The relationships among aberrant salience, reward motivation, and reward sensitivity

Objectives Change in reward processing and motivation may mediate the relationship between dopaminergic dysregulation and positive symptoms of schizophrenia. We sought to investigate the measurement of aberrant salience and its relationship with behavioural measures of reward and motivation. Methods Results Participants (n = 82) completed measures of aberrant salience (Aberrant Salience Inventory and Salience Attribution Task), motivation (Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task), and reinforcer sensitivity (Stimulus Chase Task). Hypotheses were tested using correlation and generalised linear modelling. Results indicated no relationship between aberrant salience measures. The Aberrant Salience Inventory was positively related to effort expenditure for lower less likely rewards and predicted the use of probability alone in decision-making. The only significant relationship between reward and motivation was a positive relationship between gain sensitivity and motivated behaviour for higher more likely rewards. Conclusions Although some support for a relationship between measures of reward motivation and aberrant salience were found, there was no evidence that the aberrant salience measures had concurrent validity. Our results suggest caution is warranted when interpreting measures of aberrant salience.