Objective Versus Subjective Effort in Schizophrenia

TY - JOUR

T1 - Objective Versus Subjective Effort in Schizophrenia

AU - Kreis, Isabel

AU - Moritz, Steffen

AU - Pfuhl, Gerit

N1 - Copyright © 2020 Kreis, Moritz and Pfuhl.

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Background and Objectives: Performance on cognitive tasks is often impaired in individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ), possibly resulting from either cognitive deficits (e.g., limited working memory capacity) or diminished mental effort or both. Investment of mental effort itself can be affected by cognitive resources, task load, and motivational factors and has thus proven difficult to measure. Pupil dilation during task performance has been proposed as an objective measure, but it remains unclear to what extent this converges with self-reports of perceived task demands, motivation, and invested effort. The current study tried to elucidate this question.Methods: A visual version of the digit span task was administered in a sample of 29 individuals with a diagnosis from the SCZ spectrum and 30 individuals without any psychiatric disorder. Pupil size was recorded during the task, whereas self-reported invested effort and task demand were measured afterward.Results: No group difference was found for working memory capacity, but individuals with SCZ showed diminished trial-by-trial recall accuracy, showed reduced pupil dilation across all task load conditions, and reported higher perceived task demands.Conclusion: Results indicate reduced effort investment in patients with SCZ, but it remains unclear to what extent this alone could explain the lower recall performance. The lack of a direct link between objective and subjective measures of effort further suggests that both may assess different facets of effort. This has important implications for clinical and research settings that rely on the reliability of neuropsychological test results when assessing cognitive capacity in this patient group.verifziert von Sarah

AB - Background and Objectives: Performance on cognitive tasks is often impaired in individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ), possibly resulting from either cognitive deficits (e.g., limited working memory capacity) or diminished mental effort or both. Investment of mental effort itself can be affected by cognitive resources, task load, and motivational factors and has thus proven difficult to measure. Pupil dilation during task performance has been proposed as an objective measure, but it remains unclear to what extent this converges with self-reports of perceived task demands, motivation, and invested effort. The current study tried to elucidate this question.Methods: A visual version of the digit span task was administered in a sample of 29 individuals with a diagnosis from the SCZ spectrum and 30 individuals without any psychiatric disorder. Pupil size was recorded during the task, whereas self-reported invested effort and task demand were measured afterward.Results: No group difference was found for working memory capacity, but individuals with SCZ showed diminished trial-by-trial recall accuracy, showed reduced pupil dilation across all task load conditions, and reported higher perceived task demands.Conclusion: Results indicate reduced effort investment in patients with SCZ, but it remains unclear to what extent this alone could explain the lower recall performance. The lack of a direct link between objective and subjective measures of effort further suggests that both may assess different facets of effort. This has important implications for clinical and research settings that rely on the reliability of neuropsychological test results when assessing cognitive capacity in this patient group.verifziert von Sarah

U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01469

DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01469

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 32742265

VL - 11

SP - 1469

JO - FRONT PSYCHOL

JF - FRONT PSYCHOL

SN - 1664-1078

ER -