Using the grip strength effort task to measure reward processing dysfunction in schizophrenia and major depressive disorder
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The aims of the Reward Task Optimisation Consortium (RTOC) study (Bilderbeck et al., 2020) were to explore the validity, reliability, and feasibility of a battery of reward processing tasks for the development of new treatments for anhedonia. We report our findings from the Grip Strength Effort Task (GSET), an effort-based decision-making task in which participants chose to either perform easy trials that required less physical effort for low monetary reward or hard trials that required more effort for potentially larger rewards. Thirty-seven participants with schizophrenia (SZ), 40 with major depressive disorder (MDD), and 59 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were administered the task across four European sites. 19% of participants (8.5% HC, 27% SZ, 27.5% MDD) were 'inflexible responders' who always chose hard trials irrespective of the reward amount. MDD participants showed less willingness to exert physical effort for high reward than controls, when inflexible responders were excluded, but no statistically significant differences were observed between SZ participants and controls. Across all participants, willingness to exert effort for high reward negatively correlated with measures of anhedonia. Inflexible responders exhibited higher depressive symptoms and higher anticipation of punishment than other participants. Forty-three participants performed the GSET again after 3-5 weeks and moderate-to-high test-retest reliability was observed. Minimal site effects confirmed operational feasibility of the task in multi-site studies. We conclude that the GSET can provide objective behavioural biomarkers of reward processing dysfunction, but further investigation is needed to understand inflexible responding and its implications on the task's design and interpretation.
Source: Neuroscience Applied
Authors: Asad Malik, Shannon N. Millard, Ailidh Finlayson, Amy Beckenstrom, Abigail Abrahams, Dennis Hernaus, Stella D. Voulgaropoulou, Therese van Amelsvoort, Daniel Umbricht, William J. Martin, Darrel J. Pemberton, Jane Tiller, Anke Sambeth, Oliver Grimm, Michael M. Plichta, Andreas Reif, Charis Styliadis, Athanasia Liozidou, Georgios Papazisis, Victor Pérez, Matilde Elices, Karla V. Allebrandt, Stephane Pollentier, Gerard R. Dawson
Institutions: Maastricht University, European University Cyprus, University Hospital Frankfurt, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Hospital Del Mar, Municipal Institute for Medical Research, Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Boehringer Ingelheim (Germany)
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,000
Funder: Roche
OpenAlex ID: W4412735938