ArticleFrontiers in behavioral neuroscience2015
Effects of optimism on motivation in rats.
Article in Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Characterisation of a touchscreen-based task for assessing cognitive judgement bias in mice: a new translational tool for affective state disorder drug screening.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Emotional pain in non-human mammals: from neural circuitry and opioid signaling to dysthymia-like states, grief-like behaviors, and physiological dysregulation.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Review
- Optimism and pessimism: a concept for behavioural ecology.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Pharmacological agents and injection stress, but not social isolation, alter cognitive judgement bias in the mouse touchscreen operant chamber.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Optimistic and pessimistic cognitive judgement bias modulates the stress response and cancer progression in zebrafish.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Trait sensitivity to stress and cognitive bias processes in fish: A brief overview.Personality neuroscience · 2024Review
- Trait sensitivity to positive feedback is a predisposing factor for several aspects of compulsive alcohol drinking in male rats: behavioural, physiological, and molecular correlates.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Potential resilience treatments for orangutans (Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2023Article
- Psychological Dimensions Relevant to Motivation and Pleasure in Schizophrenia.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Review
- Review
- Sensitivity to negative and positive feedback as a stable and enduring behavioural trait in rats.Psychopharmacology · 2019Article
- Dairy calves' personality traits predict social proximity and response to an emotional challenge.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Assessing animal affect: an automated and self-initiated judgement bias task based on natural investigative behaviour.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Pessimism and fearfulness in dairy calves.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Selected Principles of Pankseppian Affective Neuroscience.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2018Review
- Lesions of the Orbitofrontal but Not Medial Prefrontal Cortex Affect Cognitive Judgment Bias in Rats.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2017Article
- Mood As Cumulative Expectation Mismatch: A Test of Theory Based on Data from Non-verbal Cognitive Bias Tests.Frontiers in psychology · 2017Article
- Trait "pessimism" is associated with increased sensitivity to negative feedback in rats.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2016Article
- Cognitive Judgment Bias Interacts with Risk Based Decision Making and Sensitivity to Dopaminergic Challenge in Male Rats.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2016Article
- Making Decisions under Ambiguity: Judgment Bias Tasks for Assessing Emotional State in Animals.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In humans, optimism is a cognitive construct related to motivation; optimists exert effort, whereas pessimists disengage from effort. In this study, using a recently developed ambiguous-cue interpretation (ACI) paradigm we took the unique opportunity to investigate whether "optimism" as a trait is correlated with motivation in rodents. In a series of ACI tests (cognitive bias screening, CBS), we identified rats displaying "pessimistic" and "optimistic" traits. Subsequently, we investigated the trait differences in the motivation of these rats to gain reward and to avoid punishment using a progressive ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement paradigm. Although "optimistic" and "pessimistic" animals did not differ in their motivation to avoid punishment, the "optimistic" rats were significantly more motivated to gain reward than their "pessimistic" conspecifics. For the first time, we showed an association between cognitive judgment bias and motivation in an animal model. Because both investigated processes are closely related to mental health and wellbeing, our results may be valuable for preclinical modeling of many psychiatric disorders.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.