Neuroscience of Intrinsic Motivation
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1
Korea University, Republic of Korea
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2
Australian Catholic University, Australia
Intrinsic motivation is the inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenge, to explore and investigate, and to stretch and extend one’s capacities (Ryan & Deci, 2017). It is a naturally occurring inclination toward interest-taking, challenge-seeking, information assimilation (i.e., learning), and personal growth. These volitional pursuits (i.e., intrinsically motivated behaviors) generate subjective feelings of interest and enjoyment that signal experiences of intrinsic satisfaction in what one is doing. These intrinsic rewards (i.e., intrinsic satisfactions) then function to encourage present and future volitional engagement in that task, activity, or environment.
While neuroscientific studies on extrinsic motivation are abundant, neuroscientific studies of intrinsic motivation are not (Reeve & Lee, 2018). Nevertheless, neuroscientific investigations of intrinsic motivational processes are now emerging, including our own program of research designed to discover the neural bases of intrinsic motivation.
Because intrinsic motivation arises out of the psychological needs for autonomy and competence and a sense of curiosity (Ryan & Deci, 2017), we began our search for the neural bases of intrinsic motivation by creating experimental situations in which college-aged participants who lay inside an fMRI scanner were exposed to environmental stimuli capable of producing high vs. low experiences of (1) competence (solving optimally-challenging vs. too-easy anagrams), (2) autonomy (engaging in preferred vs. non-preferred learning activities) and (3) curiosity (answering intriguing trivia vs. common knowledge questions). When we observed participants’ neural activity under all three of these conditions, we found that the intrinsic-motivation neural system involved (1) anterior insula cortex (AIC) activity, (2) striatum activity, and (3) AIC–striatum interactions (Lee & Reeve, 2013, 2017; Reeve & Lee, 2019a, 2019b).
This means that AIC activity and striatum activity are both important in the intrinsic-motivation neural system, and it also means that the interactive roles of these two brain regions are also critical (i.e., the functional connectivity between the AIC and striatum). So the intrinsic-motivation neural system does reflect reward processing (associated with striatum activity), but it is also clearly distinct from the extensively investigated striatum reward system (i.e., incentive/extrinsic motivation) in that AIC and AIC–striatum interactions are additional key inputs.
Given these conclusions, we sought to understand how these intrinsic motivation neural processes play out in a learning situation. As college-age students lay inside an fMRI scanner, we had them engage in a learning activity (e.g., learning national flags). Some trials represented preferred learning activities (thus high autonomy, interest, and intrinsic motivation) while other trials represented non-preferred learning activities. Further, each trial featured both a stimulus presentation phase and a learning phase.
When participants first encountered the learning material (stimulus presentation phase) and perceived it as infused with personal autonomy, we observed corresponding greater AIC activations. That is, high autonomy was associated with greater AIC activations. When participants tried to learn the new material (learning phase) and perceived it to be interesting, we observed greater striatum activations. That is, self-reported interest (satisfaction) was associated with greater striatum activations. Overall, AIC activations occurred early during the initial stimulus presentation phase as participants autonomously wanted to engage in the learning activity, while striatum activations occurred later as participants experienced intrinsic satisfaction during task engagement and learning. Importantly, the autonomy-related early-stage AIC activity positively predicted interest-related late-stage striatum activity.
Because this was a study in educational neuroscience, we also included an objective measure of learning. Greater dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activations during the learning phase predicted participants’ higher learning scores. DLPFC activity served as a neural marker of extent of cognitive engagement/mental effort during the learning activity. DLPFC activations predicted learning score but, more importantly to our study, AIC activations during the stimulus presentation phase predicted DLPFC activations during the learning phase. So, overall, our interpretation of the findings was that AIC activations provide neural support both for striatum activations related to intrinsic satisfaction (interest) and for DLPFC activations related to cognitive engagement (learning). Specifically, autonomy ratings were associated with AIC activations, these early-trial AIC activations were associated with late-trial striatum and DLPFC activations, and these late-trial striatum and DLPFC activations were associated with interest ratings and learning scores respectively.
We encourage future research on student motivation to utilize educational neuroscience methods. Motivation energizes learning, and we suggest that a focus on motivational neuroscience can bring educators unique explanatory color to the understanding how and when instructional events do and do not energize students’ motivation to engage in and learn from the materials their teachers provide.
References
Lee, W., & Reeve, J. (2013). Self-determined, but not non-self-determined, motivation predicts
activations in the anterior insular cortex: an fMRI study of personal agency.
Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience, 8, 538-545.
Lee, W., & Reeve, J. (2017). Identifying the neural substrates of intrinsic motivation during
task performance. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 17, 939-953.
Reeve, J., & Lee, W. (2018). Motivational neuroscience. In R. M. Ryan (Ed.), The Oxford
handbook of motivation (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Reeve, J., & Lee, W. (2019a). A neuroscience perspective on the self-determination theory
framework. Journal of Personality, 87(1), 102-114.
Reeve, J., & Lee, W. (2019b). Autonomy predicts learning: A study in educational neuroscience.
Manuscript under review.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation,
development, and wellness. New York: Guilford Press.
Keywords:
intrinsic motivation,
educational neuroscience,
Self-determination theory (SDT),
fMRI — functional magnetic resonance imaging,
anterior insular cortex,
Striatum,
psychological need satisfaction
Conference:
4th International Conference on Educational Neuroscience, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 10 Mar - 11 Mar, 2019.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation (invited speakers only)
Topic:
Educational Neuroscience
Citation:
Reeve
J
(2019). Neuroscience of Intrinsic Motivation.
Conference Abstract:
4th International Conference on Educational Neuroscience.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2019.229.00006
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Received:
18 Feb 2019;
Published Online:
27 Sep 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Prof. Johnmarshall Reeve, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, reeve@korea.ac.kr