• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Graduate Theses, Dissertations and Projects
    • Queen's Graduate Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Graduate Theses, Dissertations and Projects
    • Queen's Graduate Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Motivation to expend physical and cognitive effort as predictors of functioning in major depression

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Thesis document (1.358Mb)
    Author
    Tran, Tanya
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with severe functional disability; however, the mechanisms of impaired functioning are understudied. Cognitive deficits is one known mechanism of functional impairment in MDD. However, treatments that remediate cognitive functioning do not seem to produce commensurate gains in day-to-day functioning. Current models of functioning in MDD do not take into account motivation deficits that characterize the mood disorder. MDD individuals have demonstrated avoidance behavior and impaired performance in physically- and cognitively- effortful tasks, despite the promise of large rewards. Motivation to expend effort has yet to be evaluated as a predictor of functioning in depression.

    Objectives: This study aimed to compare physical and cognitive effort expenditure for rewards and the factors that influence motivation to expend high levels of these types of effort in MDD relative to healthy comparison individuals. Secondary objectives were to examine whether motivation to expend physical and cognitive effort predicted functioning, after controlling for symptoms and cognition. Finally, the study aimed to examine whether cognitive functioning was associated with functional impairment through its relationship with motivation to expend physical and cognitive effort.

    Method: Two cost-benefit decision-making tasks were developed to assess motivation to expend physical and cognitive effort in 44 MDD and 36 healthy comparison participants. Participants were assessed on a brief cognitive battery, anhedonia, depression severity, and functional impairment.

    Results: MDD participants made marginally fewer choices to expend high effort for large relative to small incentives than healthy comparison participants across both effort tasks. Lower motivation to expend physical effort in the MDD sample was moderated by increases in anhedonia severity, whereas lower cognitive effort motivation was associated with greater functional impairment, even after accounting for symptoms and cognitive ability. Cognitive effort motivation mediated the relationship between cognition and functioning in MDD.

    Conclusion: Motivation deficits to expend physical effort may reveal proximal mechanisms of anhedonia, while motivation for cognitive effort may explain distal functional outcomes. Findings offer novel evidence for attenuated motivation to expend physical and cognitive effort as a contributor to diagnostic clarity of anhedonia and a treatment target for functional recovery, respectively.
    URI for this record
    http://hdl.handle.net/1974/22654
    Collections
    • Department of Psychology Graduate Theses
    • Queen's Graduate Theses and Dissertations
    Request an alternative format
    If you require this document in an alternate, accessible format, please contact the Queen's Adaptive Technology Centre

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2015  DuraSpace
    Contact Us
    Theme by 
    Atmire NV
     

     

    Browse

    All of QSpaceCommunities & CollectionsPublished DatesAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypesThis CollectionPublished DatesAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypes

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage StatisticsView Google Analytics Statistics

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2015  DuraSpace
    Contact Us
    Theme by 
    Atmire NV