An Examination of the Multi-Faceted Motivation System in Healthy Young Adults

Bibliographic Data

ID15525752
AuthorsSusana da Silva (University of Toronto), Areti Apatsidou (The Scarborough Hospital), Sarah Saperia (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health), Ishraq Siddiqui (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health), Eliyas Jeffay (0000-0002-1763-9834, The Scarborough Hospital), Aristotle N Voineskos (0000-0003-0156-0395, University of Toronto), Zafiris J Daskalakis (0000-0001-9502-0538, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health), Gary Remington (0000-0001-5439-6109, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health), Konstantine K Zakzanis (0000-0001-7859-9701, The Scarborough Hospital), George Foussias (0000-0001-6220-519X, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume9
Pages191-191
Publication date2018-05-11
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1664-0640 • E-ISSN: 1664-0640
PublisherFrontiers Media (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00191
PMID29867611
OpenAlexW2801376170
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited15

Background: Amotivation is a prevalent symptom in schizophrenia (SZ) and depression (MDD), and is linked to poor functional outcomes in affected individuals. Conceptualizations of motivation have outlined a multi-faceted construct comprised of reward responsiveness, reward expectancy, reward valuation, effort valuation, and action selection/preference-based decision making. To date, findings from studies utilizing variable-centered approaches to examining isolated facets of motivation in SZ and MDD have been inconsistent. Thus, the present study adopted a person-centered approach, and comprehensively examined the reward system in a non-clinical sample in an attempt to explore potential subtypes of motivation impairments, while minimizing the effects of illness-related confounds. Methods: Ninety-six healthy undergraduate students were evaluated for amotivation, schizotypal traits, depressive symptoms, and cognition, and administered objective computerized tasks to measure the different facets of motivation. Cluster analysis was performed to explore subgroups of individuals based on similar motivation task performance. Additionally, correlational analyses were conducted in order to examine inter-relationships between motivation facets, and relations between clinical measures and facets of motivation. Results: Cluster analysis identified two subgroups of individuals with differential motivation performance profiles. Correlational analyses revealed that reward responsiveness was associated with amotivation, depressive symptoms, and negative schizotypy. Further, significant inter-correlations were found between reward responsiveness and reward expectancy, as well as between reward valuation and effort valuation. Conclusions: Our results mark important steps forward in understanding motivation in a non-clinical sample, and guide future dimensional and comprehensive analyses of the multi-faceted reward system. It remains to be seen whether these patterns of results will be similar in clinical populations such as SZ and MDD

Amotivation · Anhedonia · Developmental psychology · Expectancy theory · Intrinsic motivation · Psychiatry · Schizophrenia (object-oriented programming · Bipolar Disorder and Treatment · Clinical Psychology · Mental Health Research Topics · Psychology · Schizophrenia research and treatment · Social Psychology

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