Motivation

Question 1

Dopamine pathways

Answer 1

1) mesocortical - cognition, memory, attention, emotional behaviour and learning
2) nigrostriatal - movement and sensory stimuli
3) mesolimbic - pleasure and reward seeking, addiction, emotion and perception

Question 2

cue-reward associations

Answer 2

• Associations can be rewarding, thinking about pleasurable things makes you happy, leading to elevated dopamine.
• it’s not the reward per se that we find ‘rewarding’ more the unexpected gain.
• Uncertainty leads to greater dopamine release.
• There is a complex interplay between prediction and rewards.

Question 3

intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Answer 3

Intrinsic - the self (doing things for your own sake, personal reasons)
Extrinsic - outside world (goals placed upon us, for other people)

Question 4

The three needs underlying intrinsic motivation

Answer 4

• Autonomy
• Competence
• Relatedness