Browsing by Subject "Motivation"
Now showing items 1-20 of 28
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A New Experimental and Conceptual Approach to Understanding the Ventral Tegmental Area and Its Regulation of Motivated Behaviors
(2021)Motivated behaviors are essential for the survival and maintenance of life. The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is a midbrain region that has been implicated in motivational processes, such as seeking reward and ... -
A Pharmacology-Based Enrichment Program for Undergraduates Promotes Interest in Science.
(CBE Life Sci Educ, 2015)There is a strong need to increase the number of undergraduate students who pursue careers in science to provide the "fuel" that will power a science and technology-driven U.S. economy. Prior research suggests that both ... -
Adult age differences in frontostriatal representation of prediction error but not reward outcome.
(Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci, 2014-06)Emerging evidence from decision neuroscience suggests that although younger and older adults show similar frontostriatal representations of reward magnitude, older adults often show deficits in feedback-driven reinforcement ... -
Carrots and sticks: fertility effects of China's population policies.
For 20 years following 1949, average total fertility per woman in China hovered just above six children. The year 1970 marked the beginning of persistent fertility declines. By 1980, the rate had dropped to 2.75, and since ... -
Cognitive Neurostimulation: Learning to Volitionally Invigorate Mesolimbic Reward Network Activation
(2015)The brain’s dopaminergic system is critical to adaptive behaviors, and is centrally implicated in various pathologies. For decades, research has aimed at better characterizing what drives the mesolimbic dopamine system and ... -
Cumulative stress in childhood is associated with blunted reward-related brain activity in adulthood.
(Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, 2016-03)Early life stress (ELS) is strongly associated with negative outcomes in adulthood, including reduced motivation and increased negative mood. The mechanisms mediating these relations, however, are poorly understood. We examined ... -
Denying the Value of Goals to the Disadvantaged
(2022)Pursuing valued goals is a fundamental aspect of human behavior. In this dissertation, I explore the tendency of observers to underestimate the extent to which members of disadvantaged groups value their goals. Nine studies ... -
Dissociable Influence of Reward and Punishment Motivation on Declarative Memory Encoding and its Underlying Neurophysiology
(2012)Memories are not veridical representations of the environment. Rather, an individual's goals can influence how the surrounding environment is represented in long-term memory. The present dissertation aims to delineate the ... -
Evaluating the Motivation and Feasibility Theory in Predicting the Onset and Severity of Civil Conflict
(2013-04-30)This paper looks at 187 countries from 1960-2004 and explores the economic indicators of the onset and the severity of civil conflicts, where civil conflicts are described as small clashes that result in 25 or more battle ... -
For Love of the Game: A Study of Tournament Theory and Intrinsic Motivation in Dota 2
(2019-04-17)This paper studies the effect of intrinsic motivation on the extrinsic incentives specified by tournament structure in tournament theory in the context of e-sports. It incorporates tournament theory and motivation crowding ... -
Fragile Masculinity: Operationalizing and Testing a Novel Model of Identity Fragility
(2022)In this dissertation, I propose, operationalize, and test a novel model of identity fragility using fragile masculinity as a case study. To date, identity research has largely focused on understanding how people’s membership ... -
Goal Pursuit and the Pursuit of Social Networks
(2013)An abstract of a dissertation that examines the motivational foundations of social networks. Five studies using diverse methods examine goal pursuit as an antecedent to social network structure, finding that self-oriented ... -
Incentives for Uptake of and Adherence to Outpatient Stroke Rehabilitation Services: A Three-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial.
(Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 2021-09-10)<h4>Objective</h4>To determine if rehabilitation uptake and adherence can be increased by providing coordinated transportation (increased convenience) and eliminating out-of-pocket costs (reduced expense).<h4>Design</h4>Three-arm ... -
Measuring and Applying Motivational Constructs in a Brief Intervention for Reducing Harmful Alcohol Use in ED Patients in Moshi, Tanzania
(2021)Background: Self Determination Theory (SDT) conceptualizes human motivation in terms of a spectrum. However, literature is scarce on how to measure self-determination in different languages or how self-determination can ... -
Microinterventions targeting regulatory focus and regulatory fit selectively reduce dysphoric and anxious mood.
(Behav Res Ther, 2015-09)Depression and generalized anxiety, separately and as comorbid states, continue to represent a significant public health challenge. Current cognitive-behavioral treatments are clearly beneficial but there remains a need ... -
Modeling the onset of a depressive episode: A self-regulation perspective.
(Current opinion in psychology, 2021-04-21)Major depression is an episodic disorder which, for many individuals, has its onset in a distinct change of emotional state which then persists over time. The present article explores the utility of combining a dynamical ... -
Modulation of Active Exploratory Behaviors in Humans
(2016)Human learning and memory relies on a broad network of neural substrates, and is sensitive to a range of environmental factors and behaviors. The present studies are designed to investigate the modulation of active exploration ... -
Neural Correlates of Attention and Motivational Value in Parietal Cortex
(2007-05-02)Area LIP has long been considered to be heavily involved in controlling transformations of visual stimuli into oculomotor behavior, as well as being an integral part of the extensive cortico-cortical network that controls ... -
Reactions to discrimination, stigmatization, ostracism, and other forms of interpersonal rejection: a multimotive model.
(Psychol Rev, 2009-04)This article describes a new model that provides a framework for understanding people's reactions to threats to social acceptance and belonging as they occur in the context of diverse phenomena such as rejection, discrimination, ... -
Recruiting young adults into a weight loss trial: report of protocol development and recruitment results.
(Contemp Clin Trials, 2013-07)Obesity has spread to all segments of the U.S. population. Young adults, aged 18-35 years, are rarely represented in clinical weight loss trials. We conducted a qualitative study to identify factors that may facilitate ...
