Motivation 

Motivation: the entries constellation of factors, some inside the organism and some outside, that causes an individual to behave in a particular way at a particular time

Motivational State: an internal condition that orients an individual toward a specific category of goals

• Can change over time in a reversible way
• Generally inferred from behavioral observations
• Examples are thirst and hunger

Incentives: sought-after objects that exist in the external environment

• Drives and incentives complement one another and influence each other’s strengths

Regulatory Drives

Homeostasis: The constancy of internal conditions that the body must actively maintain.

Regulatory Drive: helps preserve homeostasis

• Hunger
• Thirst
• Body Temperature

Non-regulatory drives: do not preserve homeostasis

Functional classification of mammalian drives includes:

Regulatory drives: maintain homeostasis

Safety drives: motivate an animal to avoid, escape, or fend off dangers.

Reproductive drives: sexual drive and the drive to care for young once they are born

Social drives: drives for friendship and connections

Central State Theory

Central State theory of drives: different drives correspond to the neural activity in different sets of neurons in the brain

Central drive system: a set of neurons in which activity constitutes a drive

• Research suggests that the hypothalamus is the hub of many central drive systems

Reward: something we like, want, and serves as a reinforcer

Wanting: the desire to obtain a reward

Liking: the subjective feeling of pleasure that occurs when one receives a reward

Reinforcement: refers to the effects that promote something such as learning

Identifications of Reward Neurons in the Brain

Medial forebrain bundle: neurons crucial for rewards

Nucleus accumbens: a large nucleus in the basal ganglia

Liking VS Wanting in the Brain

Dopamine: a neurotransmitter that promotes “wanting” but is not essential for “liking”

• Important for working to acquire reinforces that are not immediately present
• Important for new learning
• Can motivate individuals to work for a reward

Endorphins: short for endogenous, morphine-like substance; a transmitter risible for “liking” response

• Inhibits the sense of pain

Addiction and Dopamine

Drug Addiction: addictive drugs cause dopamine release into the nucleus accumbens each time they are taken, which may cause super reinforcement of cues and actions associated with obtaining the drugs; hence, addiction

• Drug addicts have been observed to lose their “liking” of the drugs over time, even while their “wanting” increases.

Hunger: A Regulatory Drive

Our Appetite is regulated by both neural and hormonal means

Feedback control: the substance or quality being regulated feeds back upon the controlling device and inhibits the production of more of that substance or quality when an appropriate level is reached.

Leptin: appetite-suppressing hormone secreted by fat cells.

Sensory-Specific satiety: people and laboratory animals that eat a type of food until they are satiated experience renewed appetite when a different food, with a different taste, is placed before them.

The Sleep Drive

Electroencephalogram: most valuable index of sleep, represents a sort of average of the activity of billions of neurons

Alpha waves: large, regular waves occur when a person is relaxed but awake

Beta waves: love amplitude, fast, irregular waves occur when a person is concentrating, focused, or excited

Delta Waves: high amplitude, slow, irregular waves occur when a person is in “true sleep”

Preservation and Protection Theory: Sleep came about in evolution to preserve energy and protect the individual when there is relatively little value and co

\
\