The Role of the Striatum in Effort-Based Decision-Making in the Absence of Reward

Schouppe, Nathalie; Demanet, Jelle; Boehler, C. Nico; Ridderinkhof, K. Richard; Notebaert, Wim · 2014 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1214-13.2014

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Summary

This study investigates the neural mechanisms underlying effort-based decision-making when extrinsic rewards are absent. While previous research established that the striatum and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) compute the subjective value of rewards discounted by physical effort, it remained unclear whether these circuits also process cognitive effort independently of reward expectations. The authors aimed to determine if the striatum reflects a cost–benefit analysis involving intrinsic motivation for cognitive challenge, and whether voluntary choice differs neurologically from externally imposed effort. To address this, the researchers employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 22 human participants performing an effort-based decision-making task. Participants chose between two options for a subsequent flanker task, where options differed in cognitive demand based on the proportion of incongruent trials (high-conflict vs. low-conflict). Crucially, the design included both voluntary choices, where participants freely selected an option, and imposed choices, where the location was dictated by a cue. This allowed for the dissociation of voluntary choice processes from preparatory or cue-related processes. Cognitive effort was manipulated by varying the likelihood of incongruent trials, with one location associated with 80% incongruent trials and the other with 20%. Behavioral results confirmed that the high-conflict location induced greater cognitive effort, evidenced by a smaller congruency effect on reaction times and error rates compared to the low-conflict location. In the absence of reward, participants showed no significant preference for either location during voluntary choices within the scanner, though a post-scanning preference for the low-conflict option emerged. Neuroimaging analysis revealed that choice-locked activation in the striatum was significantly higher when participants voluntarily chose the more effortful (high-conflict) alternative compared to the low-effort alternative. This pattern was reversed during imposed choices, where striatal activation was higher for low-effort options. The dACC exhibited a similar, though only trend-level significant, activation pattern. Whole-brain analysis further identified increased activation in the presupplementary motor area and inferior parietal lobule during voluntary versus imposed choices. The findings demonstrate that striatal activation reflects a balance between effort discounting and the intrinsic motivation to engage in cognitively challenging tasks when no external reward is at stake. Importantly, the results highlight a critical distinction between voluntary and imposed effort: the striatum shows enhanced activation for voluntarily selected high-effort tasks, contrasting with classical findings of reduced striatal activation for high physical effort. This suggests that the neural valuation of effort is context-dependent, influenced by the autonomy of the choice and the absence of potential reward loss.

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