Motivation and emotion/Tutorials/Physiological needs

Tutorial 03: Physiological needs

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

This is the third tutorial for the motivation and emotion unit of study.

OverviewEdit

The cortex is wrapped over the phylogenetically older sub-cortical brain region.

This tutorial:

considers how different brain structures are involved in motivation and emotion
examines the motivational and emotional role of neurotransmitters and hormones
demonstrates how to make and record social contributions

Physiological aspectsEdit

Physiological aspects of motivational and emotional experiences include brain structures, hormones, and neurotransmitters. Whilst each component serves particular functions, they also communicate directly or indirectly with one another to work dynamically and holistically.

The purpose of these mix and match activities is to become familiar with the motivational and emotional functions of brain structures, hormones, and neurotransmitters.

Brain structuresEdit

The brain has two anatomically and functionally distinct regions:

Sub-cortical which includes structures that operate largely unconsciously to monitor the environment and regulate responses.
Cortical which analyses information from sub-cortical pathways, sets goals, interprets the meaning of events, makes decisions, and modulates sub-cortical responses.

Activity 1

You will be in a group with one or two others
Open this spreadsheet and click on the tab that corresponds to your group number
Allocate yourself to one of the brain structures and select or research the correct answer. Repeat until all matches are correct.
As a group, discuss and review the answers.
Then delete the answers and try again. Second time around, group members should select different structures. Aim to complete the exercise at least twice.
Identify and discuss an interesting fact about the function of one of the brain structures that you can share with the whole class.

See also

Brain structures

Hormones and neurotransmittersEdit

Ask/discuss:

What is a hormone?
What is a neurotransmitter?

Activity 2

You will be in a group with one or two others

Open this spreadsheet and click on the tab that correspondents to your group number
Allocate yourself to one of the hormones or neurotransmitters and select or research the correct answer. Repeat until all matches are correct.
As a group, discuss and review the answers.
Then delete the answers and try again. Second time around, group members should select different hormones or neurotransmitters. Aim to complete the exercise at least twice.
Identify and discuss an interesting fact about one of the neurotransmitters or hormones that you can share with the whole class.

See also

Social contributionsEdit

Demonstration of how to make and record social contributions.

RecordingEdit

Tutorial 03 (2022) - Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3 - There were some problems with the 2022 recording - it is not complete - so it might be better to watch the 2021 recording
Tutorial 03 recording (2021)