Assessing reinforcement learning and vigor with an online decision-making battery

In an online community sample of N = 162, factor analysis of an online decision-making battery identified separate RL and vigor factors, with test-retest reliability ICC(2,1) = .65 and .67.

• Why it matters: Existing decision-making batteries have emphasized reinforcement learning but often overlook vigor, despite its relevance to mood disorders and dopamine-linked motivation.
• What they did: Participants completed two RL tasks (RL/working memory, go/no-go) and two vigor tasks (physical effort discounting, foraging); computational modeling and factor analysis extracted RL and vigor factors.
• The result: RL and vigor factors were meaningfully related to self-report and showed opposite associations with mania (negative for RL, positive for vigor), while neither factor related significantly to depression symptoms.

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