The compensatory model of motivation and volition is based on the assumption that discrepancies between implicit and explicit motives lead to psychological conflict, and that resolution of this conflict requires volitional regulation and consumes volitional strength. This suggests that implicit/explicit motive discrepancies (IED) are responsible for decreases in volitional strength. A longitudi...

The basal ganglia (BG) have been considered as a key structure for volitional action preparation. Neurons in the striatum, the main BG input stage, increase activity gradually before volitional action initiation. However, because of the diversity of striatal motor commands, such as automatic (sensory driven) and volitional (internally driven) actions, it is still unclear whether an appropriate ...

Although much is known about volitional and reflexive smooth eye movements individually, much less is known about how they are coordinated. It is hypothesized that separate cortico-ponto-cerebellar loops subserve these different types of smooth eye movements. Specifically, the MT-MST-DLPN pathway is thought to be critical for ocular following eye movements, whereas the FEF-NRTP pathway is under...

I seek here to develop the general outlines of a theory of environmental policy. It is a theory that will stand in stark contrast to the tendentious and normative welfare economics that now dominates the policy dialogue in applied economics. In this standard approach, economists place " …exclusive reliance on individual utilities to judge social goodness and right actions [Sen 1993, p. 521]. " ...

Volitional competences (skills of will), including self-regulation skills such as self-motivation and emotion regulation and self-control skills such as impulse control, are particularly necessary for patients with psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders. The Volitional Components Questionnaire (VCQ) is an instrument designed to measure volitional competences. However, its length of 190 items p...

BACKGROUND Although skills of will (volitional competences), such as self-motivation or emotion regulation, are particularly necessary for patients with psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders, it is unknown whether volitional deficits can be reduced and thereby the efficacy of psychotherapy increased. We investigated the effect of a group therapy for improving volitional competence in an inpat...

The purpose of this study was to compare cerebral cortical representation of experimentally induced reflexive swallow with that of volitional swallow. Eight asymptomatic adults (24-27 yr) were studied by a single-trial functional magnetic resonance imaging technique. Reflexive swallowing showed bilateral activity concentrated to the primary sensory/motor regions. Volitional swallowing was repre...

In cases of partial deficiency of muscle activation capacity, force augmentation can be achieved by hybrid activation, i.e., by combining electrical stimulation (ES) with volitional activation. In this activation modality the shares of the volitional and induced torques within the overall hybrid torque are unknown. The purpose of this study was to suggest a computational approach to parcel out ...

BACKGROUND Self-efficacy is an important predictor of health behaviour change. Within the health action process approach (HAPA; Schwarzer, 2008), motivational and volitional self-efficacy can be distinguished. Motivational self-efficacy is assumed to serve as predictor of intention formation whereas volitional self-efficacy should be relevant for behaviour change. This study examined these assu...

Human volitional actions are preceded by preparatory processes, a critical mental process of cognitive control for future behavior. Volitional action preparation is regulated by large-scale neural circuits including the cerebral cortex and the basal ganglia. Because volitional action preparation is a covert process, the network dynamics of such neural circuits have been examined by neuroimaging...