Rewards Sensitivity After Brain Injury

A study measuring rewards sensitivity in individuals with acquired brain injury at an acute rehabilitation level.

Individuals in acute rehabilitation following acquired brain injury journal (ABI) and aged-matched, non-injured controls will be recruited for this study. Testing sessions will take place in a private treatment room at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and required 45 minutes to complete. Upon entering the room, participants will be greeted, electrodes placed on the participant's fingers to record their electrodermal activity, and participants will provide demographic information. Participants will then be instructed about how to respond on the Cued Reinforcement Response Time task (CRRT, see description below), and complete the task on a laptop computer while their electrodermal activity is being recorded. In this task, they are instructed to respond as quickly and accurately as possible, and will be informed that they will receive a monetary reward based on their accuracy at the completion of the task. Finally, participants will complete 3 self-report measures: (1) explicit level of motivation was measured in a post-study survey which included two items from the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire, (SPSRQ); (2) Reward sensitivity was evaluated using the Reward Responsiveness Scale , and (3) depression was evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) survey. At the end of the session, the electrodes will be removed, and participants will be debriefed and provided their monetary reward