Call for Papers

Trying in the 21st Century: A New Look at the Neuroscience of Effort

A new Special Issue from
Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience (CABN)

The call for initial abstracts closed on December 15, 2024.

Guest Editors
Carly J. Leonard, University of Colorado Denver, USA
John Salamone, University of Connecticut, USA
Michael Treadway, Emory University, USA

CABN Editor-in-Chief
Diego A. Pizzagalli, Harvard Medical School, USA

Special Issue
Like so many psychological terms, the concept of effort is one familiar to every one of us in our daily lives. Many effortful tasks, such as labor-intensive chores or complicated paperwork, are often viewed negatively.  In stark contrast, other tasks, such as a challenging workout or puzzle, may be viewed quite positively. Effort seems critically linked to such subjective experiences, but it cannot be disregarded as purely epiphenomenal. Human thought, decision-making, and behavior is indisputably influenced by the perception of current effort-level and the prediction of future effort expenditure. While William James argued that effort was inseparable from volition and attention (James, 1880), in modern practice the term is not routinely used interchangeably with those concepts.

This special issue aims to provide perspective on the current understanding of the neural mechanisms of effort by bringing together a diverse selection of research from across the field. These submissions should address either the neural mechanisms and modulation associated with effort, or the effects that engaging in effort has on other types of cognitive processing. We welcome research with a focus on healthy human participants, clinical populations, and/or animal models. Work focused on behavioral data alone may be appropriate, only if it directly addresses neuroscientific theories in a way consistent with the mission of the journal.

Specific topics can include, but are not limited to, the following questions:

1. What are the specific neural computations that vary with effort? Do they differ across types of tasks? How do these neural mechanisms compare to those associated with other cognitive functions, such as executive control and attention?
2. How are the mechanisms involved with the perception of effort related to those involved with predictions about the expenditure of future effort? Is there overlap between activity related to the expectation of future cognitive effort versus future physical effort?
3. How does effort relate to mechanisms of reward processing and hedonic responses, such as wanting and liking? Why is effort sometimes experienced positively and other times negatively?
4. To what degree can neural representations related to effort account for differences in task engagement, attentional strategies, and/or behavioral choices? How do these differ across individuals, both within the typical population and in clinical disorders?

Submission Guidelines/Deadline
Please reach out to the Guest Editors of the Special Issue if you would like to inquire whether a topic may be suitable under this special issue. We ask interested authors to submit a 200-word abstract describing the topic and format (empirical paper, review, or opinion) of the proposed submission for this special issue. Abstracts should be submitted to the guest editors (carly.leonard@ucdenver.edu, john.salamone@uconn.edu, or mtreadway@emory.edu) by end of day on December 15. Authors will be notified by January 15 if they are invited to submit their manuscript for review.

All submissions will undergo a normal, full peer review, maintaining the same high editorial standards for regular submissions to Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience.

Estimated timeline:

Abstract deadline – December 15, 2024
Submissions open date – January 15, 2025
Submissions deadline – April 15, 2025
Author feedback deadline – Summer/Fall 2025
Target publication date – February 2026

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Carly J. Leonard:
Dr. Leonard is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Colorado Denver. She has been an Associate Editor for Cognitive Affective Behavioral Neuroscience since 2021 and serves on the editorial board at the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance and as a Consulting Editor for Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. Her research has addressed topics related to visual perception, attention, and working memory in both the typical population and in those with schizophrenia. She has extensive experience with EEG/ERP methods and eye-tracking. Her interest in the cognitive neuroscience of effort stems from her work involving goal-oriented attention.

Dr. John Salamone:
Dr. Salamone is a Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Connecticut and the Director of the Behavioral Neuroscience program. He has served on the editorial boards for Behavioral Brain Research, Pharmacology, Brain & Behavior, and Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. His lab uses psychopharmacology and behavior to investigate animal models of clinical disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, depression, and fatigue, as well as drug-development. His research program includes a strong focus on investigating effort-related aspects of motivation, decision-making and behavior.

Dr. Michael Treadway:
Dr. Treadway is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Emory University. A clinical psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist by training, his research is focused on understanding the molecular and circuit-level mechanisms of psychiatric symptoms related to mood, anxiety, and decision-making. He has served on the editorial boards of Cognitive Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, Clinical Psychological Science and Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science. Dr. Treadway’s research employs a variety of methods, including multimodal neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, MRS, and PET), experimental pharmacology, neuromodulation, behavioral paradigms, computational modeling, and clinical/personality assessment. A particular interest has been the assessment of effort-based decision-making in psychiatric populations, for which Dr. Treadway has developed several laboratory tasks, including the widely used Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT).

Questions?
Contact Carly J. Leonard at carly.leonard@ucdenver.edu, John Salamone at john.salamone@uconn.edu, or Michael Treadway at mtreadway@emory.edu.

About CABN
Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience  (CABN) offers theoretical, review, and primary research articles on behavior and brain processes in humans. Coverage includes normal function as well as patients with injuries or processes that influence brain function: neurological disorders, including both healthy and disordered aging; and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. CABN is the leading vehicle for strongly psychologically motivated studies of brain-behavior relationships, through the presentation of papers that integrate psychological theory and the conduct and interpretation of the neuroscientific data. The range of topics includes perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision-making; emotional processes, motivation, reward prediction, and affective states; and individual differences in relevant domains, including personality. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience is a publication of the Psychonomic Society and is published six times a year.