Neural Mechanisms of Motivation and Decision-Making
The human striatum, and particularly dopaminergic neurons within the striatum, is believed to play a critical role in motivated decision-making and effort-discounting. However, the exact neural mechanisms underlying effort-based decision-making remain unknown. Specifically, adequate research has not been conducted to interpret and understand how the striatum responds to both effort and reward, as well as to their integration.
This study aims to better understand neural responses to effort and reward during effort-based choice. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), individuals complete a sequential effort-based decision-making task. This design is unique in that it allows for the isolation of neural responses to effort or reward alone, as well as to subjective value estimates (reward discounted by effort). Additionally, this design can provide essential evidence about how the human striatum encodes effort and reward information, and if any regions responding to these separate pieces of information may predict future behavioral choices. Particularly, it can help clarify whether there is anatomical segregation in the regions that track costs and benefits or whether the same regions are responding to both pieces of information in a similar manner.
