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Savage CM, Prettyman GE, Jenkins AC, Kable JW, Didier PR, Viegas de Moraes Leme LF, Wolf DH. Social effort discounting reveals domain-general and social-specific motivation components. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2024:S2451-9022(24)00208-8. [PMID: 39074557 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.07.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2024] [Revised: 06/22/2024] [Accepted: 07/17/2024] [Indexed: 07/31/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Social motivation is crucial for healthy interpersonal connections and is impaired in a subset of the general population and across many psychiatric disorders. However, compared to nonsocial (e.g., monetary) motivation, social motivation has been understudied in quantitative behavioral work, especially regarding willingness to exert social effort. We developed a novel social effort discounting task, paired with a monetary task to examine motivational specificity. We expected social task performance would relate to general motivation also show selective relationships with self-reported avoidance tendencies and with sociality. METHODS An analyzed sample of 397 participants performed the social and nonsocial effort discounting task online, along with self-report measures of various aspects of motivation and psychiatric symptomatology. RESULTS Social and nonsocial task motivation correlated strongly (rho=0.71 p<0.001). Both social and nonsocial task motivation related similarly to self-reported general motivation (social ß=0.16; nonsocial ß=0.13) and to self-reported approach motivation (social ß=0.14; nonsocial ß=0.11), with this common effect captured by a significant main effect across social and nonsocial conditions. Significant condition interaction effects supported a selective relationship of social task motivation with self-reported sociality and also with avoidance motivation. CONCLUSIONS Our novel social effort discounting task revealed both domain-general and social-specific components of motivation. In combination with other measures, this approach can facilitate further investigation of common and dissociable neurobehavioral mechanisms, in order to better characterize normative and pathological variation and develop personalized interventions targeting specific contributors to social impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chloe M Savage
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104, USA
| | - Greer E Prettyman
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104, USA
| | - Adrianna C Jenkins
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104, USA
| | - Joseph W Kable
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104, USA
| | - Paige R Didier
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104, USA
| | | | - Daniel H Wolf
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104, USA.
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2
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Green MF, Wynn JK, Eisenberger NI, Horan WP, Lee J, McCleery A, Miklowitz DJ, Reavis EA, Reddy LF. Social cognition and social motivation in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: are impairments linked to the disorder or to being socially isolated? Psychol Med 2024:1-9. [PMID: 38314526 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291724000102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND People with schizophrenia on average are more socially isolated, lonelier, have more social cognitive impairment, and are less socially motivated than healthy individuals. People with bipolar disorder also have social isolation, though typically less than that seen in schizophrenia. We aimed to disentangle whether the social cognitive and social motivation impairments observed in schizophrenia are a specific feature of the clinical condition v. social isolation generally. METHODS We compared four groups (clinically stable patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, individuals drawn from the community with self-described social isolation, and a socially connected community control group) on loneliness, social cognition, and approach and avoidance social motivation. RESULTS Individuals with schizophrenia (n = 72) showed intermediate levels of social isolation, loneliness, and social approach motivation between the isolated (n = 96) and connected control (n = 55) groups. However, they showed significant deficits in social cognition compared to both community groups. Individuals with bipolar disorder (n = 48) were intermediate between isolated and control groups for loneliness and social approach. They did not show deficits on social cognition tasks. Both clinical groups had higher social avoidance than both community groups. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that social cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, and high social avoidance motivation in both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are distinct features of the clinical conditions and not byproducts of social isolation. In contrast, differences between clinical and control groups on levels of loneliness and social approach motivation were congruent with the groups' degree of social isolation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael F Green
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- VA Rehabilitation R&D Center on Enhancing Community Integration for Homeless Veterans, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jonathan K Wynn
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- VA Rehabilitation R&D Center on Enhancing Community Integration for Homeless Veterans, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | | | - William P Horan
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Karuna Therapeutics, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Junghee Lee
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Amanda McCleery
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - David J Miklowitz
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Eric A Reavis
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- VA Rehabilitation R&D Center on Enhancing Community Integration for Homeless Veterans, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - L Felice Reddy
- VA Rehabilitation R&D Center on Enhancing Community Integration for Homeless Veterans, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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3
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Bershad AK, de Wit H. Social Psychopharmacology: Novel Approaches to Treat Deficits in Social Motivation in Schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 2023; 49:1161-1173. [PMID: 37358825 PMCID: PMC10483474 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbad094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/27/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS Diminished social motivation is a negative symptom of schizophrenia and leads to severe functional consequences for many patients suffering from the illness. However, there are no effective medications available to treat this symptom. Despite the lack of approved treatments for patients, there is a growing body of literature on the effects of several classes of drugs on social motivation in healthy volunteers that may be relevant to patients. The aim of this review is to synthesize these results in an effort to identify novel directions for the development of medications to treat reduced social motivation in schizophrenia. STUDY DESIGN In this article, we review pharmacologic challenge studies addressing the acute effects of psychoactive drugs on social motivation in healthy volunteers and consider how these findings may be applied to deficits in social motivation in schizophrenia. We include studies testing amphetamines and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), opioids, cannabis, serotonergic psychedelics, antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and neuropeptides. STUDY RESULTS We report that amphetamines, MDMA, and some opioid medications enhance social motivation in healthy adults and may represent promising avenues of investigation in schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS Given the acute effects of these drugs on behavioral and performance-based measures of social motivation in healthy volunteers, they may be particularly beneficial as an adjunct to psychosocial training programs in patient populations. It remains to be determined how these medications affect patients with deficits in social motivation, and in which contexts they may be most effectively administered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anya K Bershad
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CAUSA
| | - Harriet de Wit
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, ILUSA
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4
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Abstract
BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS Social motivation, defined as the fundamental human desire to seek out, engage in, and maintain interpersonal bonds, has become a growing area of research in schizophrenia. The major focus has been on understanding the impact of social reward-related processes. An obvious but rarely acknowledged fact is that social interactions, much like other goal-directed acts, require the exertion of effort. In this Review Article, we argue that social motivation in schizophrenia can be conceptualized through the lens of an established framework: effort-based decision-making (EBDM). STUDY DESIGN We conducted a literature review on social reward processing in schizophrenia, then extended these findings by applying concepts and insights from the literature on EBDM to the study of social motivation. STUDY RESULTS Within the EBDM framework, decisions about whether or not to pursue social interactions are bound by cost/benefit calculations. That is, people do not pursue social behaviors when the estimated "cost" of the required effort outweighs the anticipated "benefit" or reward. We propose that people with schizophrenia are less likely to engage in social interaction compared with healthy samples because they: (1) underestimate the benefits of relationships (based on expectations of reward/punishment), (2) overestimate the effort costs associated with social interaction, and/or (3) fail to integrate cost-benefit information in an optimal manner. CONCLUSIONS EBDM is an especially promising framework of social motivation that goes beyond the current focus on social reward processing to include a focus on effort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren T Catalano
- Desert Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Michael F Green
- Desert Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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5
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Botello R, Gill K, Mow JL, Leung L, Mote J, Mueser KT, Gard DE, Fulford D. Validation of the Social Effort and Conscientious Scale (SEACS) in Schizophrenia. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s10862-023-10031-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/23/2023]
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6
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Flechsenhar A, Kanske P, Krach S, Korn C, Bertsch K. The (un)learning of social functions and its significance for mental health. Clin Psychol Rev 2022; 98:102204. [PMID: 36216722 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Revised: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Social interactions are dynamic, context-dependent, and reciprocal events that influence prospective strategies and require constant practice and adaptation. This complexity of social interactions creates several research challenges. We propose a new framework encouraging future research to investigate not only individual differences in capacities relevant for social functioning and their underlying mechanisms, but also the flexibility to adapt or update one's social abilities. We suggest three key capacities relevant for social functioning: (1) social perception, (2) sharing emotions or empathizing, and (3) mentalizing. We elaborate on how adaptations in these capacities may be investigated on behavioral and neural levels. Research on these flexible adaptations of one's social behavior is needed to specify how humans actually "learn to be social". Learning to adapt implies plasticity of the relevant brain networks involved in the underlying social processes, indicating that social abilities are malleable for different contexts. To quantify such measures, researchers need to find ways to investigate learning through dynamic changes in adaptable social paradigms and examine several factors influencing social functioning within the three aformentioned social key capacities. This framework furthers insight concerning individual differences, provides a holistic approach to social functioning, and may improve interventions for ameliorating social abilities in patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleya Flechsenhar
- Department Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany.
| | - Philipp Kanske
- Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
| | - Sören Krach
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Germany
| | - Christoph Korn
- Section Social Neuroscience, Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Katja Bertsch
- Department Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany; NeuroImaging Core Unit Munich (NICUM), University Hospital LMU, Munich, Germany; Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
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7
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Zhang YJ, Hu HX, Wang LL, Wang X, Wang Y, Huang J, Wang Y, Lui SSY, Hui L, Chan RCK. Altered neural mechanism of social reward anticipation in individuals with schizophrenia and social anhedonia. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2022:10.1007/s00406-022-01505-6. [PMID: 36305919 DOI: 10.1007/s00406-022-01505-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Altered social reward anticipation could be found in schizophrenia (SCZ) patients and individuals with high levels of social anhedonia (SA). However, few research investigated the putative neural processing for altered social reward anticipation in these populations on the SCZ spectrum. This study aimed to examine the underlying neural mechanisms of social reward anticipation in these populations. Twenty-three SCZ patients and 17 healthy controls (HC), 37 SA individuals and 50 respective HCs completed the Social Incentive Delay (SID) imaging task while they were undertaking MRI brain scans. We used the group contrast to examine the alterations of BOLD activation and functional connectivity (FC, psychophysiological interactions analysis). We then characterized the beta-series social brain network (SBN) based on the meta-analysis results from NeuroSynth and examined their prediction effects on real-life social network (SN) characteristics using the partial least squared regression analysis. The results showed that SCZ patients exhibited hypo-activation of the left medial frontal gyrus and the negative FCs with the left parietal regions, while individuals with SA showed the hyper-activation of the left middle frontal gyrus when anticipating social reward. For the beta-series SBNs, SCZ patients had strengthened cerebellum-temporal FCs, while SA individuals had strengthened left frontal regions FCs. However, such FCs of the SBN failed to predict the real-life SN characteristics. These preliminary findings suggested that SCZ patients and SA individuals appear to exhibit altered neural processing for social reward anticipation, and such neural activities showed a weakened association with real-life SN characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Jing Zhang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Hui-Xin Hu
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ling-Ling Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xuan Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yi Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jia Huang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ya Wang
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Simon S Y Lui
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
| | - Li Hui
- The Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Raymond C K Chan
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, China. .,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
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8
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Marazziti D, Diep PT, Carter S, Carbone MG. Oxytocin: An Old Hormone, A Novel Psychotropic Drug And Possible Use In Treating Psychiatric Disorders. Curr Med Chem 2022; 29:5615-5687. [PMID: 35894453 DOI: 10.2174/0929867329666220727120646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Revised: 03/17/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Oxytocin is a nonapeptide synthesized in the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei of the hypothalamus. Historically, this molecule has been involved as a key factor in the formation of infant attachment, maternal behavior and pair bonding and, more generally, in linking social signals with cognition, behaviors and reward. In the last decades, the whole oxytocin system has gained a growing interest as it was proposed to be implicated in etiopathogenesis of several neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. METHODS With the main goal of an in-depth understanding of the oxytocin role in the regulation of different functions and complex behaviors as well as its intriguing implications in different neuropsychiatric disorders, we performed a critical review of the current state of art. We carried out this work through PubMed database up to June 2021 with the search terms: 1) "oxytocin and neuropsychiatric disorders"; 2) "oxytocin and neurodevelopmental disorders"; 3) "oxytocin and anorexia"; 4) "oxytocin and eating disorders"; 5) "oxytocin and obsessive-compulsive disorder"; 6) "oxytocin and schizophrenia"; 7) "oxytocin and depression"; 8) "oxytocin and bipolar disorder"; 9) "oxytocin and psychosis"; 10) "oxytocin and anxiety"; 11) "oxytocin and personality disorder"; 12) "oxytocin and PTSD". RESULTS Biological, genetic, and epigenetic studies highlighted quality and quantity modifications in the expression of oxytocin peptide or in oxytocin receptor isoforms. These alterations would seem to be correlated with a higher risk of presenting several neuropsychiatric disorders belonging to different psychopathological spectra. Collaterally, the exogenous oxytocin administration has shown to ameliorate many neuropsychiatric clinical conditions. CONCLUSION Finally, we briefly analyzed the potential pharmacological use of oxytocin in patient with severe symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection due to its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and immunoregulatory properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donatella Marazziti
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Psychiatry, University of Pisa, Italy.,Saint Camillus International University of Health and Medical Sciences, Rome, Italy
| | - Phuoc-Tan Diep
- Department of Histopathology, Royal Lancaster Infirmary, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, Lancaster, United Kingdom
| | - Sue Carter
- Director Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Manuel G Carbone
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Division of Psychiatry, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy
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9
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Abstract
Anhedonia has long been considered a cardinal symptom of schizophrenia. This symptom is strongly associated with poor functional outcome, and limited treatment options are available. While originally conceptualized as an inability to experience pleasure, recent work has consistently shown that individuals with schizophrenia have an intact capacity to experience pleasure in-the-moment. Adjacent work in basic affective neuroscience has broadened the conceptualization of anhedonia to include not only the capacity to experience pleasure but highlights important temporal affective dynamics and decision-making processes that go awry in schizophrenia. Here we detail these mechanisms for emotional and motivational impairment in people with schizophrenia including: (1) initial response to reward; (2) reward anticipation; (3) reward learning; (4) effort-cost decision-making; (5) working memory and cognitive control. We will review studies that utilized various types of rewards (e.g., monetary, social), in order to draw conclusions regarding whether findings vary by reward type. We will then discuss how modern assessment methods may best incorporate each of the mechanisms, to provide a more fine-grained understanding of anhedonia in individuals with schizophrenia. We will close by providing a discussion of relevant future directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin K Moran
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Adam J Culbreth
- Department of Psychiatry, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Deanna M Barch
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Radiology, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
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10
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Abplanalp SJ, Mote J, Uhlman AC, Weizenbaum E, Alvi T, Tabak BA, Fulford D. Parsing social motivation: development and validation of a self-report measure of social effort. J Ment Health 2021; 31:366-373. [PMID: 34304675 DOI: 10.1080/09638237.2021.1952948] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Reduced efforts to form and maintain social bonds can exist in the context of a sufficient desire for social connection. Thus, social impairment common across many psychiatric conditions may often reflect failures in social effort exertion, despite normative levels of social liking and wanting. Although there are many questionnaires available that assess sociability, desire, or lack thereof for connection and perceived social support, there is no current self-report assessment of the behavioral outputs of social motivation. AIMS We aimed to develop and validate a measure of the social effort in college students and the general population. METHODS College students (n = 981) and a broader sample of adults via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk; n = 506) participated in the study. RESULTS We identified two factors that represented content related to general social effort and social effort in adherence with social norms; we named the measure the Social Effort and Conscientiousness Scale (SEACS). Results suggest the SEACS is a reliable and valid measure of social effort. CONCLUSIONS Lower scores on the SEACS were associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, highlighting the scale's potential utility in clinical populations. We include a discussion of possible applications of the SEACS, including its further use and application in psychopathology research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel J Abplanalp
- Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jasmine Mote
- Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Anne C Uhlman
- Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Emma Weizenbaum
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Talha Alvi
- Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, University Park, TX, USA
| | - Benjamin A Tabak
- Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, University Park, TX, USA
| | - Daniel Fulford
- Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
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11
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Oxytocin in Schizophrenia: Pathophysiology and Implications for Future Treatment. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22042146. [PMID: 33670047 PMCID: PMC7926349 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22042146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2021] [Revised: 02/17/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a form of mental disorder that is behaviorally characterized by abnormal behavior, such as social function deficits or other behaviors that are disconnected from reality. Dysregulation of oxytocin may play a role in regulating the expression of schizophrenia. Given oxytocin’s role in social cognition and behavior, a variety of studies have examined the potential clinical benefits of oxytocin in improving the psychopathology of patients with schizophrenia. In this review, we highlight the evidence for the role of endogenous oxytocin in schizophrenia, from animal models to human studies. We further discuss the potential of oxytocin as a therapeutic agent for schizophrenia and its implication in future treatment.
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12
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Mow JL, Gandhi A, Fulford D. Imaging the "social brain" in schizophrenia: A systematic review of neuroimaging studies of social reward and punishment. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 118:704-722. [PMID: 32841653 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2020] [Revised: 06/20/2020] [Accepted: 08/07/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Decreased social functioning and high levels of loneliness and social isolation are common in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), contributing to reduced quality of life. One key contributor to social impairment is low social motivation, which may stem from aberrant neural processing of socially rewarding or punishing stimuli. To summarize research on the neurobiology of social motivation in SSD, we performed a systematic literature review of neuroimaging studies involving the presentation of social stimuli intended to elicit feelings of reward and/or punishment. Across 11 studies meeting criteria, people with SSD demonstrated weaker modulation of brain activity in regions within a proposed social interaction network, including prefrontal, cingulate, and striatal regions, as well as the amygdala and insula. Firm conclusions regarding neural differences in SSD in these regions, as well as connections within networks, are limited due to conceptual and methodological inconsistencies across the available studies. We conclude by making recommendations for the study of social reward and punishment processing in SSD in future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica L Mow
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University, 64 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA, 02215, United States.
| | - Arti Gandhi
- Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, United States
| | - Daniel Fulford
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University, 64 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA, 02215, United States; Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, United States
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13
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Contreras-Huerta LS, Pisauro MA, Apps MAJ. Effort shapes social cognition and behaviour: A neuro-cognitive framework. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 118:426-439. [PMID: 32818580 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Revised: 07/13/2020] [Accepted: 08/08/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Theoretical accounts typically posit that variability in social behaviour is a function of capacity limits. We argue that many social behaviours are goal-directed and effortful, and thus variability is not just a function of capacity, but also motivation. Leveraging recent work examining the cognitive, computational and neural basis of effort processing, we put forward a framework for motivated social cognition. We argue that social cognition is demanding, people avoid its effort costs, and a core-circuit of brain areas that guides effort-based decisions in non-social situations may similarly evaluate whether social behaviours are worth the effort. Thus, effort sensitivity dissociates capacity limits from social motivation, and may be a driver of individual differences and pathological impairments in social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis Sebastian Contreras-Huerta
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, UK.
| | - M Andrea Pisauro
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, UK; Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, UK.
| | - Matthew A J Apps
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, UK; Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, UK; Christ Church College, University of Oxford, UK.
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14
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Exogenous effects of oxytocin in five psychiatric disorders: a systematic review, meta-analyses and a personalized approach through the lens of the social salience hypothesis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 114:70-95. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.04.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2019] [Revised: 04/19/2020] [Accepted: 04/21/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
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15
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Learning and Motivation for Rewards in Schizophrenia: Implications for Behavioral Rehabilitation. Curr Behav Neurosci Rep 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s40473-020-00210-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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16
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Pelletier-Baldelli A, Holt DJ. Are Negative Symptoms Merely the "Real World" Consequences of Deficits in Social Cognition? Schizophr Bull 2020; 46:236-241. [PMID: 31598707 PMCID: PMC7043060 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbz095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Many investigations have demonstrated that negative symptoms and social cognitive deficits in schizophrenia play a large role in determining functional outcomes and ultimately long-term prognosis. Given this, there is increasing interest in understanding the relationship between these two symptom domains, particularly since studies have consistently found moderate to large associations between them. This shared variance raises a key question: to what degree do these two categories of symptoms arise from overlapping or identical changes in brain function? In other words, do some or all negative symptoms represent merely the downstream effects of social cognition deficits on daily functioning? In this commentary, the evidence for and against this possibility, limitations of currently validated empirical measurements of these symptoms, and directions for further investigation of this hypothesis are discussed. Understanding the shared and distinct mechanisms of these disabling deficits will have important implications for the design of novel, personalized treatments for psychotic illness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Pelletier-Baldelli
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC,Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA,To whom correspondence should be addressed; Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27513; tel: 919-966-1648, e-mail:
| | - Daphne J Holt
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA,The Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA
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Steinman MQ, Duque-Wilckens N, Trainor BC. Complementary Neural Circuits for Divergent Effects of Oxytocin: Social Approach Versus Social Anxiety. Biol Psychiatry 2019; 85:792-801. [PMID: 30503164 PMCID: PMC6709863 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2018] [Revised: 10/12/2018] [Accepted: 10/16/2018] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Oxytocin (OT) is widely known for promoting social interactions, but there is growing appreciation that it can sometimes induce avoidance of social contexts. The social salience hypothesis posed an innovative solution to these apparently opposing actions by proposing that OT enhances the salience of both positive and negative social interactions. The mesolimbic dopamine system was put forth as a likely system to evaluate social salience owing to its well-described role in motivation. Evidence from several sources supports the premise that OT acting within the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area facilitates social reward and approach behavior. However, in aversive social contexts, additional pathways play critical roles in mediating the effects of OT. Recent data indicate that OT acts in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis to induce avoidance of potentially dangerous social contexts. Here, we review evidence for neural circuits mediating the effects of OT in appetitive and aversive social contexts. Specifically, we propose that distinct but potentially overlapping circuits mediate OT-dependent social approach or social avoidance. We conclude that a broader and more inclusive consideration of neural circuits of social approach and avoidance is needed as the field continues to evaluate the potential of OT-based therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Q Steinman
- Department of Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California
| | - Natalia Duque-Wilckens
- Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences and Department of Physiology/Neuroscience, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
| | - Brian C Trainor
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California.
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Social motivation in schizophrenia: How research on basic reward processes informs and limits our understanding. Clin Psychol Rev 2018; 63:12-24. [PMID: 29870953 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2018.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2017] [Revised: 05/18/2018] [Accepted: 05/26/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Limited quantity and quality of interpersonal exchanges and relationships predict worse symptomatic and hospitalization outcomes and limit functional recovery in people with schizophrenia. While deficits in social skills and social cognition contribute to much of the impairment in social functioning in schizophrenia, our focus on the current review is social motivation-the drive to connect with others and form meaningful, lasting relationships. We pay particular attention to how recent research on reward informs, and limits, our understanding of the construct. Recent findings that parse out key components of human motivation, especially the temporal nature of reward and effort, are informative for understanding some aspects of social motivation. This approach, however, fails to fully integrate the critical influence of uncertainty and punishment (e.g., avoidance, threat) in social motivation. In the current review, we argue for the importance of experimental paradigms and real-time measurement to capture the interaction between social approach and avoidance in characterizing social affiliation in schizophrenia. We end with suggestions for how researchers might move the field forward by emphasizing the ecological validity of social motivation paradigms, including dynamic, momentary assessment of social reward and punishment using mobile technology and other innovative tools.
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