motivation

Question 1

What is motivation ?

Answer 1

the process that determines the initiation, maintenance, direction and determination of behavior

• its what keeps us doing something

Question 2

Psychologist Clark Hull

Answer 2

• believed that animals were motivated by physiological needs (ex: need for warmth, foood)

Question 3

What is the need reduction theory about?

Answer 3

states that organisms are motivated by the fulfillment of needs

• physiological need for food
• hunger drive
• behavioral response
• Need reduction

Question 4

Whats a primary motive ?

Answer 4

an internal state that pushes an organism to fulfill a deficiency

Question 5

Set point ?

Answer 5

the desired target value of a system

Question 6

Drive

Answer 6

an internal state that pushes an organism to fulfill a deficiency

Question 7

what is homeostasis ? what does Hull believe ?

Answer 7

Refers to the tendency of biological systems to maintain a stable internal environment

• the key structure in the performance of this function is the hypothalamus
• hull believes animals are motivated to fulfill those needs through homeostasis

Question 8

Non homeostasis drive

Answer 8

a drive that is not aimed at fulfilling a physiological need

Question 9

what are some limitations of the need reduction theory?

Answer 9

this theory does a good job at explaining the motivation to fulfill physiological needs however not all behaviours can be explained by it
- as most of our behaviours are motivated by non-homeostatic drives

Question 10

What is the arousal theory ?

Answer 10

the theory proposing that an organism motivation to act is based on the organism’s state of physiological activity

Question 11

Arousal

Answer 11

the state of physiological activity of an organism

Question 12

Arousal continuum ?

Answer 12

the continuum of arousal states associated with various activities ranging from low to high

Question 13

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Answer 13

the relationship between performance and levels of arousal, performance is related to levels of arousal in an inverted U function, with both extremely low and extremely high levels of arousal being detrimental to efficient performance

Question 14

Arousal levels, The arousal continumm

Answer 14

arousal levels range from low to high

• very low levels of arousal are associated with sleep
• very high levels of arousal are associated with extreme excitement

Question 15

arousal levels and personality

Answer 15

people differ in their basal levels of physiological arousal

• some people have inherited levels of arousal that are higher than others
• you may have hear that some people are high sensation seekers
• they are looking to raise their arousal levels

Question 16

Reward deficiency syndrome ?

Answer 16

a proposed syndrome in which highs sensation seekers have inherited a low number of dopamine receptors in the striatum and prefrontal cortex
- it has been found that high sensation seekers have inherited a low number of a type of dopamine receptors (D2) in the striatum and prefrontal cortex
leaves them with a deficit in experiencing positive moods

Question 17

Kenneth Blum (1990)

Answer 17

proposed the reward deficiency syndrome

• he proposed that sensation seekers have inherited with low D@ receptors
• are constantly motivated by the search for more intense sources of reward
• negatively they me prone to problems with self-control, drug abuse, risky sexual behaviour, aggressive behaviour

Question 18

Pleasure seeking and reward ?

Answer 18

• people often seek activities they know will provide them with pleasure

Question 19

James Olds and Peter Milner (1950s)

Answer 19

Experiment: rats would return to an area of a desktop where they received electrical stimulation of the Brain

• they wanted to know if rats learned to press a lever to receive the same stimulation
• they found that the area stimulated was the ventral-tegmental area (VTA), from which dopamine neurons project to the nucleus accumbens and widespread areas of the forebrain, including the prefrontal cortex

Question 20

Roy Wise

Answer 20

• such as the antipsychotic drug pimozide (a dopamine receptor antagonist) , reduced the amount of work rats would do to receive a food reward
• it was later suggested that the neurochemical basis of reward was the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine

Question 21

Pimozide

Answer 21

this drug blocks the actions of dopamine, this means that dopamine has an effect on motivation.
- when dopamine is blocked, rats have less motivation to do the task in order to get the food reward

Question 22

What is the prediction error concept?

Answer 22

• another concept related to dopamine

- its the extent to which the conditioned stimulus predicts the presence of the unconditioned stimulus

Question 23

Wolfram Schultz

Answer 23

• recorded the electrical activity of dopamine neurons int he mesolimbic dopamine system (VTA and substantia during a task in which monkeys learned the association between the presentation of a visual stimulus and a juice reward. )
• this experiment tells us that dopamine seems to be involved in the prediction of reward but not the pleasure that an organism feels when the reward is provided

Question 24

Dopamine ramping?

Answer 24

• the way in which dopamine is released in increasing amounts as the steps required to obtain a reward are completed

Question 25

explain dopamine ramping using examples

Answer 25

dopaminergic neurons are found in the striatum.

• dopamine concentrations are high when a rewarding goal has been reached, they fall of if achieving the is not rewarded
• the dopamine level in the striatum gradually increase as the steps toward the delivery of a reward are completed

Question 26

The incentive salience theory , proposed by Robinson and Berridge

Answer 26

• proposed that the conditioned stimuli associated with a a reward act as powerful cues to its delivery and that exposure to those cues create a state of “wanting”
• for example individuals suffering from drug addiction, this state of wanting, after being exposed to cues they have associated with it is characterized by intense cravings and may lead to seeking behaviours
• according to this theory the state of wanting is generated by the activity in the mesolimbic dopamine system

Question 27

Drug addictions

Answer 27

state of wanting, after being exposed to cues they have associated with taking a drug

• characterized by intense cravings that may lead to drug seeking behaviours
• the relief that is felt after having ingested the drug creates a state referred to as “liking”

Question 28

Theories of motivation include the need reduction theory and the arousal theory.

Answer 28

Need reduction theory is based on biological need to maintain homeostasis. Arousal theory is based on the idea that organisms are motivated to maintain optimal levels of arousal. However people and other organisms are motivated not just to maintain homeostasis or optimal levels of arousal, they are also motivated by stimuli that provide pleasure.

Question 29

The reward system

Answer 29

• refers to a group of structures that are activated whenever we experience something rewarding like taking a drug
• when exposed to rewarding stimulus, our brain responds by the release of neurotransmitter dopamine

Question 30

the pathway mostly associated with reward ?

Answer 30

the mesolimbic dopamine pathway
- which starts in an area of the brain called VTA (ventral-tegmental area)
the pathway connects it with the nucleus accumbens (which is found in the ventral striatum)

another pathway is the mesocortical pathway which also originates in the VTA but travels to the cerebral cortex (especially the frontal lobes)