Motor Cortical Thickness is Related to Effort-Based Decision-Making in Humans.

: Although motor cortex is integral in driving physical exertion, how its inherent properties influence decisions to exert is unknown. In this study, we examined how anatomical properties of motor cortex are related to participants' subjective valuations of effort and their decisions to exert effort. We used computational modeling to characterize participants' subjective valuation of physical effort during an effort-based decision-making task in which they made choices about exerting different levels of hand-grip exertion. We also acquired structural MRI data from these participants, and extracted anatomical measures of each individual's hand knob, the region of motor cortex recruited during hand-grip exertion. We found that individual participants' cortical thickness of hand knob was associated with their effort-based decisions regarding hand exertion. These data provide evidence that the anatomy of an individual's motor cortex is an important factor in decisions to engage in physical activity.