Figure 7.

Results from Option Selection Control Task

(A) Participants had to join the bottom circle to as many target circles as possible in 90 s. They saw an array of 24 possible targets on the screen and were free to select any target they wanted for each connection (only 8 targets are illustrated here for simplicity). Thus, this task required selection between options, but not the generation of possible options.

(B) In healthy people (n = 30), fluency in the option-generation task correlated with individual level of motivation even after accounting for the ability to select options.

(C) In PD (n = 35), the difference in number of paths generated on the option-generation task between the ON and OFF states does not associate with the difference in number of paths drawn on the option selection control task.

(D) In healthy elderly people (n = 28), the difference in option generation fluency when on cabergoline and placebo also did not relate that in option selection ability. This suggests that reductions in fluency of option generation when PD patients are OFF dopamine and when healthy people are on placebo is not simply due to impairments in selecting among generated options.

See also Figures S6 and S7.