Read Chapter 3 of your textbook.
Summarize the chapter, then answer the questions. What information was most surpising to you? What information was most confusing to you? What information do you want to learn more about? How is your understanding of motivation changed now that you've learned about some of the biological/physiological bases of it?
When it comes to dealing with matters of the brain and psychology I am very up to date on the basic principles and most recent findings having just finished a Bio-psychology class this last Fall semester. The brain structures are new information and the process of neurotransmitters and hormonal activity has become well ingrained into my cortices. The beginning of the chapter discusses the principles behind a motivated and emotional brain. The first being that specific brain structures generate specific motivations. In broad terms certain structures like the hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle,septal area, orbitofrontal cortex, medial prefrontal and left prefrontal cortex are all associated with positive feelings and motivations. So all these structures are activated when you are eating your favorite food or watching a funny movie. Structures like the amygdala, hippocampus, and right prefrontal cortex are all associated with negative emotions like feeling threatened or scared. Many of the same areas are activated in several species of animals showing a basic understanding of motivation and emotion in what we consider lesser species. When researchers stimulated parts of the brain of a dog to generate a positive response they were greeted by a the same response as if they were to give a dog a bone. The second principle made was the biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures. This seems to be fairly obvious considering certain hormones are made to increase happiness and others are more of a depressant. The four most common are dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and norepinephrine. Dopamine pathways are particularly important as they correlate with learning, incentives, and reward systems which we know is the basis for a platter of psychological study. The third and final point of the principles was that day to day events create action in biochemical release systems. Speaking to this pint were the tw final sub points of the chapter which basically said that motivation can't be separated from the social context from whence it came and that we are not always aware of the motivations we experience because it is so instinctual. This chapter was very good at tying the idea of biology and the motivation and emotion ideas of psychology to one another and explaining them cohesively.
As you know, the brain has been particularly important in my world lately. With my boyfriend having a stoke 5 months ago, I have done a lot of research on the brain lately. With a large portion of his temporal lobe removed, I was particularly interested in finding out how it would change him/his personality. Thankfully, the only things that have been effected by his stroke and removal of his brain were short term memory, physical disability, and shortened attention span. The brain is such an interesting and vital part of the human body. Just like any other psychological process, motivation is controlled by the brain and chemicals in the brain.
The section I found most surprising was the associated motivations with the brain structures. I thought that maybe one or two places in the brain control your motivation and emotions, however, I was shocked to see that places all over the brain controlled various motivations and emotions. I knew the hypothalamus was important to feelings and motivation, I was surprised to see that some of the cortexes control so much of your emotions and motivations.
The information I find the most confusing is the chemical messengers. I think there are so many different kinds of chemicals, hormones, and neurotransmitters that control so many different feelings and motivations that it is hard to keep track of what is in charge of what. But also it is hard to remember all of the pathways and whether a chemical is added or subtracted that control the emotion or motivation. Overall, I found that section of the book most confusing to get a grip of.
I would like to learn more about altering motivation and emotion through use of chemicals or brain alternating surgeries. I think it would be interesting to learn techniques that would change how motivated people are and how to change specific feelings/ moods that people have. The brain is so delicate so it is interesting how special each portion of the brain is and how it functions.
My understanding of motivation has changed from reading this chapter because before I did know how many things factored into motivation. It was interesting to learn about how the brain, chemicals in the brain, the social context of the situation, and how emotion played such equally important parts in the processing of motivation. The chapter really put into perspective the importance of biology with motivation, I think often times we just think of one or two things that weigh on our motivation, but this chapters really shows how many important variables are involved in decision making for motivation.
Terms: motivation, emotion, chemical messengers, biology, neurotransmitters, brain structures, cortexes, hypothalamus, hormones, pathways, and processes.
In Chapter 3, there were many different things discussed that were interesting. The chapter started out talking about three principles. The three principles are specific brain structures generate specific motivations, biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures, and day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action. These three principles are used for researchers to understand the brain and motivational processes. The chapter then turned to talk about how we look inside the brain. It talked about how you can do it from a surgeon's view or through magnetic resonance imaging or MRI. The chapter then turned to talk about different parts of the brain like the hypothalmus and amygdala. It ended talking about neurotransmitters. It discussed the pathways of neurtotransmitters which are dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and endorphins.
The thing that I found most surprising was just how many different sections of the brain control different parts of a person's motivation and emotion. I always thought that one part of the brain controlled everything that deals with motivation and emotion. The thing that I found surprising also was the most confusing to me. It seemed like some parts of the brain controlled some of the same things. I got confused with which parts control what. Another thing I found confusing that was associated with this was the medical terms associated with the brain. I had never heard of many of these things before I read this. There were some parts of the brain I had heard of but didn't know much about them.
Some of the things that I would like to learn more about is some of the experiments that were associated with brain. It is kind of hard to understand the experiments by reading them in a book but I bet they are interesting. Some of the experiments that involve the rats seem very interesting like the one with the electronic backpack that they used on a rat. I think that it would be cool to learn more about it. Knowing where we develop some of our motivations has helped understand them better. I think after talking about more in depth in class I will understand it better. Reading from a book is a little hard to understand for complex material.
It’s fascinating how our minds and bodies intertwine to make us feel and behave in specific ways. This chapter was all about illustrating the basic principles physiology plays in generating psychological behavior. There are three principles that illustrate the process of the brain and body of motivation and emotion, which concern brain structures, biochemicals, and events provoking specific responses.
The first principle is “specific brain structures generate specific motivations.” Most of the structures dealing with motivation and emotional generate approach behaviors; however, a few structures generate avoidant behaviors. For instance, the hypothalamus give pleasurable feelings by way of the endocrine gland and autonomic nervous system, the medial forebrain bundle reinforces pleasure, and the orbitofrontal cortex provides incentives. However, the amygdala controls fear, anger and anxiety, and the hippocampus induces anxiety in unexpected events. Astonishingly, the prefrontal cortex stimulates both types of behaviors. The right side controls negative feelings, and the left side controls positive feelings, which affects people’s personalities depending on each side’s sensitivity.
The second principle is “biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures.” Neurotransmitters serve as chemical messengers within the brain. The neurotransmitters relevant to motion and emotion are dopamine (associated with reward), serotonin (associated with mood), norepinephrine (associated with arousal), and endorphins (associated with pain inhibition). Dopamine is especially important, because of its influence on reinforcement and positive feelings. Hormones are chemicals that travel through the blood stream to affect the body. The relevant hormones to motivation and emotion are cortisol (associated with stress), testosterone (associated with mating and competition), and oxytocin (associated with bonding).
The third principle is “day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action.” This is to say that the situations we encounter on a daily basis stimulate the biochemicals and structures which allow us to deal appropriately with the situation. However, the motivation we get is imbedded in the social environment, and cannot be accurately studied in a lab setting. For instance, the natural environment that surrounds me affects my motivation and could not simply be repeated in an artificial study. In summary, these principles describe the enormous impact our physiology has on our personalities, but they cannot determine the full extent of our motivations and emotions without the context of our environments as well.
I found the amount of influence our neurological structure and functioning has on our personalities surprising. Depending on how sensitive certain structures are, you could easily be a completely different person. For instance, someone with more left prefrontal cortex functioning would likely be more morose and introverted if their left prefrontal cortex was more sensitive, giving them completely different emotions. Although interesting, I found the differences between neurotransmitters and hormones confusing, because they are similarities in that they’re both chemicals that affect our feelings. I understand the basic definitions of each, but I cannot say I am completely sure about the differences of each one effects. In spite of my lack of understanding, it would be cool to learn more about lab experiments dealing with these chemicals to see the full extent of influence of each. Through this chapter, I have gotten a better insight into the internal processes that influence some of our psychological process. Perhaps there is a biological solution to increasing our motivation, or at least inhibit its decline.
Terms: Brain structure principle, biochemical principle, day-to-day events principle, hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle, orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, neurotransmitters, hormones, social context, dopamine, oxytocin, norepinephrine, endorphins, serotonin, cortisol, testosterone, autonomic nervous system, pituitary gland
Chapter 3 was and interesting chapter because it talked about the brain. The brain is the most important part of your body when it comes to motivation and emotion. The brain tells you what you, what you need, what you want, and how you feel. The brain controls your emotions. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers within the brain that communicate with one of the four motivationally relevant neurotransmitter pathways. The four pathways are dopamine (good feelings), serotonin (mode & emotions), norepinephrine (arousal & alertness), and endorphin (pain, anxiety, fear). Wanting and liking are also two motivational states, wanting occurs prior to receiving the reward and liking occurs after receiving the reward. There are also three hormones in the body that effect motivation, emotion, and behavior, they are, Cortisol which is the “stress hormone,” testosterone which is the sexual motivation hormone, and oxytocin which is “bonding hormone.”
The part that I found most interesting, but also the part that is the most confusing for me, would have to be the looking in the brain section. When I was reading and it was talking about the surgeon being able to control the movements of the patient, I found that interesting that someone could control your movements, but that is also a little confusing to me at the same time, that someone can control your movements.
I want to learn more about the liking versus wanting. I have read a little about it before and in the book it talked about how you can want something that you don’t like, but that you have to like and want it for the whole reward, but then why would you want something in the first place if you don’t like it.
I didn’t know the brain did so much, after reading the chapter I learned that pretty much everything that motivates you to do things happened through your brain.
Term: Liking, Wanting, Cortisol, Testosterone, Oxytocin, Neurotransmitters, Dopamine, Sertonin, norepinephrine, endorphin
When it comes to the brain and all of its awesomeness I get a little confused! But I understand how important it is to fully understand all the brain’s functions. The chapter explains motivation and how certain areas of the brain like the hypothalamus aid in creating those feelings. The hypothalamus is connected with happy emotions so when you hear a good joke or watch a movie you enjoy it gets activated. This chapter contained a lot of information on what parts of the brain are associated with which emotions.
The most surprising thing to me while reading the chapter was the fact that even though the brain confuses me I understood what the book was explaining because I have learned some of it before. This means I have retained some information from bio-psych and my other classes! I still find neurotransmitters to be confusing. I understand what dopamine, serotonin and endorphins do but norepinephrine isn’t fully grasped in my mind. But I did enjoy how the book explained hormones. So I would like to learn more about norepinphrine and I would also be curious in learning more about the pituitary gland.
My understanding has changed a little because I know see and understand that a lot of my brain is included in my actions. I see how complex every decision I make really is. The brain has always amazed me but I have a new found appreciation for it and all the work it does daily. This chapter made me see how everything is connected and even though I don’t fully understand all of the scientific aspects I appreciate them!
Terms: norepinephrine, serotonin, hormones, endorphins, dopamine, pituitary gland, hypothalamus, motivation, neurotransmitters
The brain to me is a very fascinating and vital, yet a very confusing organ. Chapter 3 was all about the brain and how differnt parts control certain emotions and influence our behaviors. The brain is the center for our motivation and it handles all of our emotions (hunger, anger etc) This chapter opened my eyes that the brain does more than just cognitive actions and it actually houses many parts that influence why we have cravings because of our senses, or why something makes us feel happy and positive. This chapter was very interesting in learning all about the brain.
The most surprising thing I found was the reason why doctors need you awake in certain surgerys. I never connected the thought that the surgeon would need to use specific responses from your brain for the surgery to be a success. Its very interesting to see how the surgeon can control movements through stimulating an aspect of the brain. The fMRI is surprising as well at how far along our technology has come that now we can look at minute to minute brain activity and see what areas of the brain light up when motivated.
The most confusing part of this chapter was all of the brain's structures and which one produces what emotion and how it works. For example the reticular formation is confusing to me still because I don't fully grasp the concept of that sturture. Locations of the brain are also hard to memorize for me.
I would like to learn more about the structures of the brain so I understand them better than I do now. I also enjoyed the section on Dopamine and how it releases good feelings but for more than just incentives, it could be because of a smell, or the knowing of a reward. I would like to learn more about the other neurotransmitters and how that effects motivation and emotion as well.
My understanding of motivation has changed in how the brain has certain parts that effect what motivates you and what doesn't motivate another peson. This chapter pointed out the phisological reasons why motivation can be so strong you feel like you just have to do something or you have feelings you can't control.
Terms: motivation, emotion, dopamine, neurotransmitters, brain structures, fMRI, reticular formation, incentives, reward
Chapter 3 dealt mainly with the biological foundations behind motivation and emotion. It stated the different parts of the brain that all play a role in motivation and emotion along with neurotransmitters and hormones. The chapter went on to break down the parts of the brain and explained the role that each one played in motivation and emotion. These explanations were very basic because the parts of the brain cannot be broken down into 3 or 4 paragraphs.
The thing that I found to be the most surprising in the chapter was the importance of the hypothalamus. I didn’t have much knowledge of the hypothalamus or any part of the brain before reading the chapter but I did know that it was part of the brain. The hypothalamus accounts for only 1% of brain volume yet it regulates several biological functions that I find to be quite important. These biological functions include thirst, hunger, and sex drive. The hypothalamus also regulates the endocrine system and the autonomic system. These two systems are responsible for controlling hormones and organs such as the heart, lungs, liver, and intestines. To me, I thought it was astonishing that 1% of our brain can control so much. This led me to ask myself how much of our brain is active when doing everyday things such as talking, breathing, and sleeping.
The thing that I found to be the most confusing was the fact that there are so many parts of the brain that have an effect on motivation and emotion. The fact that the parts of the brain have scientific names such as amygdala, reticular formation, and orbitofrontal cortex didn’t help me at all. I found this information to be confusing because nearly every part of the brain has something to do with motivation and emotion and it is hard for me to remember which part of the brain controls what.
The part that I would like to learn more about would have to be the interactions between the parts of the brain. As an example, would a localized form of brain damage affect the others and how so?
My perception of motivation/emotion has changed greatly after reading this chapter because I realized just how complicated it is. There are many parts of our brain that control our behavior and emotions and each one is just as complicated to understand as the last.
The brain to me is a very fascinating and vital, yet a very confusing organ. Chapter 3 was all about the brain and how differnt parts control certain emotions and influence our behaviors. The brain is the center for our motivation and it handles all of our emotions (hunger, anger etc) This chapter opened my eyes that the brain does more than just cognitive actions and it actually houses many parts that influence why we have cravings because of our senses, or why something makes us feel happy and positive. This chapter was very interesting in learning all about the brain.
The most surprising thing I found was the reason why doctors need you awake in certain surgerys. I never connected the thought that the surgeon would need to use specific responses from your brain for the surgery to be a success. Its very interesting to see how the surgeon can control movements through stimulating an aspect of the brain. The fMRI is surprising as well at how far along our technology has come that now we can look at minute to minute brain activity and see what areas of the brain light up when motivated.
The most confusing part of this chapter was all of the brain's structures and which one produces what emotion and how it works. For example the reticular formation is confusing to me still because I don't fully grasp the concept of that sturture. Locations of the brain are also hard to memorize for me.
I would like to learn more about the structures of the brain so I understand them better than I do now. I also enjoyed the section on Dopamine and how it releases good feelings but for more than just incentives, it could be because of a smell, or the knowing of a reward. I would like to learn more about the other neurotransmitters and how that effects motivation and emotion as well.
My understanding of motivation has changed in how the brain has certain parts that effect what motivates you and what doesn't motivate another peson. This chapter pointed out the phisological reasons why motivation can be so strong you feel like you just have to do something or you have feelings you can't control.
Terms: motivation, emotion, dopamine, neurotransmitters, brain structures, fMRI, reticular formation, incentives, reward
Reading over this chapter of the text really brought back memories from taking Biopsych. This is a good thing and a bad thing. First off, I have a hard time grasping some of the biological aspects, yet I find it all quite interesting. A lot of the issues that were given throughout the chapter were related to biopsych, which helped since I had already learned about many of these topics beforehand.
The beginning of the chapter focuses on how to understand the brain, and explains the three principles: 1. Brain structures generate specific motivations; 2. Biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures, and 3. Day to day events can stir up biochemical agents into action. These three principles all explain the motivation process in the brain. The chapter then goes into looking inside the brain. It explains what an MRI and fMRI is, and how it is used to look into the brain. It then discussed two approaches, the brain generated approach versus the avoidance. With this the book goes into detail about many different sections and areas of the brain. Some parts of the brain that were talked about were the hypothalamus, amygdala, frontal cortex, septo-hippocampal circuit and the reticular formation. Each of these were explained. The end of the chapter then focused on neurotransmitters and gave a good amount of information on dopamine. It explained the incentives, release, motivated actions, and addictions. The last topic that was then discusses was hormones in the body.
Looking inside the brain was the most interesting part in my opinion. It is crazy to see how technology has changed over the year, and it is great to know that we have this type of technology to help in research, and for medical reasons. I have actually had multiple MRI’s before, so it was interesting to read about the section in the book that talked about MRI’s and the brain. This section then went on and showed a table of all the structures that are related to motivation and emotion. It was fascinating to see that there are so many different areas of the brain that work with the motivation and emotion we go through every day, and even though type of information sometimes goes over my head, it is really good and interesting information that I find very surprising.
Some of the terms and information given in this chapter are things that I have never heard of, and some of it seemed a little too “high tech” for me. Even though majority of this information as just a review, some of the terms and information associated with the brain were confusing to me, and I may need to read over it again to really try to understand. Some of the areas of the brain I had never heard of, so that information confused me a little bit. Some of these were Medial forebrain bundle, and the anterior cingulate cortex.
I think the neurotransmitter section was interesting and it may be something that I want to look more in depth at and want to learn more about. One of these would be dopamine. I have learned about this in SO many other classes, yet there is obviously more I could/want to learn. It is cool to see how dopamine affects your brain and body.
I knew that the brain affected our bodies in many ways, but I do not think I really realized how much it affects us as a person, how many areas/sections there are, and how just the littlest activity in the brain can change anything. This chapter really made me realize how much biology goes along with motivation.
Terms: Hypothalamus, amygdala, frontal cortex, septo-hippocampal circuit, reticular formation, dopamine, neurotransmitters, hormones, medial forebrain bundle, and cingulate cortex
To begin in the summary of chapter 3, I would like to point out an experiment/example that Reeve stated. I found the idea of having the reader try to become hungry, angry or curious without first using one’s brain to be very interesting. The idea that the brain is behind every area of one’s being is absolutely intriguing and definitely deserves a chapter to itself within every psychology textbook.
Researchers focus on three main questions to understand how the brain carries out motivation. These questions are: What areas of the brain create certain motivations, how are these parts of the brain stimulated, as well as, what are the day to day events that bring out the motivations? The process is summed up in an example showing that the motivation is started by an environmental event. This event causes a biochemical agent, whether that is a hormone or neurotransmitter, to go into action. After the agent is started, an area in the brain is stimulated by it. The stimulation finally leads to a psychological experience, which in this case, would be aroused motivation.
For researchers to be efficient and knowledgeable in terms of the brain and motivation, they need to be able to see what areas of the brain are being stimulated at these times. fMRI’s are currently the most used form of technology to scan the brain for brain activity. An fMRI is a detailed picture of the brain, and when the pictures are put together, it forms a video of the brain activity.
This chapter also went into detail about the many specific areas of the brain and their functions. These structures were grouped into three categories that make understanding how they play a role in motivation much easier to understand. The three groups are approach-oriented structures, avoidance-oriented structures, and arousal-oriented structures. They are determined to be different because of the tasks each one performs. The approach-oriented structures, as I understood them, to focus more on the positive, taking action, pleasurable activities. The avoidance-oriented structures focus on more of a response mechanism. Such as responding to events, whether one should be fearful or angry.
The last major topic discussed in chapter three was neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are defined as a chemical messenger that acts within the brain’s CNS. It is the way in which neurotransmitter communicate with one another. The four main neurotransmitters that are relevant to motivation are dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and endorphin. Dopamine functions to deliver positive feelings. Dopamine plays a large part in the action of an individual “wanting” something. It helps a person make decisions throughout the day.
I have learned about the topics of the brain and the structure before. In the future I would like to know and be able to remember these structures and their purposes better than I have in the past.
Terms: fMRI, approach-oriented structures, avoidance-oriented structures, arousal-oriented structures, neurotransmitters, dopamine
Chapter 3 covered the biology and physiology behind motivation and emotion. First understanding the biological processes of motivation in the brain helps better learn about the different kinds of motivation soon to come in this class. I personally enjoyed reading this chapter because after taking bio-psych, I became very interested in learning the the many amazing things your brain can do, whether you're conscious of it or not. The chapter broke down the sections by looking at the three principles; 1, which brain structures are associated with motivation, 2, how these particular brain structures influence motivation, and 3, how events create this motivation activation process.
To begin with, the most surprising bit of information I learned from this chapter was just how many areas in the human brain contribute to motivation. Everything is interconnected and influence activation of other areas. Such as, the hypothalamus activates the release of hormones in the pituitary gland. As well as how neurotransmitters send tiny pieces of information throughout the cortex. This all surprised me because i'm use to learning about things that happen in just a couple of areas of the brain. For instance, I knew that memory was heavily involved in the hippocampus and amygdala, depression is largely influenced by the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, etc. Knowing that all these areas are working together to behave a certain way, or to achieve a specific outcome, is amazing, The way they included a graph of the chain of events that led an environmental event, to a biochemical agent, then on to the brain structure, then eventually the aroused motivation or emotion, helped really take in this long and detailed process of events in a way that made it more clear to grasp.
Throughout the entire chapter, even though it explained things thoroughly, I couldn't help but confuse which structure of the brain does which. Mainly because each of these areas does a lot more than one thing, and some even do similar things. For example, the orbitofrontal cortex helps people make choices between options, while the anterior cingulate cortex also controls making choices. I'm sure as I become more familiar with these areas I would be able to differentiate between them, but while reading I couldn't help but find myself re-reading sentences making sure I dont get them confused.
Something that stuck out to me had to do with the septo-hippocampal circuit. The interesting thing that I'd like to learn more about is that the hippocampus has the ability to operate in an "okay mode" when events happen that you'd expect, vs the "not okay mode" in which events are happen not as expected. When this happens, the hippocampus goes into survival mode and gets the attention from the septo-hippocampus, which generates feelings of arousal and high attention. I'd like to know whether this was type of trait was left over from our ancestors or if evolution has guided modern humans to have this ability. Since this area involves activated emotions such as anxiety, its not surprising that anti-anxiety drugs help calm the "not okay mode". However, this could be dangerous in certain situations where you would need your full attention.
Overall, this chapter has been very beneficial in understanding the behind-the-scenes actions of what really happens when you have motivation or feel emotions. Knowing that everything come into play, from whole cortex areas, prefrontal lobe, limbic system, even small neurotransmitters have an ever-lasting effect on how you act or what decisions you choose. As I said before, learning about the biology aspect of this first will help develop more understandings of the external parts of motivation that we can see. Such as eating when you're hungry, well now we know that you eat when you are hungry because your body sends out a hormone called ghrelin to our brain which tells us we're hungry and need food. Learning this has also helped look at these situations in another perspective, its not always what we see, there's always inter-workings in the brain that lead to why behave and do what we do.
TERMS: hypothalamus, pituitary gland, neurotransmitters, hippocampus, amygdala, serotonin, dopamine, orbitofrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, septo-hippocampal circuit, limbic system, ghrelin,
This chapter focused on the physiological processes that underlie motivation and emotion. The author laid out three principles for the study of the emotional and motivated brain: specific brain structures generate specific motivations, biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures, and day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action. By utilizing functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI), scientists are able to see which parts of the brain are most active during a specific emotion or while being motivated to complete a certain behavior. This technology has lead to new discoveries about which parts of the brain are responsible for certain tasks. For instance, the hypothalamus regulates some important biological functions such as eating, drinking, and mating. It also controls the pituitary gland, and thereby, the whole endocrine system. The amygdala on the other hand regulates the emotions involved in self-preservation, such as fear, anger, and anxiety. For a listing of the different brain structures related to motivation and emotion and their functions, please see table 3.1 (page 54).
In addition to specific brain structures, neurotransmitters also play an important role in our motivated and emotional experiences. Neurotransmitters act as chemical messengers within the brain's central nervous system. There are four motivationally relevant neurotransmitters: (1) dopamine, which generates positive feelings associated with reward, (2) serotonin, which influences mood and emotions, (3) norepinephrine, which regulates arousal and alertness, and (4) endorphin, which inhibits pain, anxiety, and fear by generating good feelings to counter these negative feelings.
The last physiological mechanism underlying motivation and emotion mentioned in chapter 3 was hormones, or the chemical messengers of the endocrine system. Three hormones were specifically mentioned: (1) cortisol, or the "stress hormone", (2) testosterone, which regulates sexual motivation, and (3) oxytocin, or the bonding hormone. The author ends the chapter by emphasizing two points: motivation cannot be separated from the social context in which it is embedded and we are not always consciously aware of the motivational basis of our behavior.
Since I have already taken Biopsychology, most of this information was review. With that said, the article "How and Why Antidepressant Drugs Alleviate Depression" in Box 3 was very interesting to me. It went into detail how antidepressants increased the amount of serotonin in the brain by inhibiting re-uptake of the neurotransmitter. The article also explained that by increasing serotonin, antidepressants are also inadvertently "hijacking" the dopamine pathways, which could lead to blunt feelings of love, romance, and attachment to others (p.68). While antidepressants have proven to be effective in treating depression, I am curious as what type of medications will be developed in the near future and how those mechanisms will work.
This chapter has reinforced the mulch-dimensional approach towards motivation and emotion studies. A behavior such as mating can have a number of explanations, including the role of the amygdala or high levels of the hormone testosterone. Therefore, I need to make an effort to acknowledge multiple perspectives when trying to explain why a behavior occurred. It’s only the second week, and I can already see how complicated a "simple" behavior can be to explain.
Terms: fMRI, hypothalamus, amygdala, neurotransmitters, dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, endorphin, hormones, coritsol, testosterone, oxytocin, antidepressants
After just finishing up Biopsychology chapter three was a lot of review for me. The use of the fMRI, a modified version of the MRI, gives a more detailed image of the brain as it monitors the change in blood oxygen level. That the hypothalamus is part of the forebrain and controls both the pituitary gland, ”master gland” as well as the autonomic nerves system (ANS). Were the pituitary gland gets its commands through hormones which than regulates the endocrine system; the ANS controls the heart, intestines, liver, and other organs though neural connections. How the amygdale responds to the threatening and emotional events such as fear and anger. It detects these emotions through your willingness to go forward into once frightening stimuli along with learning new emotional associations. The reticular formation found in the brainstem has a descending and ascending portion controlling the motor areas and the increase in arousal. Then down to the itsy bitsy chemical messengers that make the communication possible between neurons, neurotransmitters.
Some of the reading I found interesting and slightly new. The hormone responsible for our hunger is ghrelin, and that it can rise and fall throughout a normal day. When put on a diet that ghrelin level rises and falls just the same but on a higher level. As ghrelin triggers that hungry feeling, adipose (fat) tissue creates and releases leptin into the blood stream. This gives us the satisfying feeling of being full. Then there were the different parts or dopamine release, incentive, reward, and action. The incentives, if the event is significant enough to the individual and foreshadows an award dopamine is then released which in turn motivates the person to take action. When the rewarding event occurs more dopamine releases as a reinforcer to teach us what events in the environment are rewarding. If the event is more surprising then expected the release is even greater. Action, dopamine is connected to the motor system and when released through the nucleus accumbens increases the willingness to approach behavior. Also good feeling you get from the action activates your goal-directed behavior and once dopamine hits that point your more than likely to increase your actions to complete that goal.
The one thing that kind of threw me off was the liking and wanting section. How the two are related or can give a full rewarding experience? This is what I’d like to learn more about.
Terms: fMRI, pituitary gland, autonomic nerves system, reticular formation, amygdale, hypothalamus, neurotransmitters, ghrelin, adipose, leptin, dopamine, nucleus accumbens, goal-directed behavior
Going into this chapter initially, was quite a bit of review for me. I am currently taking introduction to Neurology, in which we are learning the anatomical/chemical make-up of the brain in great detail and I have taken Anatomy and Physiology in which we dissected sheep brains and learned about the centers of the brain and what they do. I did think that it was very interesting to learn how this field of research was initially started. Who would have known the effects of a simple bend in an electrical probe would have on the field of science! It was very helpful to take a look at how all the different mechanisms of the brain work together in order to create our motivated brain. Certain parts of our brain create a desire or motivation in us, such as very instinctual/basic needs such as food and water. In my A& P class we were taught a mnemonic device to remember the hypothalamus by remembering the 3 F’s it controls…Fight/Flight, Food, and Fornication. In addition to that certain hormones and neurotransmitters stimulate or inhibit these areas. The last component of this triad is our external day-to-day activities, the area we probably think about the most as effecting our motivations and emotions, when in reality they are only 1/3 of the picture. I liked the example they provided of sleep deprivation and how that usually increases ghrelin and decreases leptin in our system…thus showing how interrelated these areas are.
One area that I thought was a bit confusing was the overlap that there tends to be in the control of certain functions in our brain. Yes, certain areas are more in control than others but there is a ton of overlap. I guess that just speaks to the malleable nature of the brain. Although this area confused me the most it is also the area that I would like to learn about the most. I’m not sure how in depth we will explore this in class, so I am very grateful that I am taking Intro to Neurology at the same time.
My understanding of motivation and emotion has become much broader. When I think of the name of this class it is easy to think of ‘pick yourself up by your bootstraps and get it done’. That’s just kind of the way I was brought up. Now knowing and exploring the complex nature of motivation and emotion gives me a whole new appreciation for how complex it really is. It is also amazing to me that anyone would turn out as a functional human being! I mean, there is so much that can go wrong with neurotransmitters, hormones, brain synapses, and our environment. It really puts me in awe of how fearfully and wonderfully we are made.
terms: hypothalamus, hormones, neurotransmitters, environment, synapses, ghrelin, leptin
Chapter 3 contained the biology behind people’s motivations and emotions. From reading the chapter, I learned about how certain glands control different feelings. More specifically, those glands determine the release of different hormones. The hormone levels determine how much of different emotions a person may feel. All of these functions are within the brain. It’s spectacular to think of the fact that one organ controls so much of our actions and reactions. I didn’t realize that dopamine had a part in the “want” to pursue some course of action. I was aware of the fact that dopamine released “feel-good” feelings but I didn’t know that it affects our goal-influenced approach to things.
It was confusing to read through some of the material underneath the “Brain-Generated Approach Versus Avoidance” section. More specifically, the parts of that section on the separate cortexes and parts of the brain. I had trouble understanding the amygdala and what exactly it does with stimulation. I would’ve appreciated another example similar to Figure 3.7 to understand it a little better.
I would like to learn more about the hormones and what they each influence. I found the information in dopamine and ghrelin fascinating and would like to learn more about the other hormones and their functions.
I anticipated more of it to be focused on thoughts, conscious and subconscious, rather than the biology. I now understand that there is a physiological reason behind everything we feel and do rather than just “feelings”. Nothing we do is without a biological reason.
Terms Used: Dopamine, Hormones, Amygdala, Ghrelin, Cortexes, Motivations, Emotions
Chapter 3
This chapter goes more into the biological aspect of motivation and emotion rather than the theoretical gatherings psychologists observe. The source of these biological factors comes from our brain, not necessarily its cognitive and intellectual functions being thought, but also motivation and emotion. We don’t just use our brains to think, learn, or make decisions, the brain also is responsible for generating cravings, appetites, needs, desires, and pleasures. The brain creates and maintains the states of our emotions by specific structures of the brain generating specific motivational states, such as the hypothalamus. These structures are stimulated by biochemical agents such as neurotransmitters and hormones. Lastly, these stimulating agents are stirred into action by day-to-day events such as receiving a bad grade on an exam. Scientists can now look inside the brain or take a picture and see the many structures in our brain that makes us behave or respond in different ways. The structures in our brain associated with positive feelings and approach include the hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle, septal area, orbitalfrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, medial prefrontal cortex, and left prefrontal cortex. For the negative feelings and avoidance the amygdala, hippocampus, and right prefrontal cortex are responsible. Neurotransmitters act as chemical messengers in the brain and are clustered into four main pathways; dopamine, serotonin, norephinephrine, and endorphin. The dopamine pathway is responsible for positive feelings and explains the biology of incentives, reward, motivated action, addictions, and liking versus wanting. The experience of dopamine allows us to learn which environmental events are associated with pleasure and which are associated with stress. The whole point is to translate motivations into action.
The information that surprised me the most was that different structures of the brain produce different emotions. Something could happen to my left prefrontal cortex and stem a complete opposite emotion than what would have occurred if it was the right prefrontal cortex affected. Science has not always been my favorite subject, so I remain unknowledgeable about a lot of things. I knew that the brain was somewhat categorized into two sides, one being more creative and the other more logical, but I assumed that the brain still worked together as one. I still believe that is the case, it was just surprising to read how truly technical the brain is. It is really a road map of different regions that act on their own.
One thing that confused me was neurotransmitters. There are so many structures in the brain, located in a small, confined space, so the pathways necessary to connect these structures caused confusion. There is so much more involved then I think I could understand, it is just so much harder to grasp without actually seeing how it works. This would be information that I would not mind learning more about. I feel like I can sometimes be too theoretical or philosophical so it would be good for me to open my mind and learn more about hard, biological evidence.
My understanding of motivation has changed after this chapter. It is so easy to just know and accept that our brain has something to do with why we act and feel what we do, without really knowing what all it takes to produce such actions or feelings. Without our brain we would be nothing; we can’t see, speak, perceive, or do anything without the functions of our brain. It is so fascinating to see exactly when motivation and emotion come from directly.
Terms: hypothalamus, neurotransmitters, medial forebrain bundle, septa area, orbitalfrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, medial prefrontal cortex, left prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, right prefrontal cortex, dopamin, serotonin, norephinephrine, endorphin
Chapter three:
This chapter talked out how motivation is affected the brain and what parts of the brain were involved. The chapter mentioned three principals, those were specific brain structures, biochemical agents and day to day events that affect motivation. Many brain parts are involved in the production of motivation. These include the hypothalamus which regulates important biological functions which include eating, drinking, and mating. It also controls the pituatry gland. Another brain section involved is the medial forebrain bundle is refereed to as the pleasure center. There is the orbitofrontal cortex which helps people make choices between options, the amygdala which detects and responds to threatening or emotional events. This can trigger fear or anger. We also have the septo-hippocampal circuit which is involved in the actions of many limbic systems, the anterior cingulate cortex is involved in day to day mood and choice making, and the reticular formation which affects arousal and concerns. Finally we have the prefrontal cortex which receives incoming messages from our senses and activate automatic reactions. The chapter then went to talk about four important neurotransmitters, these are dopamine which is the pleasure drug, serotonin which influences mood and emotion, norepinephrine regulates arousal and endorphin which inhibits pain and anxiety and fear. There are also hormones in the body which underlie motivation, these included cortisol the stress hormone, testosterone which is used in sexual motivation and oxytocin the bonding hormone. Finally the chapter stated that we need context to understand motivation.
I was surprised that endorphin was included in the neurotransmitters since it is not one I have heard discussed in my other psychology classes.
Nothing was really very confusing to me, I have read a lot about the different brain systems and neurotransmitters a lot in my time in college.
I want to learn more about how these hormones and brain functions can affect motivation without the person having a say in it. I was also curious about when people say they are in a bad mood but they don't know why, is this a hormone motivation thing?
My understanding has changed greatly, i was coming from a viewpoint that motivation was all in your mind and you have to motivated by yourself or others internally or externally. I was not aware that hunger and thirst were part of motivation and that the simplest parts of motivation can have a biochemical basis and/or be related to a specific brain function.
I see many classmates talked about taking biopsychology in the past and that being helpful. I am also glad I took biopsychology before taking this class as chapter three focuses a lot brain structure and function. Having biopsychology as a foundation made reading this chapter a lot easier than it would have been without that beforehand knowledge. It would be a lot of information to take in without having any background in brain anatomy and function. It was nice to incorporate that prior knowledge with this chapter and expand upon it with different examples like the biological basis for hunger. I enjoyed learning about the approached-orientated structures and the avoidance-oriented structures of the brain and the associated emotion or motivational experience.
As far as what did I learn from reading this chapter, not much of anything new or groundbreaking. That is not to say that this chapter was not informative and a nice summary of what brain structures and neurotransmitters effect motivation and emotion. I was surprised by how important the hippocampus is in regulating or generating emotional given its relative small size at less than 1% of total brain volume. It was also interesting to learn the correlation between the behavioral activation system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) questionnaires and brain anatomy.
I was surprised that no word of caution was given in the sense that the information presented was an oversimplification of how the brain works and how specific structures and neurotransmitters effect emotion and behavior. One example of this would be the presentation of four neurotransmitters and using them to explain mood and emotion. While these four and most likely the most fundamental in these process I feel it is important to mention that there are several others. For example, acetylcholine and GABA among others have been found to play a role in mood.
It is nice to be presented with what we do know about the brain’s role in motivation and emotional it is safe to say that nothing in this chapter is the definitive answer on what certain structures or chemicals produce different emotions or behaviors.
The human brain is the most complex structure that we know of in the whole universe. We have only been seriously studying it for less than a few hundred years. If this chapter is a summary of what we think we know about the brain in regards to motivation and emotion, then there are volumes of books yet to be written on what we will learn in the future. If mood was as simply regulated as the way the book presents through dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and endorphin, I would imagine are current repertoire of antidepressants would be much more effective than they are the present time!
Terms: approached-orientated structures, avoidance-oriented structures, neurotransmitters, hippocampus, behavioral activation system (BAS), behavioral inhibition system (BIS), dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, endorphin
There are three principles that deal with brain-based motivational processes. The first principle states that different motivations are linked to specific brain structures. The second principle regards how the certain brain structures are stimulated. The answer lies in neurotransmitters and hormones. Daily events cause the neurotransmitters and hormones to be released in the body according to the third principle. A lot of the information we have regarding the specific brain sties that are connected to certain motivational states come from the fMRI. The hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle, and orbitofrontal cortex are approach-oriented structures. The amygdala and hippocampus are avoidance-oriented structures. The reticular formation is an arousal-associated structure, and the prefrontal cerebral cortex is connected to both approach and avoidance motivations. Dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and endorphin are the four neurotransmitter pathways that have to do with motivation. There are three main hormones related to motivation. They are cortisol, testosterone, and oxytocin. We do not always know the specific motivations for our behavior because motivation varies in how conscious or unconscious they are.
I was most surprised by how many areas of the brain are involved in motivation, as well as the many different hormones and neurotransmitters that participate as well. I was also surprised to learn about some of the biological links to personality as well, and how they related to motivation and emotion. I felt as if the information was pretty straight forward. There wasn’t anything that really tripped me up. I would like to learn more about how hormones affect motivation. After learning about the biological parts of motivation, my views regarding motivation have slightly altered. I never really thought about how much of an affect biology really had on my decisions. For instance, how extraverted or introverted a person is or why people with weight problems have so much trouble cutting back on what they eat.
Terms: motivation, neurotransmitter, hormone, approach-oriented structure, avoidance-oriented structure, arousal-associated structure, neurotransmitter pathway, emotion
Chapter Three is titled “The Motivated and Emotional Brain”. To briefly summarize the chapter, it is describing the different parts of the brain and how they are involved with daily life. There are certain brain structures linked to motivational and/or emotional reactions an individual may experience. The chapter goes into more depth describing what exactly each structure is capable of providing for an individual.
The information I found to be the most surprising was that when certain brain structures are stimulated that may increase or decrease specific motivational states. If one part of the hypothalamus is stimulated, it has the ability to increase hunger. Whereas, if a different part of the hypothalamus is stimulated, it may decrease hunger. These brain structures are not only there to trigger your immediate needs, such as food, water, shelter, etc. but, they also have an impact on your emotions, motivations, mood, etc. I found this to be surprising because you often hear of great leaders who used to be burn outs and totally unmotivated to succeed or push themselves to achieve great things. Then, something horrible may happen, such as, a car accident and they are severely injured. They may have broken bones, brain damage, who knows. But, maybe this is sometimes for the better. Whether their brain is literally being stimulated in a different way to become more motivated, or they are able to walk away from the accident, count their blessings and consider the accident a wakeup call.
The information that I found to be the most confusing was right/left brain information. I took BioPsychology and I had trouble understanding it then and I still do now.
The information that I want to learn more about is how the amygdala develops emotional associations. The book mentions that the amygdala allows us to learn to fear environmental dangers. Such responses include increased heart rate, muscular tension, behavioral freezing and “fear face” facial expressions. The amygdala acts as a stimulus to neighboring structures and causes them to react as well. This is interesting to me because I would like to learn more about how to potentially train your brain to not fear certain things while teaching it to fear other things. This could lead to more or less risk taking depending on how an individual decides to use the training (if it is even possible).
My understanding of motivation has changed now that I’ve read more in depth about how much brain structures influence certain behaviors. The four motivational pathways are dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and endorphin. All of these play a primary motivational role to generate feelings. I have learned of these in previous biology and psychology classes and through the reading, I was able to add to my preexisting knowledge.
TERMS: motivation, emotion, brain, structure, hypothalamus, stimulated, biology, psychology, amygdala, motivational pathways, dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, endorphin
This chapter talks a lot about how much the brain is the center for motivation and emotion. It first talks about the three principles that guide research on the motivated and emotional brain. First, specific brain structures generate specific motivation. For example, stimulating one part of the hypothalamus can create a feeling of hunger, and a different part of the hypothalamus can create a feeling of satiety. This surprised me a bit because the same part of the brain gives opposite motivational states. The other two principles included biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures, which was a little confusing to me, and then day to day events stir biochemical agents into action. The act of certain activities make other things happen, like dieting (not eating) especially triggers the hormone ghrelin making you feel more hungry.
The parts of the brain that are key structures in motivation and emotion include cerebral cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus, amygdala and reticular formation. To know which brain site is associated with which motivation and emotional states researchers can use an fMRI. Each section of the brain has a different impact on motivation and emotion and this chapter goes more in depth about each of those. The hypothalamus regulates eating, drinking and mating. It is also regulates the body’s internal environment like the heart rate and hormone secretion so we can adapt to the environment and deal with stressors. The medial forebrain bundle is similar to the pleasure center. The amygdala detects and responds to emotionally significant events such as anger, fear and defensive behavior. The reticular formation plays a role in arousal and awakening the brains motivational and emotional concerns like if you hear a noise while sleeping, you jump up to see what it was.
This chapter also talked quite a bit about neurotransmitters and the role they play in motivation and emotion. Dopamine is what makes us feel good feelings. Pleasure is the result of a dopamine rush. It happens in anticipation of something good happening and also when something good actually happens. Smelling cookies baking and eating warm chocolaty cookies both release dopamine. It also motivates the action, if we cant find the cookies, we will search. Addictive drugs initially hypersensitize our dopamine stimulation, but after greater use, it eventually becomes difficult for our body to produce dopamine without the drugs.
I learned a lot in this chapter about how motivation and emotion play a part in the brain. I enjoyed reading this chapter. It made sense to me. I would like to learn more about addictions and the effect of motivation and emotion on addiction.
Terms used: three principles, hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle, amygdala, hippocampus, dopamine, neurotransmitters
Chapter 3 starts out by providing three basic principles to help understand the brain and motivation. The first principle explains that different structures in the brain are responsible for specific motivations. The second principle states that there are biochemical agents that stimulate these different structures. The third and last principle deals with the environment; how our day to day events instigate the brain structures into action. Next, the reading discusses different structure of the brain that deal with motivation and emotion. To aid in stimulation of these structures neurotransmitters are introduced. These transmitters sent messages to the nervous system and then along to other parts of the brain. Neurotransmitters are responsible for the release of important chemicals such as dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and endorphin; dopamine being especially important in motivation and emotion. Dopamine helps in the production of positive feelings and triggers voluntary goal-directed approach reactions. Three hormones are discussed in the readings including cortisol, testosterone, and oxytocin. These hormones each play a different part in the motivation and emotion of an individual. Finally the Chapter concludes by stating two facts; when considering motivation and emotion the social context cannot be ignored and we are not always consciously aware of the origin of the motivation behind our behaviors.
Some of the chapter was review for me because of the Language Acquisition course I have taken. It was interesting to hear more about the hippocampus and its role in motivation and emotion. I was aware that is it responsible for laying down memories. However, I did not know that it produced an anxious motivational state when an unfamiliar situation occurs in place of what should have been a typical, expected scenario. I would like to learn more about the prefrontal cortex. Being one of the last structures of the brain to fully mature I would imagine that has some affects on motivation and emotion variation at different ages. It would be interesting to see if while the prefrontal cortex matures motivation intensity if increased or a different type of motivation is acquired. Understanding that motivation and emotion are highly directed by the brain structures gives insight to why some people are the way they are and why some people succeed and some don’t.
Terms: Motivation, emotion, neurotransmitters, dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, endorphin, corisol, testosterone, oxcytocin, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex
Chapter three was a difficult chapter for me to read about. I find the brain very interesting but for me I'm not going to remember everything the brain does. This was a big chapter with a lot of information. Although, it will be helpful in the future I feel like it was a lot of information thrown at me at once. I realize that this is a good chapter to have at the beginning to talk about motivation and emotion. This chapter really gives us the background information about what is really involved in motivation and why we react the way we do sometimes.
From this chapter I remember a lot of these terms from my Intro to Psych class. However, to summarize this chapter it went into much more detail about all the brain's functions and whats inside the brain. The information that was most surprising to me was all the information about dopamine and how much it truly affects the brain. I didn't know it's the reason for good feelings and a neurotransmitter. The most confusing information from this chapter to me was the section called, "We are not always consciously aware of the motivation basis of our behavior". The section says that sometimes we can not find the reason we are motivated because it's sometimes not clear. I really want to learn more about the wanting/liking information because to me that's really interesting. Sometimes I want to know why I like some things more than other and vice versa. The same with wanting. Sometimes I want to go workout and sometimes I don't. I realize that has a lot to do with motivation too, but for me I find that topic interesting. My thoughts about motivation have changed some since reading this chapter. I think now that I know some key information about the brain it gives me more of a background of how it works. Now, I know what the amygdala, hypothamalmus and orbitofrontal cortex (just to name a few) do in the brain and how they affect motivation.
Terms: motivation, dopamine, neurotransmitter, liking and wanting, amygdala, hypothamalus, orbitofrontal cortex
The brain is a complex puzzle perfectly fitting together to efficiently operate with the cognitive, intellectual, and motivational processes during our day to day life. We are not always aware of what is motivating us to act on certain situations with specific behaviors. The basis of what motivates us can also be credited to rewards and punishments from the past. With things we are familiar with the release of dopamine creates a motivation to again participate in the certain behavior. Scientists being able to analyze and study the brain were able to conclude that the hypothalamus and many connecting parts associate with motivation and emotion. Something I was not aware of and found very interesting was how the different sensitivity of the prefrontal cortex of the brain has effect on the personality differences. I had no idea that there were different sensitivity levels and this effect could affect personality development and the motivation and emotion of the individuals. The hormones in our body at times deal with the uncertain reason for motivation we have for things. I want to learn more about the three specific hormones mentioned in the book and how they are in relation to motivation. Our biological needs have underlying and not recognized motivations inside our brain. Not only does our environment affect motivation but our inter-workings of our brain do as well.
Something I found confusing was the specifics of how the different parts of the brain all interconnect and work off each other during our day to day life. The meaning of the parts seems so simple but very complex at the same time. The neurotransmitters are sending these messages to different parts of the brain and body allowing the messages to pass on and allow for the behavior to occur.
My understanding of motivation and emotion has changed because I have never really thought about the brain component of being motivated about certain situations and behaviors. It is more expanded on how not only is the environment affecting our motivation but our brain may have issued the initial motivation that we are not aware of.
Terms: hypothalamus, hormones in body, dopamine, prefrontal cortex, personality, motivation/emotion
In Chapter 3, we learn that although the brain is important for thinking ability, problem-solving, and similar intellectual and cognitive tasks, it is also very important regarding emotion and motivation. Different brain structures can trigger specific emotional and motivational states when stimulated, and when there is damage to a certain part of the brain- those same emotional/motivational states can be taken away. There are biochemical agents that affect specific brain structures as well: neurotransmitters and hormones, which stimulate receptor sites on the brain. Researchers can look at the brain by: surgeon’s view and fMRI, which detects changes in the blood oxygenation levels caused by activity in the brain. The cerebral cortex is associated with cognitive functions in the brain, but also relates to the motivational aspects concerning making plans or goal setting. The limbic system is the part of the brain which is closely associated with emotional and motivational functioning, and has six key structures: hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, septal area, ventral tegmental area, and the fibers that connect these structures. Stimulation leading to emotional states involving the prefrontal cortex is specific to the right or left lobes, indicating negative or positive feelings. Communication through neurotransmitters is via four pathways: dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and endorphin. Lastly, there are three hormones the chapter states are integral to motivation and emotion: cortisol (stress hormone), testosterone (sexual motivator), and oxytocin (bonding hormone). In conclusion, it seems that according to experiments, personal motives originate in the unconscious limbic structures as opposed to the conscious cerebral cortex.
I find it surprising that we really have no control over our emotions for the most part. All of the sections of our brains that control the various functions/actions/emotions of day-to-day life are in the driver’s seat. All this time, we thought we were making decisions for ourselves.
As far as confusing information, I just found it a little difficult to really grasp all of the terminology and the way some of the parts of the brain work. Sometimes it gets confusing to decipher which brain system does what because they overlap and one part aids another in doing primarily the same things. This same information is what I would like to learn more about, or rather get a better grasp on.
I think once anyone reads this chapter, they will have a better understanding of where motivation and emotion truly get their roots. The biological and physiological explanations made me have a better understanding of where emotions/motivations come from, and a start into the why we feel and act the way we do.
Terms: emotion, motivation, biochemical agents, neurotransmitters, hormones, cerebral cortex, limbic system, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, septal area, ventral tegmental area, dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, endorphin, prefrontal cortex
I am constantly surprised whenever I read about the process of our body and the way it works. For instance hormones, how do they know when to be released and how does our body control the amounts that are dispersed. No matter how much I read about it, I am amazed at what the human body can do. I thought it was interesting to read that volunteers injected with ghrelin ate excessively. I am a little confused about how brain structures generate specific motivation. It mentioned that there is a river-like cluster of nerve-fibers that communicate via a single neurotransmitter, what confuses me is how we tap into that to increase our own motivation without being in an experiment or having a physician stimulate it directly. I understand that neurotransmitters and hormones stimulate the receptor sites, but what happens if someone who has an appropriate amount of these messengers, still doesn’t have motivation? I thought it was interesting to read that the hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle and orbitofrontal cortex were approach-oriented structures in our brain whereas the amygdala and hippocampus were avoidance-oriented structures.
I have heard about dopamine multiple times throughout my college career, and in the book it says that a dopamine release triggers an emotional positivity. If our body is releasing hormones that make us happy simply from our own anticipation, then I wonder if there is a way to manipulate your body and your mind, giving you an endless supply of dopamine. I find the concept hard to grasp because although I am in school by choice, I have hardly no motivation to get up in the morning, regardless of the reward I will receive (degree) for applying myself. However, I do end up completing my assignments. Is that motivation, or is that the bare minimum? I thought motivation was having a pleasurable affect and an urge to accomplish goals. I am merely doing my homework because I have to. I want to know if there is a way for me to wake up motivated and excited to do any and all of my homework. I can summarize a lot of this information by saying that motivation stems from a positive, optimistic, healthy lifestyle. The environment we are surrounded in, including our social networks and the activities we are involved in are essential to our motivation and emotion.
I wish there were more studies throughout the text. It started to get a little dry, just going over the areas of the brain and their relation to motivation.
Terms: Ghrelin, motivation, hormones, neurotransmitters, avoidance-oriented, approach-oriented, dopamine, hypothalamus, goals
I love learning about the brain and why things function the way they do. My favorite part of Drugs and Behavior class was learning about the drug effects on neurotransmitters that regulated what the book calls motivational states. I also have a mild obsession with medical shows on the discovery channel, so the stuff about being wide awake during brain surgery was not new knowledge, but it still blows my mind.
I find it really interesting how much the hypothalamus does. It's been brought up in almost all of my psych classes and gotten a lot of attention, which makes sense seeing as it seems to be the center that ensures all basic needs are met. There was SO much going on in this chapter as far as technical definitions and functions go; science has really taken us a long way in figuring out how and why the brain works the way it does.
As far as what I would like to learn more about, I would like to know more about personality differences. I says that there are differences in sensitivities of the prefrontal lobs, but I wonder if these are genetically related differences, environmental differences, or (more likely) a combination of both.
Terms: motivational states, hypothalamus, neurotransmitter, prefrontal lobes
Chapter 3 was about the brain’s function in motivation and emotion. Firstly it explains three basic principles for motivation: 1. Specific motivations are generated by specific brain structures, 2. These specific brain structures are stimulated biochemically, 3. These biochemical agents are stimulated by day-to-day events.
There are four motivationally significant neurotransmitters pathways in the brain and these are dopamine, serotonin, endorphin and norepinephrine. This was a bit of a review from bio psych but I needed it. These pathways allow neurotransmitters to travel and act as messengers in the brain and carry information through the cortex.
I was surprised that so many parts of the brain are involved in controlling motivation. I had always assumed that a specific area of the brain was devoted to regulating motivation and emotion. It’s interesting to me how physiology influences psychological responses. I was also interested in brain responses’ involvement in certain surgeries. I’ve known that some surgeries require the patient to be conscious, but I never knew why or bothered to find out.
The many areas of the brain covered in the chapter confused me. After taking bio psych I thought I had a good grasp on the general structure of the brain, but clearly I am lacking. Some terms I’m not even sure I’ve heard before such as septo-hippocampal circuit, nucleus accumbens, medial frontal cortex etc. The reading helped to explain the areas I wasn’t Familiar with but I’m still a little grey on them.
I am very interested in how hormones and neurotransmitters in the brain affect behavior and I would like to read more about this. It seems that once you can pinpoint certain chemical reactions and the responses they evoke that the possibilities would be limitless.
My understanding of motivation has changed in that before this chapter I perceived motivation as a mostly controllable entity. I never realized that things like hunger were so vitally dependent on chemicals. I didn’t know that biochemical agents played such a large effect on motivation.
Chapter 3 begins by explaining how important the brain is on motivating our behavior and expression our emotions. It explains this looking at different structures of the brain which are Approach-Oriented, Avoidance-Oriented, and Arousal-Oriented structures. It goes on to explain brain-generated approach v. avoidance structures such as the hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle, orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, septo-hippocampal circuit, anterior cingulate cortex, and the reticular formation and the function of each one. It also explains the Prefrontal Cortex and it's affects on motivation and emotion as well as how the BIS and BAS systems work with different people and the right and left side of the prefrontal cortex. Next, the neurotransmitters functions are explained but the main focus is Dopamine and it's release, incentives, release, and reward. It explains the functions of the three hormones of the body which are Cortisol, Testosterone, and Oxytocin.
The most surprising information I read was how important pleasure and Dopamine levels are to our motivation and goal setting emotions. I thought it was surprising that it's greatest release is when rewarding events occur unpredictably.
The most confusing thing to me was determining if I fall under the Behavioral Activation System or the Behavioral Inhibition System because I felt as though I matched up pretty well with both.
I would like to learn more about why pleasure is so important to us through Dopamine and how capable we are of controlling different wanted rewards and pleasures, and what happens in the brain when we try to fight against those wants of pleasure.
My understanding of how the brain works really has not changed since I have been previously aware of these different structures and functions of the brain on motivation and emotion, although it has made me more aware again on why and how I react to certain things and what is going on in my brain when I do causing certain outcomes I may not have really thought about beforehand. Overall, Chapter 3 was somewhat a review from previous psychology classes I have taken, but still remains highly interesting to me.
This chapter talks about how the brain is also very important for motivation and emotion. Individuals have different triggers in the brain that control the motivational and emotional aspects of our everyday lives. The chapter looks at the three principles which are: 1) Specific Brain Structures Generate Specific Motivations; 2) Biochemical Agents Stimulate Specific Brain Structures; 3) Day-to-Day Events Stir Biochemical Agents into Action. Chapter 3 also discusses Neurotransmitters in the brain, and also hormones in the body, such as Cortisol, Testosterone and Oxytocin.
I found that when the chapter talked about "Looking Inside The Brain" as the most confusing part of this chapter because there is so much information about the brain. The brain does so much that it is hard to get a total grasp on everything that it can do. There are so many different parts of the brain that each control a totally different part of our body, but they are still all connected in some odd way.
The thing i found most surprising is the fact that part of the "want" to pursue one course of action over another is regulated by information provided by dopamine output from the ventral tegmental area (VTA). The VTA releases dopamine into other brain sites and the pattern of release is predictable in proportion to which the person expects and actually receives reward from a particular course of action.
I would like to learn more about dopamine and how addictive drugs affect the normal dopamine release process. The chapter says that addictive drugs sensitize the brain structures, such as the nucleus accumbens, to dopamine stimulation to a greater degree than do naturally occurring rewards, such as good food. I want to know why these addictive drugs cause dopamine-induced neural hypersensitization, and why this can last for years when it does occur.
I did not know that motivation was linked to the brain as much as it actually is. I thought that motivation and emotion were both mainly triggered by external and internal events in our lives and not as much through brain function.
Terms: Neurotransmitters, Cortisol, Testosterone, Oxytocin, Dopamine, VTA.
This chapter reminded me again of how much our brains really do. It was amazing to read about how complicated emotions really are. In order to create emotions, our brain and body work together. Being happy is a lot more complex than simply wearing a smile. Even though they seem very simple, emotions are actually a very complicated thing.
The most surprising information in this chapter was probably reading about all the tests. I found the test during which a tiny camera was inserted into the brain and different areas were stimulated. I think it is amazing that technology has come so far that we are able to watch someone respond to a stimulus and know exactly what that stimulus was.
The most confusing part of this chapter for me was all the details included in how all the chemicals and different parts of the brain work together to create emotions. I feel like I have a very basic understanding of how the brain is involved in emotions but am still missing a few links.
I would like to learn more about the hormones and chemicals involved in emotion. It sounds very interesting and hopefully, I will be able to understand the “how” of the brain and emotion better after we discuss it in class.
I feel like after reading this chapter I am just beginning to understand just how complicated emotion is. Reading how much the brain is involved in emotion makes me a little nervous about how complicated motivation is, but it also makes me excited to learn all about it.
Chapter 3, The Motivated and Emotional Brain, basically talked about the different parts of the brain and how they relate to or influence motivation and emotion. There are three principles to understand brain-based motivational processes: specific brain structures that generate specific motivations, biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures, and day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action. In the principle specific brain structures that generate specific motivations, it included the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle, orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, septo-hippocampal circuit, anterior cingulate cortex, reticular formation, and prefrontal cortex and affect. I'll summarize a few of them.
The cerebral cortex is in charge of cognitive functions like thinking. planning, and remembering. It also involves motivation functions like setting goals and valuing activity. The hypothalamus is in charge of biological functions like hunger, thirst, and sex. In the endocrine system the hypothalamus controls the pituitary gland, which secretes hormones of the "fight or flight" response. In the autonomic nervous system, it influences the sympathetic system and the parasympathetic system. If the hypothalamus is damaged, then one's motivational states are damaged. The amygdala deals with emotions involved in self-preservation like fear, anger, and anxiety. Damaged to the amygdala will cause a lack of emotional response. The amygdala also helps one perceive others emotions, facial expressions,our own moods, especially negative emotions, processes emotional information, and learn new emotional associations.
The second process, biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures include neurotransmitters and hormones. The neurotransmitters have a pathway that involve dopamine, good feelings associated with reward, serotonin influences mood and emotion, norepinephrine regulates arousal and alertness, and endorphines, inhibits pain, anxiety, and fear by generating good feelings to counter negative feelings. The hormones involved are the cortisol, testosterone, and oxytocin. Cortisol is the stress hormone and is activated when one faces social evaluating threats. Testosterone is associated with sexual motivation. Oxytocin is the bonding hormone which is effective when people search for counsel and confide in friends during stressful times.
In the day to day events stir biochemical agents into action principle, motivation cannot be separated from the social context in which it is embedded. Motivation experience by students, athletes, children, and workers are mingled with the social context provided by teachers, coaches, parents, and bosses. We are not always consciously aware of the motivational basis of our behavior. Researchers have found that some motives originate in the unconscious limbic structures that the conscious cerebral cortex. People who are in a good mood are more likely to help someone than if they are in a neutral mood. Or if one feels hungry it is because of low leptin in the bloodstream.
I was most surprised that there were so many different areas in the brain that contributed to motivation and emotion. I only summarized three of the nine specific areas in the brain that the chapter talked about. Not only were there many different areas in the brain, but the different types of motivation and emotion. The thing that confused me most was the septo-hippocampal circuit. I took biopsychology last semester, but I have never heard of this or some of the areas under the septo-hippocampal circuit like: septal area, nucleus accumbens, cingulate gyrus, or fornix. I would like to know where these areas are in the brain and more detailed about their functions. I also would like to learn more about the amygdala. Just from the information in the book, I find the function of the amygdala fascinating. I think I like this area because it dealt more with the emotion area. I learned way more about the biological/physiological aspect of motivation. Before I knew we ate and drank because we needed it to survive, but now I understand more in depth why, what section of the brain responsible for the biological functions (hypothalamus), and the neurotransmitters and hormones (ghrelin, testoterone, oxytocin) involved.
TERMS: cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, amygdala, neurotransmitters, dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, endorphin, hormones, cortisol, testosterone, oxytocin, septo-hippocampal circuit
Chapter 3
First off I thought this chapter was jammed packed with a lot of little facts about certain areas of the brain. I thought the whole concept that we’ve mapped the brain this closely into finding out which areas are associated with what functions is fascinating. I knew we knew certain aspects of the brain and which regions were associated with some things but I had no idea we could tell which structures went with what emotions.
The structure that was most interesting to me was the hypothalamus. This is the structure that regulates the biological functions of eating, drinking, and mating. It is also known as an approach-oriented structure in the brain-generated approach versus avoidance because it is associated with pleasure and we seek it or want more of these things. I found it interesting that sex was mapped out in the same structure as eating because I remember reading an article on a study about a group whose brain chemicals were monitored while they were French kissing and then while they were eating chocolate and the study showed that the same chemicals were released. The study then went on to say that chocolate produced more of this certain chemical but I found it neat that I read that awhile ago and now they are finding that they originate from the same place all along.
On the flip side of the brain-generated approach versus avoidance I also found the amygdala interesting. This is the structure that responds to threatening and emotionally significant events. This little structure once stimulated can increase your heart rate and blood pressure, trigger the stress hormone release, increase respiration, and can even trigger your defensive behavior such as freezing and pain suppression. I always knew about the fight or flight response and this structure sounds like the root of it.
The septo-hippocampal circuit was fascinating as well. This circuit is a limbic circuit and includes cerebral cortex interconnections. This means not only are areas of the brain being triggered and tied together but it is doing it in a way that involves our thinking whether that be a memory or us actually trying to motivate ourselves. This is what I think is the most useful.
Terms: Brain-generated approach versus avoidance, hypothalamus, amygdala, septo-hippocampal circuit
Chapter 3 Reading blog
Chapter three was a very interesting chapter. In this chapter motivation and emotion are looked at from a physiological standpoint.Motivation and emotion come from the brain. The motivation of hunger was looked at in more detail, specifically how the hypothalamus can increase hunger in an individual. Another physiological aspect that was looked at is that of hormones, and how they are responsible as the "communicating messengers of the endocrine system." The other aspect that was looked at is how the brain is stimulated by environmental events, which can promote the body to act on that stimulus. The example given in the book was how the hormone ghrelin is used by the brain to promote hunger.
There are specific areas of the brain that are related to motivation and emotion. The limbic system which includes the hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, septal area, ventral tegmental area, and the fibers that connect these structures are related to motivation and emotion. The cerebral cortex is also related to motivation and emotion. The fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) is how these areas are able to be measured and different emotions can be determined.
Chapter three goes into further detail of what specific brain structures are resposible for or associated with certain emotions or motivation. One of the structures discussed is the hypothalamus. While quite small in comparison to the brain, this structure has many responsibilities. The hypothalamus is responsible for the pituitary gland, the autonomic nervous system, and keeping the body at homeostasis. Another interesting brain structure discussed was the prefrontal cortex. This structure is where people's conscious goals, basic personalities, and how they react to negative or positive emotions are.
Neurotransmitters were discussed as well. These are chemical messengers that allow neurons to communicate with eachother.One of the neurotransmitter pathways discussed in more detail is the dopamine pathway. The release of dopamine generates good feelings and goal directed approach behavior.
Hormones are another factor affecting motivation and emotion. The three key hormones that are associated with motivation, emotion, and behavior are cortisol, testosterone, and oxytocin.
Another crucial point that chapter three touched on is how many motives originate in the unconscious limbic structures. This would mean that at times we may be motivated to do something but not consciously realize the real reason why we are motivated to do it.
The point that I found to be quite surprising is how we are not always aware consciously of the motivational basis of our behavior.It makes me wonder what it is that I am motivated for and don't realize the reason for that motivation.
One of the things that I would like to learn more about is the types of disorders and clinical symptoms that can occur when the motivational and emotional areas of the brain are damaged.
The most confusing part of the chapter is how the fMRI is actually able to measure levels of emotion and motivation. It amazes me what people have been able to invent.
My understanding of motivation has changed dramatically since I read this chapter. Every day of class and especially with this reading I am seeing a little glimpse in just how complicated motivation really is.
Terms: hypothalamus, endocrine system, environmental events, ghrelin, limbic system, cerebral cortex,fMRI, autonomic nervous system, pituitary gland, neurotransmitters, dopomine, cortisol, testosterone, cortisol
Chapter three discussed the biological factors behind motivation and emotion. This section looked at different parts of the brain and described what part each of them play, and how their function relates to motivation and emotion. A lot of this information was familiar to me because I took biopsychology, which was all about the brain and each parts function. It is interesting to take a look at the same information, but apply it more to motivation and emotion.
One thing that I found interesting or surprising was the three principles. The first principle was “specific brain structures generate specific motivations”. This means that a certain part of the brain is responsible for triggering a certain engagement in a behavior such as the hypothalamus for hunger would cause someone to eat. The second is “biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures”. This occurs when a neurotransmitter or chemical message is released to inform the body about something that it needs to do. The last is “day to day events stir biochemical agents into action”. This is looking at simple or everyday tasks that cause motivation or emotions to certain things, such as hunger or sleep deprivation.
The information that is most confusing is the neurotransmitters. This is what I found to be the hardest when I took biopsych. There are so many different neurotransmitters, and it is so confusing to me how they are activated and everything with them. It is also just hard for me to understand how they work, I can know factually how they work, but to actually understand it is beyond comprehension (which I am sure it is not just me personally who doesn’t understand). I would like to learn more about neurotransmitters just due to the fact that they confuse me, so it would be something that is more challenging to research.
I think my understanding or motivation and emotion has changed, because most of the time if someone is eating I just associate it with them being hungry, but it goes deeper than this. The individual’s brain is sending messages to them saying they are hungry, and there is an interworking that we easily neglect to recognize. This helped me to look even deeper to the brain to understand motivation and emotion. This turns a seemingly simple task into something complex, which is very interesting to me.
Terms: Hypothalamus,neurotransmitter, motivation, emotion, chemical messenger, 3 principles
Chapter 3 was a quick review of what I've learned in the past (Biopsych). The main goal of this chapter was to inform the reader about the main functions of the brain and how it plays a major role in motivation and emotion. As expressed in this chapter, the brain performs many different processes which control behavior either directly or indirectly. Many different areas of the brain control different behaviors and emotions. These different areas of the brain get activated by different environmental stimuli. After these are activated, they either cause the release of neurotransmitters, hormones, or both. Dopamine is credited as being one of the biggest players in the neurotransmitter world. It not only rewards positive behavior but it is actually released before the actual "reward" is received to influence a certain behavior, or to MOTIVATE. Hormones and neurotransmitters do not actually cause a certain behavior, they only influence a behavior. We consciously make the decision to perform a certain behavior, however, the presence of various hormones or neurotransmitters will make it more likely or less likely that we will perform that behavior.
The fact that dopamine may be released in higher quantities before the actual reward takes place and that dopamine is released in much higher amounts when rewards exceed original expectations was the most interesting thing I read about in this chapter.
Different areas and locations of specific brain parts actually ended up being the most confusing to me. Even though I have taken a class that focused on this material it is true to this day difficult for me to remember where everything is located within the brain. Since this was the most confusing, it is actually what I would like to learn more about so I can gain a better understanding of the brain and its different parts/functions.
Before reading this chapter, my understanding of motivation and emotion seemed to be limited to strictly a conscious act. I thought that "we" motivate ourselves mentally, which I guess we ultimately do decide what we're going to do. I just had no idea how much our environment influences what we tend to do in the end. I also now understand that different stimulus' in our environment will trigger different responses in the brain which will in turn release different chemicals in the brain. These chemicals being released can also then trigger the additional release of different hormones throughout the body. I think its safe to say that this can greatly influence what behavior ends up taking place.
This chapter discussed the brain not only in a biological way, but in terms of motivation and emotion. The brain "thinks" but it is the center for motivation and emotion - it cares about the task at hand and whether or not you want to be doing that task. This chapter really dissected the brain into its different parts. For example, approach oriented structures include the hypothalamus,medial forebrain bundle,and orbitofrontal cortex. Avoidance oriented structures were the amygdala and the hippocampus. These structures make us want to avoid a situation because of danger or previous experience. The prefrontal cerebral cortex is associated with both approach and avoidance motivation, this is because of its split on either side of one's forehead. The right side associated with negative motivation and the right side with positive motivation. Lastly, the reticular formation is the arousal structure of the brain. The arouses the brain and body while awakening motivation and emotion concerns. Within the brain there are different ways to transmit a message: neurotransmitters and hormones. Neurotransmitters are electric messengers that are released from the terminal bulb of one neuron into the synapse and then into the next neuron. There are 4 motivational pathways a neurotransmitter can travel 1) dopamine 2) serotonin 3) norepinephrin 4) endorphin. The other way to transmit a message across the brain is by hormones or the endocrine system. Three main hormones are associated with the brain and endocrine system 1) cortisol 2) testosterone 3) oxytocin. This chapter really showed the brain in light of motivation instead of specific biological process.
What I found most surprising was "liking and wanting." This idea described liking as a hedonic pleasure where motivational behavior by acting as information when comparing choices. Wanting was described when a partial award happens and people do not always do what they like. They can occur separately but a full reward includes both wanting and liking. For me this was an interesting way to describe these terms. It makes sense to me for a reward to be as full as possible that you must like the experiences and want them as well but I just always assumed they went together anyways.
The information most confusing to me in this chapter was the multiple roles of dopamine according to motivation and emotion standards. I understand how dopamine works biologically and generally in motivational terms: its generates good feelings. What was confusing me was the topic of dopamine release and incentives as well as reward. With an incentive, there is a rush of dopamine because the memory, sense, etc is associated with a pleasurable feeling pushing us to go and approach it. Then the actual reward is fulfilling that memory or sense, it releases again or continues releasing? I think I am understanding this correctly, but am not sure.
I would be interested in learning more about neurotransmitters and how the different biological processes correlate with the physiological processes. I thinks its interesting to attach a real-life example to a biological process. For example, what biological process must occur to see serotonin released and how does that influence a person's mood or being at that time. Each chemical agent is different and to be able to see multiple sides of it is so intriguing to me.
My understanding of motivation and emotion has changed since seeing the two different sides - biological and physiological. I don't think I realized how uncontrolled our emotions are. While your orbitofrontal cortex is the part of your brain that makes choices, its based off prior experiences of hormone and neurotransmitter release. Our biological needs for our bodies get in the way of everything else it seems like. So then our bodies are motivated to make unconscious decisions.
TERMS: hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle, orbitofrontal cortex, approach oriented, avoidance oriented, amygdala, hippocampus, prefrontal cerebral cortex, reticular formation, neurotransmitters, hormones, dopamine, synapse, endocrine system, liking and wanting, serotonin
Chapter three went into detail about the structures of the brain that affect motivation and emotion. Some of the structures discussed include: the hypothalamus, which is the center for motivations for hunger, thirst, and sex; the medial forebrain bundle which is defined as the "pleasure center"; the orbitofrontal cortex that compares incentive value of certain objects or events; the amydala that detects and responds to threatening and emotionally significant events; and a few other important structures. The chapter also highlighted important neurotransmitters such as dopamine and its relation to incentives, reward, and motivated action.
Information that I found surprising came from reading about dopamine. Although I already knew that dopamine was responsible for generating good feelings I did not stop to think of the many ways it affects motivation. In the section describing dopamine release and incentives the book states that you may actually experience more pleasure thinking about engaging in sexual activity or eating cookies than actually partaking in either act. Another surprising affect of dopamine was what I read about motivated action. I had never associated the good feelings of dopamine with motivating a behavior, or more so, a goal-directed behavior. I learned that once dopamine release has initiated the goal-directed behavior it is likely to increase in vigor until the goal is reached.
As far as what was confusing to me about the information, I would have to say that simply keeping all of the brain structures separate may take some time. I will need to study them more in depth to fully understand the functions of each of them. I was very surprised at just how many things can play a role in something as "simple" as motivation. Before starting this class, motivation seemed like such a simple, easy concept. But now my view has changed. There are so many factors that play into motivation and emotion that one does not even think about or realize in daily life. All of these structures are working together to meet our needs, goals, and whatever else may come our way on a day to day basis.
I'm really looking forward to getting more into the biology behind motivation as well as expanding on the role of addictions. Because my area of interest lies in health I think this will be very beneficial to learn more about.
Terms: hypothalamus, medial forebrain bundle, orbitofrontal cortex, amydala, neurotransmitters, dopamine, dopamine release and incentives, dopammine release and reward, motivated action, goal-directed approach behavior
In summary, the chapter goes through the different portions of the brain that stimulate pleasure and aversion. It also discusses hormones and the neurotransmitters that send emotional signals through the brain. By my understanding, it seems that neurotransmitters are responsible for transmitting chemicals that may lead one to feel a specific emotional and motivate them to a specific action. However, for the most part, chemical or hormone secretion in the bloodstream and by/throughout the brain is part of what has the greatest effect on motivation. The chapter individually discussed all of the sections of the brain that are believed to play a role in motivation and emotion. It also talks in detail about dopamine and the effect it has and the role it plays in incentive, rewards, liking, wanting, addictions, and motivation. It also discussed in detail the psychological roles that each physiological part of the brain plays in motivation. This section does discuss both motivation and emotion; however the primary focus seems to be on motivation. Basically, motivation is controlled by the brain and the chemicals and hormones in, secreted by, and controlled/generated through the brain.
I found the three principles and chemical messengers to be the most confusing part of the chapter. I was able to follow what the parts of the brain controlled in terms of the action, but when it comes to the actual hormone, chemical, and neurotransmitter messages, I became very confused. I understand the difference between pleasurable and avoidant or aversive behaviors, but matching the structure with the idea of whether it had a positive or negative effect and which hormones it secreted, THAT’S CONFUSING! It’s difficult to keep track of what controls what feeling or motivation or aspect of motivation. I even found matching these ideas difficult to grasp the second time around. I understand that the “specific brain structures generate specific motivations” principle is this idea that parts of the brain can increase or decrease specific motivations via neurotransmitter pathways, but I am blow away by how this works exactly. I think that the “biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures” principle is this idea that hormones that a structure of the brain generates (principle 1) like ghrelin can stimulate hunger. That is the hormone itself is the biochemical agent that works to convince or motivate a part of the brain to stimulate hunger. The final principle “day-to-day event stir biochemical agents into action” is perhaps the most confusing part to me. I think that I may have gotten a decent grasp on these principles; however, I am still confused. I think this principle confused me most as it appeared to be something that was more lab related. I am still having a hard time relating it to real life, even with the dieting example. Perhaps I am over thinking it, but the three principles at the start of the chapter proved to be the most confusing to me!
I was most surprised by the extremely long section about all of the different parts of the brain and the individual roles that they play in motivation. It was interesting to see how many different parts of the brain effected motivation and the different aspect of motivation. I had no idea that so many parts played a role in something that I believed to be so simple. I figured that perhaps one or two sections worked with motivation I had no idea that as many parts of the brain as 13 structures contributed. I was originally surprised by the chapter’s opener about hunger. I like how they used ghrelin and leptin to help convey how hormones effect motivation in terms of hunger. I was surprised that something simple could be so easily related to a topic that seems to cover so many actions and so many structures in the brain.
It’s interesting that a bend in the placement of a rod in a rat’s brain helped lead to discoveries in motivation and pleasure seeking. I would like to learn more about the rat and the connections between the miss placement and repetition of actions. I was also interested in how the lesion in the rat’s amygdala led to the absence of fear. I think it’s extremely interested how mistakes or intentional harming can help make such big discoveries. I am interested in learning more about how rats react when various parts of their brains are damaged. (sounds morbid and creepy, but I think it’s cool).
My understanding of motivation has changed now that I know about the physiological side of motivation. I HAD NO IDEA IT HAD SUCH AN IMPACT! In all honesty, I’m even more impressed by motivation. I had no idea it spread so vastly throughout the brain. I guess I assumed it was simpler and that-it just kind of happened because of our emotions. I think it’s cool that it is not necessarily dictated by emotions or feelings, but also by chemicals and hormones. Motivation is something in which the brain deserves more control than I ever gave it credit (prior to reading this chapter). My understanding in terms of biology and physiology has changed immensely!
Terms: ghrelin, Leptin, dopamine, neurotransmitters, motivation, emotion, physiology, amygdala, pleasure seeking, aversion, hormones, psychological, chemical messengers, secrete, avoidant, Three principles-specific brain structures generate specific motivations, biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures, day-to-day event stir biochemical agent into action.
The chapter started out explaining the three principles of research of the brain. The first, Specific brain structures generate specific motivations. Each motivation is formed from a different part of the brain. Second, Biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures. This explains how hormones and neurotransmitters communicate with the brain and motivation. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers in the brain’s central nervous system. Lastly, Day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action. Each hormone causes a motive, an internal disposition to approach positives and avoid negatives one, from the brain to act upon.
Each part of the brain is broken down to assist with specific motives. The hypothalamus regulates motives for thirst, hunger, sex, and satiety. The medial forebrain bundle takes care of the “pleasure center.” Making choices between options is run by the orbitofrontal cortex. The amygdala detects and responds to threatening situations, while the septo-hippocampal circuit manages the emotion linked with both anticipated pleasure and anxiety. Anterior cingulate cortex is involved in the control of everyday mood and making choices. The awakening of the brain’s motivational and emotional matters is guided by the reticular formation.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that releases good feelings. This assists with positive feelings, as well as, goal directed approach responses. Liking and wanting are also discussed in the chapter. Liking is a motivational state that happens after receiving the reward. Wanting is a motivational state that happens before receiving the reward.
I was most surprised to learn about how many different parts to the brain contributed in the motivational and emotional aspects. I feel that each part has a very important role and maybe some disorders, like Bi-polar, could be looked at more with the emotional parts of the brain. There could be more to know about curing and helping with better medicines.
I found the part about liking and wanting to be a bit confusing. I find it odd to be able to want something without liking it. I would like to learn more about this thought. However, I do feel that I understand more about where motivation comes from now.
Terms used: Motives, liking, wanting,
Chapter 3 discussed how the various parts of the brain affects motivation and emotions. The book pointed out that there are three principles that determine how a brain structure works. The first principle is that specific parts of the brain, like the hypothalamus or the cerebral cortex, are affected when they are stimulated and cause certain reactions in a person. The second principle deals with the stimulations of neurotransmitters and hormones that have an affect on the brain. Those neurotransmitters and hormones, like dopamine and serotonin, send messages throughout the body that will either make a person happy (if there is a release of dopamine) or tired (if there is a release of serotonin). The third principle is how day-to-day incidents affect one’s emotions as well.
I found the information from the reading to be very informative, however, there was a lot of information to take in. The various parts of the brain are similar in many ways, but yet all slightly different. Therefore, I feel like the most difficult part about the reading for me will be to remember what each part did. The information I would like to learn more about is what triggers all these emotions to take place? Can someone choose to override the messages being sent through the brain to prevent certain motivation and emotions from happening? Why does the brain do what it does and how does it go about it? I also wonder what happens to a person who may lack or have an excess of certain chemicals or hormones in their brain. Do they have the capability of preventing certain things, whether they be emotions or motivations, from happening? Do they always need an outside source to provide them to find a balance?
Words Used: hypothalamus, cerebral cortex, neurotransmitters, hormones, dopamine, serotonin, motivations, emotion
The chapter began with an example of how physiological processes (release of ghrelin or leptin) can motivate behavior (feeling hungry or sated). Three principles were then stated pertaining to these physiological processes: 1) specific brain structures generate specific motivation; 2) biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures; and 3) day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action.
This was followed by a discussion of some of the structures of the brain and their involvement in motivation and emotion. These structures include:
The hypothalmus regulates the body's internal environment (temperature, need for water or food), and controls both the pituitary gland (which regulates the endocrine system) and the autonomic nervous system (divided into the excitatory sympathetic system and the inhibitory parasympathetic system).
The medial forebrain bundle is a 'pleasure center' in the brain, producing positive reinforcement.
The orbitofrontal cortex helps to make choices between options.
The amygdala detects and responds to threatening or emotionally significant events, and also helps us to identify and understand the emotional states of others. The amygdala has more connections going out (to other brain structures) than coming in, which is why emotions often overwhelm rational thought.
The septo-hippocampal circuit forecasts the emotions associated with upcoming events (anticipated pleasure/anxiety). The hippocampus compares sensory information with 'expected' events, and activates either an "everything is okay" mode or an "everything is not okay" mode.
The prefrontal cortex plays a role in response-outcome based behavior, houses conscious goals, and generates positive/approach (left hemisphere) or negative/avoid (right hemisphere) emotions.
Some of the neurotransmitters and their actions were discussed. Emphasis was placed on Dopamine, which generates good feelings (based on anticipation of reward).
The hormones cortisol (stress arousal), testosterone (sexual motivation, competition) and oxytocin ('tend and befriend' response) were discussed.
Two final general points were made: 1) motivation cannot be separated from its social context; and 2) we are not always consciously aware of the motivational basis for our behavior.
I thought it was interesting that the right and left hemispheres of the prefrontal cortex attune to negative (right) and positive (left) emotions, and how people naturally are more sensitive on one side or the other. (Kind of a predisposition to certain affective disorders, or to just having a 'sunny' disposition.)
The terminology for structures of the brain is confusing to me. As this is information I will need for other classes (also), this would be something I would want to learn more about.
My understanding has changed in that am more aware of the physiological processes as 'motivators', rather than simply bodily functions that occur in the background.
Terms: ghrelin, leptin, hypothalmus, amygdala, septo-hippocampal circuit, hippocampus, neurotransmitters, dopamine, hormones.
Chapter 3 talked about different structures in the brain associated with motivation and emotion. It showed where the structures are located in the brain and how hormones and neurotransmitters affect our bodies. It explained the responsibilities of the different structures and the processes associated with them. It also talked a little bit about depression, addictions, and electrical stimulations and how that affects the brain.
I was most surprised by the discovery of oxytocin, the bonding hormone. I had never thought about a bonding hormone but was pleasantly surprised that one exists. I tend to talk to friends a lot when I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed, and oxytocin explains why I feel better afterwards and why I want to talk to them to begin with. I am interested in neurotransmitters and hormones and how they affect the body. In general, I am interested in the processes that go on in our bodies that we are not consciously aware of.
I was confused by the descriptions of the structures of the brain. I thought the information could have been simplified to make it easier to understand. After reading for awhile, I could not keep the information straight. Table 3.1 helped me organize the different brain structures and their functions. I want to learn more about the application of these processes to real life. In addition, I want to become more aware of motivations around me and be able to recognize changes in motivation.
Now that I have learned more about the functions controlling motivation, I am more intrigued by the idea of it. Before, I had thought of motivation as more of a cognitive process. After reading the chapter, I am more aware of the bodily processes that go on. Changing your motivation is not simply a matter of changing your thinking or wishing you could be more motivated. Motivation now seems like it can be more easily changed and I am excited to experiment with altering my motivations and figuring out what motivates me in different situations.
Key Terms: motivation, emotion, oxytocin, neurotransmitters, hormones
The third chapter talks a lot about the importance of the brain and its many processes and functions. There are three principals involved in the understanding of motivational processes which are specific brain structures generate specific motivations, biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures, and day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action. This chapter takes a look inside the brain to further investigate the brains activities during emotional and behavioral states. This is commonly done through MRI’s but more advanced technology is being produced that allows a doctor to insert a tiny camera through the patient’s nose or ear to see an image of the brain. I found this chapter to be really interesting because I took a biopsychology class last semester and know how the brain functions. I find it quite fascinating. I like that I am able to combine my knowledge from my biopsychology class with this chapter.
The whole chapter discusses the brain and its connection to motivation and emotion. The structures of the brain related to motivation and emotion are discussed. These structures include the hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, septal area, and ventral tegmental area. I find it interesting how doctors are able to see which structures control which emotions by using fMRI'S(functional magnetic resonance imaging)This advanced technology makes it possible for doctors to monitor brain activity.
Chemical processes also take place when the brain experiences different emotions. Neurotransmitters are used as a chemical messenger to relay information from the brain to the central nervous system. There are four neurotransmitter pathways that help neurons to communicate, dopamine which allows an individual to experience positive feelings which motivates people to seek rewards and reinforcement through the dopamine release and reward system. One of the few ways dopamine works as an incentive for positive behavior. Serotonin which is influential to a person’s mood and emotions, Norepinephrine for alertness and arousal and endorphins which make people feel good and happy. Dopamine is a huge factor in determining what and how people are motivated.
terms: Dopamine,Norepinephrine,hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, septal area, and ventral tegmental area
brain structures generate specific motivations, biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures, and day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action
The third chapter talks a lot about the importance of the brain and its many processes and functions. There are three principals involved in the understanding of motivational processes which are specific brain structures generate specific motivations, biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures, and day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action. This chapter takes a look inside the brain to further investigate the brains activities during emotional and behavioral states. This is commonly done through MRI’s but more advanced technology is being produced that allows a doctor to insert a tiny camera through the patient’s nose or ear to see an image of the brain. I found this chapter to be really interesting because I took a biopsychology class last semester and know how the brain functions. I find it quite fascinating. I like that I am able to combine my knowledge from my biopsychology class with this chapter.
The whole chapter discusses the brain and its connection to motivation and emotion. The structures of the brain related to motivation and emotion are discussed. These structures include the hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, septal area, and ventral tegmental area. I find it interesting how doctors are able to see which structures control which emotions by using fMRI'S(functional magnetic resonance imaging)This advanced technology makes it possible for doctors to monitor brain activity.
Chemical processes also take place when the brain experiences different emotions. Neurotransmitters are used as a chemical messenger to relay information from the brain to the central nervous system. There are four neurotransmitter pathways that help neurons to communicate, dopamine which allows an individual to experience positive feelings which motivates people to seek rewards and reinforcement through the dopamine release and reward system. One of the few ways dopamine works as an incentive for positive behavior. Serotonin which is influential to a person’s mood and emotions, Norepinephrine for alertness and arousal and endorphins which make people feel good and happy. Dopamine is a huge factor in determining what and how people are motivated.
terms: Dopamine,Norepinephrine,hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, septal area, and ventral tegmental area
brain structures generate specific motivations, biochemical agents stimulate specific brain structures, and day-to-day events stir biochemical agents into action