Lect. 18 Motivation and Emotion

These flashcards cover key concepts of motivation and emotion including theories of behavior, types of reinforcement, and the role of dopamine in motivated and learned behaviors.

Adaptive behaviors

Behaviors that promote the survival and propagation of the organism and species.

Maladaptive behaviors

Behaviors that can hinder survival and are often a consequence of brain disorders.

Need-based motivation

Motivation driven by physiological needs such as hunger, thirst, or reproductive drives.

Emotion-based motivation

Motivation driven by emotional responses such as pleasure from rewards or fear of embarrassment.

Memory-based motivation

Motivation influenced by past experiences and the outcomes of previous behavior.

Appetitive behavior

Behaviors necessary to acquire a reward, such as approach or search behaviors.

Consummatory behavior

The specific actions involved in the consumption of a reward, such as eating.

Reinforcement

The process by which the probability of a behavior increases when followed by a positive environmental event.

Positive Reinforcement

A reward that increases the probability of a behavior occurring again.

Negative Reinforcement

The removal of a negative stimulus that increases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated.

Positive Punishment

The introduction of a negative stimulus to decrease a behavior.

Negative Punishment

The removal of a reward to decrease the frequency of a behavior.

Dopamine

A neurotransmitter that plays a crucial role in motivated behavior and reinforcement learning.

Hedonic impact

The pleasure derived from a stimulus, influencing behavior toward seeking it. 

Use taste reactivity to determine hedonic impact of tastes in non humans

Conditioned Taste Aversion (CTA)

A learned aversion to a food after it has been associated with illness.

Extinction training

The process of removing the association between a cue and its consequence, leading to diminished behavior.

Habit learning

A learned behavior that becomes automatic and is resistant to change, often mediated by striatal dopamine signaling. Mediated by dopamine signaling in the dorsal striatum.

reward pathway (mesolimbic dopamine)

dopamine is important for motivated behavior (the performance of behavior based on the reward value of the target) and reinforcement learning 

Reward magnitude increases the magnitude of dopamine release in the NAC

Instrumental learning (goal-directed learning)

behavior is performed to get a specific outcome. The animal thinks “if i do X, ill get Y”

Is sensitive to

• outcome devaluation

• Action-outcome contingency changes

Brain areas: prefrontal cortex, dorsomedial striatum (DMS)

Example

A rat presses a lever because pressing = food

Habit Learning

behavior become automatic 

Triggered by stimulus, not the expected outcome 

The animal things “in this situation, i press the lever”

Insensitive to

• outcome devaluation

• Contingency changes 

Brain areas: dorsolateral striatum (DLS)

Example

A rat keeps pressing a lever even when the food is no longer available 

outcome devaluation

a test to see if behavior depends on the value of the reward

1. Train animal to press lever for food

2. Devalue the food (pair w/ illness)

3. Test lever pressing in extinction (no food delivered)

If pressing decreases, the behavior is goal-directed

If pressing stays high, the behavior is habitual

outcome insensitive

the behavior does NOT change when he reward is devalued

Sign of habitual control

extinction training

remove the reward after the action

Over time, the animal stops performing the behavior

Often associated with goal-directed systems

Extinction resistant

behavior continues when the reward is gone 

A hallmark of habit learning