The current literature has largely highlighted a deficit of effort-based decision-making for reward in schizophrenia. However, not all studies have dissociated effort from reward, while other studies emphasize that difficulty is the main determinant of effort rather than reward. In this study, 33 individuals with schizophrenia and 32 healthy controls were recruited to perform a decision-making isometric force task. According to motivational intensity theory, task difficulty (i.e., required force) but not reward was manipulated from easy to impossible. Accuracy between force exerted and force required, and choice to perform a task or not were our effort measures. Clinical variables including depression, defeatist beliefs, and apathy were assessed. Our results demonstrated that the schizophrenia group chose to perform easy, moderate, and difficult tasks and exerted the necessary effort to succeed similarly to the non-clinical group. No association between effort and clinical variables was found. Our findings provide new understandings related to effort mechanisms in schizophrenia.

当前的文献主要强调精神分裂症中基于奖励的基于决策的缺陷。但是，并非所有研究都将努力与奖励分离开来，而其他研究则强调困难是努力而不是奖励的主要决定因素。在这项研究中，招募了33位精神分裂症患者和32位健康对照者来执行决策等轴测力任务。根据动机强度理论，将任务难度（即所需的力量）而不是奖励从容易到无法操纵。施加的力与所需的力之间的精度以及执行任务与不执行任务的选择是我们的工作量度。评估包括抑郁，失败主义信念和冷漠的临床变量。我们的结果表明，精神分裂症患者选择了轻松，中度，艰巨的任务，并付出了与非临床小组类似的成功努力。没有发现努力与临床变量之间的关联。我们的发现为精神分裂症的努力机制提供了新的认识。