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Apathy is associated with reduced precision of prior beliefs about action outcomes.

ABSTRACT: Apathy is a debilitating syndrome that is associated with reduced goal-directed behavior. Although apathy is common and detrimental to prognosis in many neuropsychiatric diseases, its underlying mechanisms remain controversial. We propose a new model of apathy, in the context of Bayesian theories of brain function, whereby actions require predictions of their outcomes to be held with sufficient precision for "explaining away" differences in sensory inputs. In the active inference model, apathy results from reduced precision of prior beliefs about action outcomes. We tested this hypothesis using a visuomotor task in healthy adults (N = 47), with experimental manipulation of physical effort and financial reward. Bayesian modeling of performance and participants' perception of their performance was used to infer the precision of their priors. We confirmed that the perception of performance was biased toward the target, which was accounted for by relatively precise prior beliefs about action outcomes. These priors were consistently more precise than the corresponding performance distribution, and were scaled to effort and reward. Crucially, prior precision was negatively associated with trait apathy, suggesting that apathetic individuals had less precise prior beliefs about action outcomes. The results support a Bayesian account of apathy that could inform future studies of clinical populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

SUBMITTER: Hezemans FH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7397861 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Apathy is associated with reduced precision of prior beliefs about action outcomes.

Hezemans Frank H FH Wolpe Noham N Rowe James B JB

Journal of experimental psychology. General 20200210 9

Apathy is a debilitating syndrome that is associated with reduced goal-directed behavior. Although apathy is common and detrimental to prognosis in many neuropsychiatric diseases, its underlying mechanisms remain controversial. We propose a new model of apathy, in the context of Bayesian theories of brain function, whereby actions require predictions of their outcomes to be held with sufficient precision for "explaining away" differences in sensory inputs. In the active inference model, apathy r ...[more]

PMID: 32039624

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Project description:Clinical apathy results in dysfunction of goal directed behaviour, a key component of which is the initiation of action. Previous work has suggested that blunting of reward sensitivity is an important mechanism underlying apathy. However, an additional component might be impoverished initiation of action itself. This study aims to investigate the link between motivation and motor output and its association with apathy and dopamine. An oculomotor task that measures pupillary and saccadic response to monetary incentives was used to assess reward sensitivity, first in 23 young and 18 elderly controls, and then in 22 patients with Parkinson's disease tested ON and OFF dopaminergic medication. To distinguish between pupillary responses to anticipated reward alone versus responses associated with motor preparation, a saccadic 'go/no-go' task was performed. Half of the trials required a saccade to be initiated to receive a reward and in the remaining trials no action was required but reward was still obtained. No significant difference in pupil response was demonstrated between the two conditions in all groups tested, suggesting pupillary responses to rewards are not contingent upon motor preparation in Parkinson's disease. Being ON or OFF dopamine did not influence this response either. Previous work demonstrated associations between apathy and pupillary reward insensitivity in Parkinson's disease. Here we observed this effect only when an action was required to receive a reward, and only in the ON state. These findings suggest that apathy in Parkinson's disease is linked to reduced reward sensitivity and that this is most prominently observed when actions have to be initiated to rewarding goals, with the effect modulated by being ON dopaminergic medication. OFF medication, there was no such strong relationship, and similarly in the 'no-go' conditions, either ON or OFF dopaminergic drugs. The results provide preliminary data which suggest that apathy in Parkinson's disease is associated with a reduction in reward sensitivity and this is most evident when associated with initiation of goal directed actions in the presence of adequate dopamine.

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Apathy is associated with reduced precision of prior beliefs about action outcomes.

Publications

Apathy is associated with reduced precision of prior beliefs about action outcomes.

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