Week 2.1.3: Learning about the World Flashcards
Lack of motivation or goal-directed activity.
Poverty of will.
Example: People might struggle to start or complete tasks, such as personal hygiene or work responsibilities.
Avolition
Diminished or inability to experience pleasure.
Example: A person with schizophrenia might not feel joy from activities they once enjoyed, like hobbies or social interactions.
Anhedonia
A condition characterized by reduced dopamine activity, particularly in the prefrontal cortex.
Hypodopaminergic State
These are symptoms that reflect a reduction or loss of normal functions.
Negative Symptoms
Reduced or absent emotional expression, often seen in schizophrenia.
Flattened Affect
The experience of pleasure or enjoyment.
Hedonic Experience
Pleasure experienced in the moment of an activity.
Consummatory Pleasure
This refers to the ability to think about and look forward to future pleasures.
It’s crucial for motivating actions, like going to the shop to buy chocolate.
Anticipatory Pleasure (Wanting)
Techniques like fMRI used to visualize brain activity.
Neuroimaging
A research method where participants report their experiences and feelings in real-time, often using diaries.
Experience Sampling
A region of the brain involved in decision-making and reward processing.
Orbital Frontal Cortex
How is anhedonia exhibited in patients with schizophrenia?
Clinical measures of anhedonia might not reflect in-the-moment pleasure (consummatory pleasure) but rather the ability to anticipate future pleasure (anticipatory pleasure).
This lack of positive expectations for the future can lead to reduced motivation and goal-directed behavior
Example: They might like chocolate but lack the motivation to go buy it because they don’t anticipate the pleasure it will bring.
Typical VS Atypical Antipsychotics
Typical antipsychotics are older medications, while atypical antipsychotics are newer and often have different side effect profiles.
The process of evaluating the worth of a reward or desirable outcome, considering both its positive properties and the individual’s current state.
Examples: You just had chocolate an hour ago, you might not value it as much now.
Similarly, if you’re on a diet, the value of chocolate might be different.
Value Computation
The assessment of how much effort or work is required to obtain a reward.
Examples: If it’s raining outside, you might decide it’s not worth walking two blocks to get chocolate, but if the chocolate is just in the kitchen cupboard, you might go for it.
Effort Computation
A brain region involved in decision-making and value computation.
Orbitofrontal Cortex
A brain region involved in functions such as emotion regulation, decision-making, and reward anticipation.
Anterior Cingulate Cortex
A brain region involved in executive functions, such as working memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning.
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex
What are the two important processes related to rewards in schizophrenia?
Liking (Consummatory Pleasure): Enjoying something in the moment, like eating chocolate.
Wanting (Anticipatory Pleasure): Looking forward to and anticipating future pleasure, like thinking about how nice it would be to have chocolate.
The ability to generate, maintain, and update the perceived worth of rewards or outcomes.
Mental Representations of Value
A cognitive task where participants sort cards based on changing rules (color, shape, number) and must adapt to feedback.
Wisconsin Card Sorting Task
The ability to learn and adapt to changing rules or conditions, particularly involving rewards and punishments.
Reversal Learning
The process of evaluating whether the effort required to obtain a reward is worth it.
Value-Effort Computations
Areas of the brain involved in decision-making, value computation, and effort assessment, including the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
Frontal Brain Regions
