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Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation and Learning in Schizophrenia

  • Psychosis (A Ahmed, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Conceptually, motivation can be separated into two types, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation involves goal-directed behaviors that meet internal psychological needs, while extrinsic motivation involves behaviors executed to obtain external reward or avoid punishment. Both these types of motivation are diminished in psychosis and are linked to amotivation and anhedonia, two of the negative symptoms seen in schizophrenia. In the last several years, the field of motivation research has advanced by (a) developing better instruments to quantify intrinsic motivation, (b) studying the role of effort in evaluating the importance of rewards, (c) examining the neurobiological and behavioral correlates of deficits in learning from feedback, and (d) honing neurophysiologic and behavioral interventions to directly target motivation impairments. In this review, we examine each of the above topics and comment on how our current understanding of motivation may inform the development and testing of new interventions to optimize psychiatric recovery.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience and Behavior Program, Wesleyan University, 41 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, CT, 06459, USA

    Lisa C. Kremen & Matthew M. Kurtz

  2. Psychology Service, VA Connecticut Healthcare System and Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 950 Campbell Ave, West Haven, CT, 06516, USA

    Joanna M. Fiszdon

  3. Department of Psychology, Wesleyan University, 41 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown, CT, 06459, USA

    Matthew M. Kurtz

  4. Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care (UBHC), 671 Hoes Ln W, Piscataway Township, NJ, 08854, USA

    Steven M. Silverstein

  5. The Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital, 200 Retreat Ave, Hartford, CT, 06016, USA

    Jimmy Choi

Authors
  1. Lisa C. Kremen
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  2. Joanna M. Fiszdon
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  3. Matthew M. Kurtz
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  4. Steven M. Silverstein
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  5. Jimmy Choi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa C. Kremen.

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Conflict of Interest

Dr. Lisa C. Kremen, Dr. Joanna M. Fiszdon, Dr. Matthew M. Kurtz, Dr. Steven M. Silverstein, and Dr. Jimmy Choi declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Dr. Jimmy Choi gratefully acknowledges support from the Brain Behavior Research Foundation in the study of motivation in schizophrenia (grant no. CU-17748).

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Psychosis

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Kremen, L.C., Fiszdon, J.M., Kurtz, M.M. et al. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation and Learning in Schizophrenia. Curr Behav Neurosci Rep 3, 144–153 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40473-016-0078-1

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