Motivation and the Brain!

Behavior surrounds us and dictates everything we do, rather it is everything we do. Everything we do requires some sort of motivation, whether it is when or what we decide to eat, or what we decide to do. It really gets me pondering, we go through countless actions and decisions throughout our entire day, many without consciously thinking, our behavior informs these decisions wholly and different motivations are present, but we never sit back to analyze.

While we can speak of behavior as something that is monolithic, behavior really consists of fragments of behaviors that form the whole. In recent time, motivation has come back on the scene as an important topic for behavioral neuroscience because researchers have realized that it is needed to help connect our fragments of knowledge into a greater whole.

            Motivational concepts illuminate what limbic brain systems are chiefly evolved to do, that is to mediate psychological processes that guide real behavior. Pretty much, these systems are evolved to help properly guide your body’s behavior. You see, in order to understand the brain, you need motivational concepts. Brain concepts are needed to understand motivation. The relationship between brain controls motivated behavior and motivational concepts is like a computer and its software. Motivation concepts enable neuroscience to reach its full potential in providing brain-based explanations of motivated behavior in real life. This allows neuroscience to be more nuances and realistic as opposed to being oversimplified fragments that are disconnected from the behavioral reality they are supposed to explain. We must continue evaluating our understanding of these concepts and the pivotal role of motivation in the brain in order to further refine our knowledge of the workings of our mind and behavior.

Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/science/article/pii/S0031938404000435