Motivation and emotion/Lectures/Brain and physiological needs

Lecture 03: Brain and physiological needs

Resource type: this resource contains a lecture or lecture notes.

This is the third lecture for the Motivation and emotion unit of study.

OverviewEdit

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

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

Your brain is more than a bag of chemicals (David Anderson, 2013, TED talk, 16 mins) discusses neuroscientific research into motivation and emotion using a basic animal model (fruit fly).
Hormones of hunger: Leptin and ghrelin (Corporis, 2019, YouTube, 9:33 mins) explains how leptin and ghrelin work together to modulate hunger.