Anticipatory energization revealed by pupil and brain activity guides human effort-based decision making

Abstract An organism’s fitness is determined by how it chooses to adapt effort in response to challenges. Actual effort exertion correlates with activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and noradrenergic pupil dilation, but little is known about how these neurophysiological processes guide decisions about future efforts: They may either provide anticipatory energization helping to accept the challenge, or a cost representation weighted against expected rewards. Here we provide evidence for the former, by measuring pupil and fMRI brain responses while humans chose whether to exert efforts to obtain rewards. Pupil-dilation rate and dMPFC fMRI activity related to anticipated effort level, with stronger correlations when participants chose to accept the challenge. These choice-dependent effort representations were stronger in participants whose behavioral choices were more sensitive to effort. Our results identify a process involving the peripheral and central human nervous system that guides decisions to exert effort by simulating the required energization.