Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

INTRODUCTION: Low motivation is frequent in older people with HIV, yet poorly understood. Effort-cost decision-making (ECDM) tasks inspired by behavioral economics have shown promise as indicators of motivation or apathy. These tasks assess the willingness to exert effort to earn a monetary reward, providing an estimate of the subjective "cost" of effort for each participant. Here we sought evidence for a relationship between ECDM task performance and self-reported motivation in a cross-sectional study involving 80 middle-aged and older people with well-controlled HIV infection, a chronic health condition with a high burden of mental and cognitive health challenges. METHODS: Participants attending a regular follow-up visit for a Canadian longitudinal study of brain health in HIV completed a computerized ECDM task and a self-report measure of motivation. Other brain health measures were available, collected for the parent study (cognition, depression, anxiety, and vitality, as well as self-reported time spent on real-world leisure activities). RESULTS: Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no relationship between ECDM performance and self-reported motivation. However, those willing to accept higher effort in the ECDM task also reported more time engaged in real-world activities. This association had a small-to-moderate effect size. CONCLUSIONS: The behavioral economics construct of subjective cost of effort, measured with a laboratory ECDM task, does not relate to motivation in people living with chronic HIV. However, the task shows some relationship with real-world goal-directed behavior, suggesting this construct has potential clinical relevance. More work is needed to understand how the subjective cost of effort plays out in clinical symptoms and everyday activities.

Original publication

DOI

10.1080/13803395.2022.2058464

Type

Journal article

Journal

J Clin Exp Neuropsychol

Publication Date

12/2021

Volume

43

Pages

1032 - 1043

Keywords

Reward, apathy, effort, human, measurement, motivation, Aged, Canada, Cross-Sectional Studies, Decision Making, HIV Infections, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Middle Aged, Motivation, Reward