Grant: CIHR Clinician Scientist - Phase 1

The loss of motivation (i.e., apathy) has emerged as a common symptom in numerous brain disorders, including schizophrenia and depression. Importantly, apathy in these populations has been consistently linked to poor functioning for affected individuals. Our understanding of the neurobiology of motivation, and the mechanisms of apathy, to date has come from disparate lines of investigations that have focused primarily on a single illness. Recent work has highlighted the multiple components of motivation, including reward valuation, effort and willingness to work, reward prediction, action selection, responsiveness to reward attainment, and reward learning. This multi-faceted structure for the human motivational system suggests that a simultaneous investigation of the multiple components of motivation is needed to develop a comprehensive understanding of the neurobiology of normal human motivation, and its dysfunction across illnesses. Such an approach can serve to delineate the core components of the motivational network in the brain, as well as providing a foundation for the development of effective treatments for apathy in brain disorders. To address this issue, we are undertaking investigations specifically aimed at uncovering the functional and structural brain circuitry of normal human motivation, as well as the critical pathways in the brain that can cause apathy. These studies include both behavioural and brain imaging investigations of the multiple components of motivation in healthy adults, and in individuals affected with schizophrenia and depression. This will allow for a comprehensive determination of the specific brain networks that serve specific functions in the human motivational system, and identify key brain regions that need to be targeted by treatments aimed at addressing apathy in mental illnesses. Ultimately, this holds promise for the reduction of the prominent functional impairment characteristically seen in these illnesses.