INTRINSIC MOTIVATION Psychological and Neuroscientific Perspectives

The aim of this essay is to give an overview of the topic of intrinsic motivation based on psychological and neuroimaging research. More specifically, the objective is to give an overview of the various benefits of intrinsic motivation, discuss its relationship to extrinsic rewards, and review the existing neuroimaging research that has explicitly explored intrinsic motivation. A positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and persistence, conceptual learning, creativity and both hedonic as well as eudaimonic well-being has been demonstrated. A wealth of studies has shown that extrinsic rewards undermine intrinsic motivation, while the validity of these findings has been debated. Initial neuroimaging studies concerning the neural basis of intrinsic motivation have been conducted, showing unique activations in the intrinsic motivation conditions in e.g. the anterior precuneus and the right insular cortex. Conceptual and methodological problems have been discussed, and it is suggested that the neuroscientific findings mentioned above can be interpreted in terms of the neural distinction between wanting and liking, rather than in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and that psychological research can draw on neuroscientific findings in order to make its research more precise.