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Updated: Dec 31, 2025
An Automated T-maze Based Apparatus and Protocol for Analyzing Delay- and Effort-based Decision Making in Free Moving Rodents
Published on: August 2, 2018
Effort-based decision making varies by smoking status
Merideth A Addicott1, Margaret C Wardle2, James P Selig3
1Psychiatric Research Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, 72205, USA. maddicott@uams.edu.
Rationale:
A reduced willingness to perform effort based on the magnitude and probability of potential rewards has been associated with diminished dopamine function and may be relevant to chronic drug use.
Objectives:
Here, we investigated the influence of smoking status on effort-based decisions. We hypothesized that smokers would make fewer high-effort selections than ex-smokers and never-smokers.
Methods:
Current smokers (n = 25), ex-smokers (≥ 1 year quit, n = 23), and never-smokers (n = 19) completed the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task in which participants select between low-effort and high-effort options to receive monetary rewards at varying levels of reward magnitude, probability and expected value.
Results:
Overall, participants selected more high-effort options as potential reward magnitude and expected value increased. Smokers did not make fewer high-effort selections overall, but smokers were less sensitive to the changes in magnitude, probability, and expected value compared to never-smokers. Smokers were also less sensitive to the changes in probability and expected value, but not magnitude, compared to ex-smokers. Among smokers and ex-smokers, less nicotine dependence was associated with an increased likelihood of high-effort selections.
Conclusions:
These results demonstrate the relevance of smoking status to effort-based decisions and suggest that smokers have diminished sensitivity to nondrug reward value. Among ex-smokers, greater pre-existing sensitivity to reward value may have been conducive to smoking cessation, or sensitivity was improved by smoking cessation. Future prospective studies can investigate whether effort-related decision making is predictive of smoking initiation or cessation success.
Implications:
Willingness to perform effort to achieve a goal and sensitivity to changes in reward value are important aspects of motivation. These results showed that smokers have decreased sensitivity to changes in effort-related reward probability and expected value compared to ex-smokers and never-smokers. Potentially, improved sensitivity to rewards among ex-smokers may be a cause or consequence of smoking cessation. These findings may help explain why some smokers are able to achieve long-term abstinence.
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