MOTIVATION
What is motivation? Internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to be continually interested and committed to a job, role or subject, or to make an effort to attain a goal.
Abraham Maslow `s theory of motivation Defected motivation: brings humans to reconsider their psychical and physical balance. Adolescence motivation: gets people to pass old events and states of their personal development.
His hypothesis states that the human is ruled by lower needs as long as they are not satisfied. If they are satisfied in an adequate manner, the human then deals with higher needs and he represented it by a pyramid.
Maslow `s hierarchy of needs
Motivation & brain
Brain areas involved in motivation Hypothalamus Reticular formation Frontal lobes Amygdala Basal ganglia
Role of Hypothalamus Hypothalamus controls the changes in homeostasis and the mechanism that it uses to perform it is: 1. Humoral response (release of pituitary hormones in the blood) 2. Visceromotor response (adjust the balance between parasympathetic and sympathetic) 3. Somatic motor response (response to the inputs from sensors by hypothalamic neurons)
Role of Reticular Formation The reticular formation is a nerve network of nuclei clusters found in the human brain stem. Center of arousal and motivation
Role of Frontal Lobes Frontal lobes have 3 main regions: 1.Motor Cortex -Controls fine movements 2.Pre-motor Cortex -Selection of appropriate movements sequences 3.Pre-frontal Cortex -Involved in specifying the goals toward which movement should be made.
Role of Amygdala Almond shaped collection of nuclei located within the limbic system Plays a role in emotional and species specific responses Receives input from all sensory systems Sends projections to hypothalamus and brainstem
Role of Basal Ganglia The role in motivation of the "limbic" part of the basal ganglia, the nucleus accumbens (NA), ventral pallidum, and ventral tegmental area (VTA)is particularly well established. Numerous things that people find rewarding, including addictive drugs, good-tasting food, and sex, have been shown to elicit activation of the VTA dopamine system.
Role of Dopamine Converging evidence suggests that midbrain dopamine neurons signal a reward prediction error, allowing an organism to predict, and to act to increase, the probability of reward in the future.