Motivation and emotion/Lectures/Brain and physiological needs

Lecture 03: Brain and physiological needs
This is the third lecture for the motivation and emotion unit of study.

Overview

This lecture:

• explains the role of brain structures, neurotransmitters, and hormones in regulating motivational drives
• discusses physiological needs, particularly thirst, hunger, and sexual motivation

Take-home messages:

• The brain is as much about motivation and emotion as it is about cognition and thinking
• We underestimate how powerful biological urges can be as motivational forces when we are currently not experiencing them

Outline

Motivated and emotional brain

• Neuroscience
• Brain structures
• Subcortical
  • Reticular formation
  • Amygdala
  • Reward centre
  • Basal ganglia
  • Hypothalamus
• Cortical
  • Insula
  • Prefrontal cortex
  • Orbitofrontal cortex
  • Ventromedial PFC
  • Dorsolateral PFC
  • Anterior cingulate cortex
• Bidirectional
  • Neurotransmitters
  • Dopamine
  • Serotonin
  • Norepinephrine
  • Endorphins
• Hormones
  • Cortisol
  • Oxytocin
  • Testosterone
  • Ghrelin (Part B)
  • Leptin (Part B)

Physiological needs

• Needs
• Regulatory processes
• Example physiological needs

• • Thirst
  • Hunger
  • Sexual motivation

Brain app

Install this free app to explore the location and function of important brain structures:

1. 3D Brain (Google Play)
2. 3D Brain (Apple Store)

Readings

1. Chapter 03: The motivated and emotional brain (Reeve, 2018)
2. Chapter 04: Physiological needs (Reeve, 2018)

Slides

• Motivated and emotional brain (Google Slides)
• Physiological needs (Google Slides)

See also

Wikiversity

• Images
• Brain structures
• Hormones
• Neurotransmitters

Book chapters

• Brain
• Hormones
• Neurotransmitters
• Physiological needs

Wikipedia

• Autonomic nervous system
• ERG theory
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs
• Nucleus (neuroanatomy)
• Parasympathetic nervous system
• Reward system
• Sympathetic nervous system

Lectures

• Historical development and assessment skills (Previous lecture)
• Extrinsic motivation and psychological needs (Next lecture)

Tutorials

• Physiological needs

Recording

• Lecture 04 (2024)

References

Saper, C. B., & Lowell, B. B. (2014). The hypothalamus. Current Biology, 24(23), R1111–R1116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.10.023

External links

• Between pleasure and pain (Dr. Anna Lembke, The Knowledge Project Ep. #159)
• Hangry (Stuff You Should Know, Podcast, 12:30 mins)
• Hormones of hunger: Leptin and ghrelin (Corporis, 2019, YouTube, 9:33 mins) - how leptin and ghrelin work together to modulate hunger
• How does my brain work? (TED Talks playlist)
• Let's talk about sex (Crash Course Psychology #27; YouTube 11:35 mins)
• Your brain is more than a bag of chemicals (David Anderson, 2013, TED talk, 16 mins) - neuroscientific research into motivation and emotion using a basic animal model (fruit fly)