Objective assessment of exploratory behaviour in schizophrenia using wireless motion capture

Siddiqui, Ishraq; Remington, Gary; Fletcher, Paul; Voineskos, Aristotle N.; Fong, Jason; Saperia, Sarah; Fervaha, Gagan; Silva, Susana Da; Zakzanis, Konstantine K.; Foussias, George

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2017.09.011

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Although both clinical amotivation and cognition differed between diagnostic groups, the task-based phenotypes reflected differences in only the former. This concurs with prior findings that Novelty Exploration and Activity Preference Task performance correlated with motivation deficits, but neither task appeared to pose substantial cognitive demand 28 , 29 . Our current secondary evaluation also largely reflected that task performance measures were correlated more substantially and consistently with amotivation than cognition.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Demographic and clinical characteristics of the 45 participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SZ) and 47 healthy control participants (HC) of this study are summarized in Table 1 . This sample includes 41 participants who were assessed during the pilot-phase validation of the Novelty Exploration and Activity Preference Tasks 28 , 29 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Participants’ intrinsically motivated exploratory behaviour and activity engagement were characterized by the Novelty Exploration and Activity Preference Tasks that objectively quantified real-world behaviours in an open-field setting using wireless motion capture. Specific details pertaining to task design, data processing, and performance measures for each task have been published previously 28 , 29 , and the following are brief descriptions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We recently developed and preliminarily validated two tasks that evaluate intrinsically motivated behaviours. The Novelty Exploration Task quantifies exploratory behaviour in an unfamiliar setting containing common and uncommon objects 28 . The Activity Preference Task quantifies activity engagement under the provision of explicit choice between active versus passive engagement options 29 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Behavioural phenotypes of intrinsic motivation in schizophrenia determined by cluster analysis of objectively quantified real-world performance

et al. 2022

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Intrinsic motivation deficits are a prominent feature of schizophrenia that substantially impacts functional outcome. This study used cluster analysis of innate real-world behaviours captured during two open-field tasks to dimensionally examine heterogeneity in intrinsic motivation in schizophrenia patients (SZ) and healthy controls (HC). Wireless motion capture quantified participants’ behaviours aligning with distinct aspects of intrinsic motivation: exploratory behaviour and effortful activity in the absence of external incentive. Cluster analysis of task-derived measures identified behaviourally differentiable subgroups, which were compared across standard clinical measures of general amotivation, cognition, and community functioning. Among 45 SZ and 47 HC participants, three clusters with characteristically different behavioural phenotypes emerged: low exploration (20 SZ, 19 HC), low activity (15 SZ, 8 HC), and high exploration/activity (10 SZ, 20 HC). Low performance in either dimension corresponded with similar increased amotivation. Within-cluster discrepancies emerged for amotivation (SZ > HC) within the low exploration and high performance clusters, and for functioning (SZ < HC) within all clusters, increasing from high performance to low activity to low exploration. Objective multidimensional characterization thus revealed divergent behavioural expression of intrinsic motivation deficits that may be conflated by summary clinical measures of motivation and overlooked by unidimensional evaluation. Deficits in either aspect may hinder general motivation and functioning particularly in SZ. Multidimensional phenotyping may help guide personalized remediation by discriminating between intrinsic motivation impairments that require amelioration versus unimpaired tendencies that may facilitate remediation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Behavioural phenotypes of intrinsic motivation in schizophrenia determined by cluster analysis of objectively quantified real-world performance

et al. 2022

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“…Negative symptoms and disorganization have been linked to impairments of goal-directed behaviors [6] [7]. Investigating behaviors relevant to these symptom dimensions in schizophrenia with objective, task-based measures that allow the assessment of complex, well defined behaviors with ecological validity is crucial [8] [9]. The exploration-exploitation trade-off concerns the decision between exploiting a familiar option with known reward value and exploring a lesser known option with more uncertain but potentially higher reward value.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased random exploration in schizophrenia is associated with inflammation

Cathomas

Klaus

Guetter

et al. 2020

Preprint

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One aspect of goal-directed behavior, which is known to be impaired in patients with schizophrenia (SZ), is balancing between exploiting a familiar choice with known reward value and exploring a lesser known but potentially more rewarding option. Despite its relevance to several symptom domains of SZ, this has received little attention in SZ research. In addition, while there is increasing evidence that SZ is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation, few studies have investigated how this relates to specific behaviors, such as balancing exploration and exploitation. We therefore assessed behaviors underlying the exploration-exploitation trade-off using a threearmed bandit task in 45 patients with SZ and 19 healthy controls (HC). This task allowed us to dissociate goal-unrelated (random) from goal-related (directed) exploration and correlate them with psychopathological symptoms. Moreover, we assessed a broad range of inflammatory proteins in the blood and related them to bandit task behavior. We found that, compared to HC, patients with SZ showed reduced task performance. This impairment was due to a shift from exploitation to random exploration, which was associated with symptoms of disorganization. Relative to HC, patients with SZ showed a pro-inflammatory blood profile. Furthermore, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) positively correlated with random exploration, but not with directed exploration or exploitation. In conclusion, we show that low-grade inflammation in patients with SZ is associated with random exploration, which can be considered a behavioral marker for disorganization. CRP may constitute a marker for severity of, and a potential treatment target for maladaptive exploratory behaviors.

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Increased random exploration in schizophrenia is associated with inflammation

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One aspect of goal-directed behavior, which is known to be impaired in patients with schizophrenia (SZ), is balancing between exploiting a familiar choice with known reward value and exploring a lesser known, but potentially more rewarding option. Despite its relevance to several symptom domains of SZ, this has received little attention in SZ research. In addition, while there is increasing evidence that SZ is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation, few studies have investigated how this relates to specific behaviors, such as balancing exploration and exploitation. We therefore assessed behaviors underlying the exploration–exploitation trade-off using a three-armed bandit task in 45 patients with SZ and 19 healthy controls (HC). This task allowed us to dissociate goal-unrelated (random) from goal-related (directed) exploration and correlate them with psychopathological symptoms. Moreover, we assessed a broad range of inflammatory proteins in the blood and related them to bandit task behavior. We found that, compared to HC, patients with SZ showed reduced task performance. This impairment was due to a shift from exploitation to random exploration, which was associated with symptoms of disorganization. Relative to HC, patients with SZ showed a pro-inflammatory blood profile. Furthermore, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) positively correlated with random exploration, but not with directed exploration or exploitation. In conclusion, we show that low-grade inflammation in patients with SZ is associated with random exploration, which can be considered a behavioral marker for disorganization. hsCRP may constitute a marker for severity of, and a potential treatment target for maladaptive exploratory behaviors.

show abstract

Objective assessment of exploratory behaviour in schizophrenia using wireless motion capture

Cited by 3 publications

References 65 publications

Behavioural phenotypes of intrinsic motivation in schizophrenia determined by cluster analysis of objectively quantified real-world performance

Behavioural phenotypes of intrinsic motivation in schizophrenia determined by cluster analysis of objectively quantified real-world performance

Increased random exploration in schizophrenia is associated with inflammation

Increased random exploration in schizophrenia is associated with inflammation

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