When effort pays off: An experimental investigation into action orientation and anxiety as buffering factors between anhedonia and reward motivation

Reward motivation, a construct tied to depression, has been studied using the Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT). Prior work indicates that anhedonia can reduce reward motivation on the EEfRT, as those with higher levels of anhedonia tend to engage in low reward tasks that require less effort as opposed to expending higher levels of effort to obtain a larger reward. Action orientation has shown to act as a buffer at low levels of anhedonia, but this effect has not been seen at high levels of anhedonia. The current study examined if these findings replicated without a stress manipulation and explored the interaction between anxiety and anhedonia in predicting persistence on the EEfRT using two moderation models. Participants (N = 101) with varying levels of depressive symptoms took part in the study. The first model examined the effects of anhedonia and action orientation on reward motivation. The second model investigated the influence of anhedonia and anxiety on reward motivation. Findings revealed that higher levels of anhedonia were significantly associated with lower reward motivation in both models. Additionally, the interaction between anhedonia and action orientation on reward motivation was significant. Trend analyses revealed that, at low levels of anhedonia, participants generally made more high-effort/high-reward choices or were willing to exude more effort for the possibility of obtaining a greater reward. However, as anhedonia increased, individuals with higher levels of action orientation exhibited greater effort as opposed to those with lower action orientation. The findings indicate that anhedonia has a strong impact on limiting reward motivation. However, high levels of action orientation can mitigate the negative influence of anhedonia on reward motivation.