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PubMed1986

Preoptic and midbrain control of sexual motivation.

In a testing arena where a male rat can choose to spend time (and mate with) a sexually receptive female or choose a non-receptive female, a sexually motivated male will prefer the sexually receptive female and a decrease in preference for the receptive female can be said to reflect a decrease in sexual motivation. We have used a preference test to study the effects of castration and brain damage on sexual motivation. In neurologically intact males castration virtually eliminates copulation and decreases preference for a receptive female; copulation and preference are restored by replacement therapy with testosterone. Lesions of the medial preoptic area (MPOA) and lesions of the dorsolateral tegmentum (DLT) of the midbrain abolish copulation and decrease preference for a sexually receptive female. In lesioned males preference declines even further as testing is extended over a span of several months and is not affected by either castration or replacement therapy with testosterone. It seems likely that, at least in part, castration and brain damage decrease mating by decreasing sexual motivation. The MPOA and DLT are connected by axons running through the medial forebrain bundle, and we speculate that sex hormones may work on cells in the MPOA to increase sexual motivation and behavior, perhaps by altering the activity of axons projecting to the DLT which are principally involved in the mediation of sexual reward or "pleasure".

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Motivation for migration and economic success.

"Motives for migration should play a major role in the development of achievement motivation of migrants, which, in turn, should influence economic success. For a sample of guest-workers in Austria it is shown that the simple distinction of economic and non-economic, i.e. family or political motives, does not yield convincing results for the explanation of wages. Economic motivation has to be further differentiated into ¿search for success' and ¿fear of failure' types. Immigrants with optimistic economic motivation are able to command wages more than 10% higher than individuals migrating for political reasons."

Austria↗
PubMed1991

Prediction of motivation and behavior change following health promotion: role of health beliefs, social support, and self-efficacy.

Dimensions of health beliefs (perceived risk of behavior and benefit of behavior change), social support (family and others' support for change), and self-efficacy (magnitude and strength) were examined in 215 patients undergoing a prospective trial of health promotion in a primary care medical practice. Discriminant analyses were performed to evaluate how well these dimensions predicted motivation for change and lifestyle behavior change. These relationships were examined for six lifestyle areas: cigarette smoking, dealing with stress, amount and type of food eaten, use of seat belts, and exercise habits. The analyses demonstrated a statistically and clinically significant prediction of motivation by one or more health belief and self-efficacy dimensions for most lifestyle areas. The strongest single predictors were perceived benefits and self-efficacy strength, which were each significant predictors of motivation in four lifestyle areas (P less than 0.05). Support dimensions, as measured, were not shown to have predictive value in most areas. Behavior change was poorly predicted by beliefs, support, and self-efficacy for most lifestyle areas. However, adding motivation to the discriminant function equation resulted in significant predictions in all six lifestyle areas (P less than 0.05), with an average correct classification rate of 71%. This finding strongly suggests that motivation is a very important intervening variable when evaluating health promotion and resulting behavior change.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Motivation and job satisfaction of deans of schools of nursing.

Factors influencing the job satisfaction of deans of schools of nursing were analyzed using the motivational theory of expectancy. A questionnaire was sent to 595 deans/directors of baccalaureate and higher degree schools of nursing accredited by the National League for Nursing. The three part questionnaire consisted of (1) Demographic data, (2) Motivation and Reward Scales, and (3) The Job Description Index. Significant relationships were found within each job satisfaction variable (P less than or equal to .05). The most significant and numerous relationships were found within the variable of pay or salary. Deans who had long tenure in their administrative positions and were associated with large universities and schools of nursing were also found to be statistically significant (P less than or equal to .05). A direct relationship between the scores on the Motivation and Reward Scale and the scores on the Job Description Index was supported. The individual and collective facets of job satisfaction were positively and significantly correlated (P less than or equal to .05) with motivation, providing support for the theoretical framework that proposes an interdependent relationship. Additional findings from regression analyses suggested that motivation is a significant predictor of job satisfaction.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Motives for malt liquor consumption in a sample of community college students.

Health and community advocates have raised concerns about consumption of malt liquor, a high alcohol content beverage, among youth. Research on malt liquor use is, however, very limited, leaving unanswered questions about what strategies may effectively prevent this use. This study employed qualitative and quantitative research methods with ethnically diverse college samples to explore and identify motives associated with consumption of malt liquor. Of the motives examined, those representing social facilitation and mood enhancement were the most important predictors of malt liquor use. Anticipation of quick intoxication and economic considerations were also uniquely associated with increased consumption of malt liquor after controlling for other motives and background variables. Coping motives and availability of malt liquor, although being significantly related to malt liquor use in bivariate analyses, were not significantly associated with increased consumption of malt liquor in multivariate analyses. Conformity motives were endorsed by few malt liquor drinkers. Study findings suggest that raising the price and lowering the alcohol content of malt liquor may help reduce consumption of this beverage by young people.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Motivation and self-perception profiles and links with physical activity in adolescent girls.

Research shows a decline in participation in physical activity across the teenage years. It is important, therefore, to examine factors that might influence adolescent girl's likelihood of being physically active. This study used contemporary theoretical perspectives from psychology to assess a comprehensive profile of motivational and self-perception variables in 11-16 year old English girls (n=516). A cross-sectional design was employed. Cluster analysis was conducted to (a) map cluster profiles and (b) test whether clusters differed in physical self-worth, global self-esteem, and physical activity. Results revealed a five-cluster solution depicting 40% of the sample as moderately motivated, 30% lowly motivated in two clusters, and 30% highly motivated, also in two clusters. However, differences between clusters on physical activity were quite small. Results show potential areas for intervention to enhance the motivation of adolescent girls for physical activity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Motivation and ability to walk for a food reward in fast- and slow-growing broilers to 12 weeks of age.

Poor physical abilities of broilers may prevent them from performing behaviours for which they are motivated. The aim of this study was to measure the influence of physical ability and motivation on the performance of broilers in short physical tasks. We tested birds from a fast- and a slow-growing broiler strain in a runway to 12 weeks of age. To manipulate motivation, half of the birds of each strain was feed deprived for 3h and the other half for 24h before testing. Each bird was tested in a control and a slalom runway test once a week. With a similar motivation, slow growers had a shorter latency to start walking and walked faster through the runway than fast growers in both tests. In fast growers walking speed decreased faster with age than in slow growers. Slow growers vocalised more in both tests. In the slalom test, 24h deprived birds vocalised more than 3h deprived birds. Although the fast and slow growers have a different genetic background, the results indicated that motivation is the dominant determinative factor for walking in birds with a low body weight, while physical ability is the dominant determinative factor for walking in birds with a high body weight.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2006

Factors motivating dyspepsia patients to enter clinical research.

One of the most influential factors in science and medicine has been the development of placebo-controlled clinical trials. However, recruitment of patients for clinical trials is sometimes a major problem in clinical research. Successful patient recruitment may be enhanced with a clear understanding of the motivating factors that determine a patient's decision to enter a study. We have developed the Patients' Expectations, Attitudes and Knowledge (PEAK) Program consisting of questionnaires designed to study the factors motivating patients to enter a clinical trial, as well as capturing the experiences of research participants. A total of 247 female patients with dyspepsia (mean age: 43.9; range: 18.0-78.0 years) who entered either of two prospective double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled multicenter trials in the USA completed PEAK Entry questionnaires during the first study visit. Based on their responses, the top three factors motivating patients to join the clinical trial were: interest in receiving investigational treatment with average score (AS) of 4.33 +/- 0.08 (M +/- SEM) on a 5-point scale, possibility of getting skilled professional care (AS = 4.07 +/- 0.09), and altruism expressed as an intention to help develop a new drug for the sake of other people (AS = 3.89 +/- 0.09). Age, ethnicity, and educational status significantly affected motivational factors of patients. These results indicate that recruitment can be enhanced by targeting these motivations in physician/patient communications, informed consent process and advertising for study participants.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Motivation and affect in REM sleep and the mentation reporting process.

Although the emotional and motivational characteristics of dreaming have figured prominently in folk and psychoanalytic conceptions of dream production, emotions have rarely been systematically studied, and motivation, never. Because emotions during sleep lack the somatic components of waking emotions, and they change as the sleeper awakens, their properties are difficult to assess. Recent evidence of limbic system activation during REM sleep suggests a basis in brain architecture for the interaction of motivational and cognitive properties in dreaming. Motivational and emotional content in REM and NREM laboratory mentation reports from 25 participants were compared. Motivational and emotional content was significantly greater in REM than NREM sleep, even after controlling for the greater word count of REM reports.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Correlates of motivation to quit smoking among alcohol dependent patients in residential treatment.

Substance use and smoking co-occur at high rates and substance abusers smoke more and have greater difficulty quitting smoking compared to the general population. Methods of increasing smoking cessation among alcoholics are needed to improve their health. This study investigated predictors of motivation to quit smoking among patients early in residential treatment for substance abuse. The 198 alcohol dependent patients were participating is a larger smoking study at an inner-city residential substance abuse treatment program. Motivation was measured by the Contemplation Ladder. A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to assess whether perceived barriers to smoking cessation and self-efficacy about quitting were associated with motivation to quit smoking independent of the influence of degree of tobacco involvement, substance use, and comorbid depressive symptoms. Motivation was higher with longer previous smoking abstinence, fewer barriers to quitting, and greater self-efficacy but was not influenced by smoking rate, dependence, or gender. While the combination of alcohol and drug use, alcohol and drug problem severity, and depressive symptoms predicted motivation, no one of these variables was significant. Since barriers to change and self-efficacy are potentially modifiable in treatment, these could be salient targets for intervention efforts. This could be integrated into treatment by assessing barriers and providing corrective information about consequences and methods of overcoming barriers and by providing coping skills to increase confidence in one's ability to quit smoking.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Motivational interviewing for pediatric obesity: Conceptual issues and evidence review.

Counseling by health care professionals represents a potentially important intervention for the prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity. One promising approach to weight-control counseling in pediatric practice is motivational interviewing. This article explores conceptual issues related to the application of motivational interviewing for the prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity. Given the paucity of studies on motivational interviewing and pediatric obesity, we examine what is known about the application of motivational interviewing to modify diet, physical activity, and other behaviors in children and adolescents. We begin with a brief overview of motivational interviewing, describe some nuances of applying this approach to pediatric overweight, and conclude with research and clinical recommendations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Motivational factors associated with sports program participation in middle school students.

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study were 1) to identify gender-specific motivational factors associated with sports program participation and attrition in middle school students and 2) to examine the relationships among sports program participation, physical activity, and sedentary behavior in this age group. METHODS: Seventh and eighth grade students (N = 1692) completed a questionnaire to measure sports program participation and factors that may motivate continued participation in or attrition from sports. The psychometric properties of the participation and attrition scales were tested using gender-separate exploratory factor analysis. Analysis of variance (participation status*gender) was used to identify differences in motivational factor scores and physical activity variables. RESULTS: Eighty percent of the students were recent participants (within the past year), 10% were former participants, and 10% had never participated. For boys, the participation factors were labeled (in order) competition, social benefits, and fitness. For girls, factor structures were slightly different than the boys, which loaded as; social + skill benefits, competition, and fitness. For both genders, lack of interest, coaching problems, and time barriers were identified as attrition factors. Recent sport participants reported more time in vigorous (p < .01), stretching (p = .03), and strengthening activities (p < .01) and less time watching television (p < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Gender-specific motivational factors exist for middle school youth; boys are more attracted to the competitive aspects of sports whereas girls are more motivated by the social opportunities that sports provide. Boys and girls who participate in sports are more physically active, so it is important to develop programs that children want to participate in and maximize retention.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Computer-based brief motivational intervention for perinatal drug use.

Computer-based brief motivational interventions may be able to reach a high proportion of at-risk individuals and thus have potential for significant population impact. The present studies were conducted to determine the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a computer-based brief motivational intervention (the motivation enhancement system, or MES). In Study 1, quantitative and qualitative feedback from 30 postpartum women and 17 women in treatment for drug use were used to modify the software. In Study 2, 50 urban postpartum women who reported drug use in the month before pregnancy completed the intervention and provided repeated within-session ratings of state motivation. In Study 3, 30 women were randomly assigned to intervention or control conditions with 1-month follow-up. Overall, women rated the MES as highly acceptable and easy to use and reported significant increases in state motivation at postintervention and at 1-month follow-up (d = .49). These preliminary results are encouraging and suggest that further work in this area is warranted.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

A functional neuroimaging study of motivation and executive function.

Executive functions, such as working memory, must intersect with functions that determine value for the organism. Functional imaging work in humans and single-unit recordings in non-human primates provide evidence that PFC might integrate motivational context with working memory. With functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we addressed the question of motivation and working memory, using a trial-related design in an object-working memory task. The design permitted the analysis of BOLD signal at separate stages, corresponding to encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. Subjects were motivated by a financial incentive during the task, such that they could gain a high or a low reward. The two different levels of reward also entailed greater or lesser risk of losing money for incorrect responses. In the high, relative to the low, reward condition, subjects shifted response bias, and showed a trend to greater sensitivity. We found main effects in fMRI BOLD signal for reward, which overlapped with BOLD effects for maintenance of information, in the right superior frontal sulcus and bilateral intraparietal sulcus. We also found an interaction between reward and retrieval from working memory in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Main effects of load and reward occurred in adjacent regions of the ventrolateral PFC during retrieval. The data demonstrate that when subjects perform a simple working memory task, financial incentives motivate performance and interact with some of the same neural networks that process various stages of working memory. Areas of overlap and interaction may integrate information about value, or they may represent a general effect of motivation increasing neural effort.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Sexual motivation is demasculinized, but not feminized, in prenatally stressed male rats.

Sexual motivation and copulation in male rats are associated with dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. Demasculinized copulatory behavior has been demonstrated in prenatally stressed adult male rats. We have previously reported that approximately 80% of prenatally stressed male rats do not exhibit copulation and that no significant changes in nucleus accumbens dopamine release are seen during exposure to estrous females. In the present study, we investigated whether prenatal stress affects sexual motivation in these animals as adults. Pregnant Wistar rats were subjected to immobilization stress for two hours daily from day 15-19 of gestation. The prenatally stressed male offspring at the age of 3 months were allowed contact with receptive female rats for a 30 min period per week for 10 weeks; then, between the age of 5 and 6 months, their sexual motivation and copulatory activity were measured. Sexual motivation was measured in terms of sexual partner preference. The number of visits and the duration of each visit to an estrous female (stimulus female) or to a sexually active male rat (stimulus male) were recorded. Compared with control males, prenatally stressed male rats showed a significantly lower number of visits and a shorter duration of each visit to stimulus females. Prenatally stressed males showed no preference for male or female stimulus rats in terms of the number of visits and the duration of each visit, whereas control rats showed a significantly higher number of visits and duration of visits to female stimulus rats than male stimulus rats. A significant decrease in copulatory activity was observed in the prenatally stressed male offspring compared with control male rats, with most of the prenatally stressed males failing to show copulation. In vivo microdialysis experiments were performed on the nucleus accumbens with concurrent observation of sexual behavior. The prenatally stressed rats that did not exhibit copulation showed no significant changes in nucleus accumbens dopamine release during exposure to a stimulus male behind a wire-mesh barrier and the amount of dopamine release remained at the basal levels during actual physical contact. These results, combined with those of our previous report, indicate that sexual motivation in prenatally stressed male rats is demasculinized, but not feminized.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Sexual-incentive motivation and paced sexual behavior in female rats after treatment with drugs modifying dopaminergic neurotransmission.

The effects of the dopamine receptor agonist apomorphine, the dopamine releaser amphetamine, and the dopamine receptor antagonist cis(Z)-flupenthixol on sexual-incentive motivation and on paced-mating behavior were studied in female rats. Apomorphine, in the doses of 0.125 and 0.5 mg/kg, showed a tendency to reduce incentive motivation. Ambulatory activity was inhibited, evidenced both by diminished distance moved and reduced velocity of movement. Amphetamine (0.25 and 1 mg/kg) and flupenthixol (0.25 and 0.5 mg/kg) failed to modify incentive motivation while stimulating and reducing ambulatory activity, respectively. In the mating test, apomorphine enhanced the latency to enter the male's half and reduced the number of proceptive behaviors. However, these effects were associated with the appearance of stereotyped sniffing. Amphetamine increased the propensity to escape from the male after a mount without having other effects. Flupenthixol augmented the duration of the lordosis posture. Neither amphetamine nor flupenthixol affected sniffing. These data show that facilitated dopaminergic neurotransmission stimulates neither paced female sexual behavior nor sexual-incentive motivation. Dopamine receptor blockade has slight consequences. It is concluded that dopamine is not a transmitter of major importance for unconditioned female sexual motivation and behavior.

Amphetamine↗
PubMed2006

The adrenergic alpha2 receptor and sexual incentive motivation in male rats.

The purpose of the present series of experiments was to determine whether drugs acting at the alpha2-adrenoceptor modify unconditioned sexual incentive motivation in the male rat. To that end a highly specific agonist, dexmedetomidine, a corresponding antagonist, atipamezole, and a less specific antagonist, yohimbine, were administered to groups of sexually inexperienced male rats. The subjects were tested in a large rectangular arena, where a sexually receptive female and an intact male were employed as incentives. The incentive animals were confined behind a wire mesh in opposite corners of the arena. The animals could see, hear and smell each other, but no sexual interaction was possible. Approach to the incentives constituted the measure of incentive motivation. In addition, the test provided data on ambulatory activity and general arousal. Dexmedetomidine, at a dose of 8 microg/kg, produced a slight reduction of sexual incentive motivation. Ambulatory activity and general arousal were also inhibited. Atipamezole, in doses of 0.1 and 0.3mg/kg enhanced the positive incentive properties of the receptive female. A high dose of 1mg/kg did not have any significant effect. Ambulatory activity was slightly reduced by the two larger doses of atipamezole. Yohimbine had a slight stimulatory effect on sexual incentive motivation at a dose (4 mg/kg) that also reduced ambulatory activity and general arousal. It is concluded that blockade of the adrenergic alpha2 receptor stimulates sexual incentive motivation in the male rat whereas stimulation of it has the opposite effect. At present it is not clear if these drug effects are caused by pre- or postsynaptic actions of the drugs, and the importance of secondary changes in other neurotransmitter systems remains unknown.

Adrenergic alpha-Agonists↗
PubMed2006

A normative perspective on motivation.

Understanding the effects of motivation on instrumental action selection, and specifically on its two main forms, goal-directed and habitual control, is fundamental to the study of decision making. Motivational states have been shown to 'direct' goal-directed behavior rather straightforwardly towards more valuable outcomes. However, how motivational states can influence outcome-insensitive habitual behavior is more mysterious. We adopt a normative perspective, assuming that animals seek to maximize the utilities they achieve, and viewing motivation as a mapping from outcomes to utilities. We suggest that habitual action selection can direct responding properly only in motivational states which pertained during behavioral training. However, in novel states, we propose that outcome-independent, global effects of the utilities can 'energize' habitual actions.

Animals↗