Effort-based decision-making paradigms as objective measures of apathy in schizophrenia?

In recent years, effort-based decision-making paradigms have been applied in patients with schizophrenia with the aim to establish a potentially 'objective' measure of apathy symptoms and shed light on underlying mechanisms. Initial studies have reported promising findings regarding symptom-level links to effort-based choice. However, a review of the recent and overall literature yields divergent findings. Published studies vary substantially in terms of clinical instruments and applied effort-based decision-making paradigms. This heterogeneity hampers comparability between studies and might partially explain divergent findings. A clear consensus on clinical assessment instruments and paradigms seems to be critical for further progress in the field.