Altered Associations Between Motivated Performance and Frontostriatal Functional Connectivity During Reward...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Effort cost computation deficits are poorly understood in schizophrenia (SZ).
• Frontostriatal circuits are crucial for motivation and decision-making.
• Hypothesis: These circuits are dysfunctional or do not predict behavior in SZ under difficult, rewarded conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the neuronal mechanisms of effort-based decision-making deficits in schizophrenia.
• Examine frontostriatal circuit function and its relationship with behavioral performance in SZ.
• Determine if frontostriatal connectivity predicts behavior differently in SZ compared to healthy controls (HCs).

Main Methods:

• 52 individuals with recent-onset SZ-spectrum disorders and 48 HCs underwent fMRI.
• Participants performed a task with varying valence (rewarded vs. neutral) and difficulty conditions.
• Frontostriatal connectivity was analyzed during the anticipatory phase, and behavior was modeled using drift-diffusion models (drift rate - DR).

Main Results:

• SZ group exhibited a deficit in DR, indicating impaired performance.
• No group differences in overall or valence-specific frontostriatal connectivity were found.
• Significant interactions revealed that right dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC)-striatal connectivity predicted DR in HCs but not in SZ, particularly in difficult-rewarded conditions.

Conclusions:

• Frontostriatal connectivity is less predictive of performance in individuals with schizophrenia when task difficulty and reward incentives are high.
• This suggests a breakdown in the integration of motivational and cognitive control signals in SZ.
• Findings highlight potential therapeutic targets for improving effort-based decision-making in schizophrenia.