The neural basis of reward magnitude, effort level, and subjective value: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of effort-based reward tasks in healthy cohorts.

Key Points

• This research investigates how different brain regions are involved in valuing rewards based on their size and the effort needed to obtain them.
• Conducted a meta-analysis using activation likelihood estimation (ALE) on existing data.
• Focused on effort-based reward tasks performed by healthy cohorts.
• Analyzed activation patterns in the insula, frontostriatal network, and thalamus.
• Identified an integrated network involving the insula, frontostriatal areas, and thalamus for reward valuation.
• Demonstrated significant activation differences based on reward magnitude and effort levels in the analyzed tasks.