A Biological Framework of Reduced Physical and Social Activity across the Lifespan
Award Number
BB/R010668/2Status / Stage
ActiveDates
1 July 2020 -31 August 2024
Duration (calculated)
04 years 01 monthsFunder(s)
BBSRC (UKRI)Funding Amount
£670,676.00Funder/Grant study page
BBSRC UKRIContracted Centre
University of BirminghamPrincipal Investigator
Dr Matthew AppsPI Contact
m.a.j.apps@bham.ac.ukPI ORCID
0000-0001-5793-2202WHO Catergories
Understanding Underlying DiseaseDisease Type
Dementia (Unspecified)CPEC Review Info
| Reference ID | 715 |
|---|---|
| Researcher | Reside Team |
| Published | 07/07/2023 |
Data
| Award Number | BB/R010668/2 |
|---|---|
| Status / Stage | Active |
| Start Date | 20200701 |
| End Date | 20240831 |
| Duration (calculated) | 04 years 01 months |
| Funder/Grant study page | BBSRC UKRI |
| Contracted Centre | University of Birmingham |
| Funding Amount | £670,676.00 |
Abstract
Staying physically and socially active can have powerful protective effects for health and wellbeing across the lifespan. Yet, increasing levels of activity is a major public health challenge. One significant barrier is motivation. Social apathy – a reduced willingness to engage in social behaviours – and fatigue – a feeling of exhaustion that reduces activity – both reduce motivation, physical and social activity, and increase across the lifespan. Yet, the underlying neuro-computational mechanisms of such motivational impairments are poorly understood. Here, I propose to develop novel, biological, causally linked accounts of social apathy and fatigue in healthy people by characterising them as heightened sensitivity to different components of effort. I will take a multimodal approach using brain imaging, computational modelling, testing the effects of deep-brain stimulation and a mobile app. In doing so I will characterise the systems in the brain that underlie effort sensitivity, their relation to social apathy and fatigue, and how they may change across the lifespan. I will test specific hypotheses relating to the following questions: (1) Can heightened sensitivity to exerting effort to benefit others (i.e. reduced “prosocial motivation”) be used as a framework of social apathy and its changes across the lifespan? (2) Can increased sensitivity to the history of exerted effort during a task be used as a framework of lifespan changes in different aspects of fatigue? (3) What are the neuro-computational mechanisms underlying effort sensitivity and does variability in them relate to social apathy and fatigue? (4) Do the same systems in the brain that are linked to effort sensitivity, social apathy and fatigue, also show differences in processing effort between younger and older adults? (5) Does a causal manipulation of fronto-striatal circuits in the human brain in deep brain stimulation patients change sensitivity to effort
Aims
The overarching aim of the proposed research is to identify how differences in how certain systems in the brain work, relates to differences in how socially apathetic or fatigued people are, and to examine how changes in the brain lead to reduced motivation as we get older.