healthy individuals to exert effort to
obtain rewards on experimental tasks of ECDM, with associated deficits in dorsal-fontal parietal control
systems, and these deficits are related to symptoms of amotivation and function in everyday life. Individuals
with depression did not show such deficits on tasks of either physical or cognitive effort, despite showing
clear evidence of anhedonia in everyday life. These data strongly support our hypotheses that the
mechanisms that contribute to motivational impairments in psychosis differ from those in depression. Here
we expand this work. In Aim 1 we will utilize novel behavioral and imaging paradigms derived from the
affective science literature to assess social and non-social motivation (Consultant Sommerville, co-I Braver)
to test the hypothesis that individuals with psychosis will show even greater impairment in effort allocation
for social than monetary rewards, while individuals with depression will show equal impairments in both. In
Aim 2, we will integrate state-of-the art neuroimaging methods (neuromelanin) to indirectly measure
dopamine function (consultant Horga) to test the hypothesis that dopamine disruption will be more strongly
related to indices of motivational impairments in depression versus psychosis. In Aim 3, we will incorporate
innovative mobile technologies to longitudinally assess social and non-social motivated behavior and
cognition (Consultant Gershon) in everyday life, testing the hypotheses that the magnitude of motivational
impairments in psychosis will covary over time with cognitive impairments among individuals with psychosis,
but not among individuals with depression.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10817803
- **Project number:** 5R37MH066031-16
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Deanna Barch
- **Activity code:** R37 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $760,823
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-04-01 → 2028-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10817803

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10817803, Effort-Based Decision Making and Motivated Behavior in Everyday Life (5R37MH066031-16). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10817803. Licensed CC0.

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