Indeed. It has been noted for decades, including in the formal literature IIRC, that one way to differentiate ME/CFS from depression is to ask a patient what they would do if they were suddenly cured.
I’d answer «I have no idea because I don’t see any use in speculating in that when I’m so far away from it».
If that's because the areas involved are typically described as involved in motivation, then that means that traditional description is wrong or incomplete, not that there is such a finding. If anything, I actually see elevated motivation, taking it to relentless levels. I have never experienced reduced motivation, I am actually fuming with it.
The whole argument is about poorly defined things, using poorly defined words. We can't clinically measure motivation, apathy, fatigue, etc. I often feel motivated and even enthusiastic about starting some project, but when faced with actually soldering components or whatever, I feel overwhelming weariness. I don't consider that fatigue, apathy, or lack of motivation; it's feeling ill/malaise. I had the same response pre-ME while trying to finish a task while suffering from a flu. We simply don't have the technology yet for measuring what's going on in the brain to cause these feelings.
Yep.
They found impaired functional connectivity which is indicative of cognitive exhaustion which suggests reduced motivation which induces neural exhaustion. Huh?