The Effort-Based Forage Task: An Ethological Behavioral Test for Assessing Motivation and Apathy-Related Behavior in Mice

Apathy and other disorders of motivation represent a significant clinical problem but do not have an agreed treatment approach. The use of translational animal models could facilitate drug development and advance treatment approach. The effort-based forage task provides a readout of motivational state in mouse models based on their intrinsic drive to forage for nesting material. In this task the mouse is placed in an arena composed of an enclosed home area and a foraging area joined via a tube. Throughout the session the mouse can freely choose to traverse the tube to reach the forage area, obtain nesting material, and shuttle it back to the home area. The nesting material requires effort to obtain and is pulled through apertures in a custom designed nesting material box. The amount of nesting material foraged provides a readout of motivational state, where a deficit in foraging indicates a reduction in motivation. The task does not require physiological (food/water) restriction to motivate the animal to perform in the task, and it does not require training beyond initial habituation to the task environment. The task has been used in behavioral phenotyping of disease models and has been used to test the effects of a wide range of pharmacological manipulations on motivational state. The task environment can be altered to test additional behavioral components that contribute to motivational deficit including effort-based modulation of behavior and affective reactivity. Overall, the task provides a rapid, translationally relevant method for understanding changes in motivated behavior independent of physiological restriction at the preclinical level. © 2025 The Author(s). Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Support Protocol: Animal husbandry and arena set up

Basic Protocol: Habituation and acute pharmacological manipulation

Alternate Protocol 1: The effort curve paradigm

Alternate Protocol 2: Affective reactivity test