Departments of Occupational Therapy and Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University.
Department of Psychology, Emory University.
J Abnorm Psychol. 2018 Jan;127(1):116-128. doi: 10.1037/abn0000320.
Experiential negative symptoms-including diminished motivation-have a profound impact on functional outcomes in schizophrenia. Animal research suggests that abnormalities in dopaminergic regulation can negatively impact effort exertion, a translational model that has been applied to individuals with schizophrenia. Paradigms that assess effort-based decision making, for example, suggest less likelihood of choosing high effort tasks that are high in probability of success, and this preference varies with negative symptoms and impaired functioning. Although asociality is another well-documented component of experiential negative symptoms, it is unclear whether diminished motivation for monetary reward extends to the social domain. To test this question, the authors designed the Social Vigor Task (SVT)-a measure of effort exertion in the context of live social encouragement. They further examined the effect of oxytocin, a neuropeptide implicated in social behavior, on vigor. Forty-two individuals with schizophrenia and 43 healthy controls completed the SVT twice: once after intranasal administration of saline placebo and again after oxytocin. Both groups showed similar increases in vigor in response to social encouragement, suggesting effort in the social context is spared in schizophrenia. Group differences in the effect of social encouragement on vigor varied by point-based reward rate and trial length. Oxytocin did not increase vigor during social encouragement in either group. Within the schizophrenia group, clinician-rated passive social withdrawal, but not active social avoidance, was negatively associated with vigor. Results suggest that people with schizophrenia show normative levels of effort in the context of social encouragement; low approach motivation, however, relates to lower effort. (PsycINFO Database Record
体验性阴性症状，包括动机减弱，对精神分裂症的功能结果有深远影响。动物研究表明，多巴胺调节的异常可能会对努力程度产生负面影响，这是一种已应用于精神分裂症个体的转化模型。评估基于努力的决策的范式表明，选择高努力、高成功概率的任务的可能性较低，这种偏好因阴性症状和功能障碍而异。尽管社交回避是体验性阴性症状的另一个有据可查的组成部分，但动机减弱对金钱奖励是否扩展到社交领域尚不清楚。为了检验这个问题，作者设计了社会活力任务（SVT），这是一种在现场社会鼓励背景下衡量努力程度的方法。他们进一步研究了神经肽催产素对活力的影响，催产素参与社会行为。42 名精神分裂症患者和 43 名健康对照组两次完成 SVT：一次是在鼻内给予生理盐水安慰剂后，另一次是在给予催产素后。两组在社会鼓励下的活力都有相似的增加，这表明精神分裂症患者在社会环境中努力程度没有受到影响。社会鼓励对活力的影响在两组之间的群体差异因基于点的奖励率和试验长度而异。催产素在两组的社会鼓励中都没有增加活力。在精神分裂症组中，临床评定的被动社交回避，而不是主动社交回避，与活力呈负相关。结果表明，精神分裂症患者在社会鼓励的背景下表现出正常水平的努力；然而，低接近动机与低努力有关。
