Cited by 251Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorDecision-Making and Behavioral Economics

A normative perspective on motivation

NIV, Y, JOEL, D, DAYAN, P·2006·Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Abstract

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.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.tics.2006.06.010

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Authors
NIV, Y., JOEL, D., & DAYAN, P.
Affiliations
  • Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
  • Tel Aviv University (IL)
  • Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit (GB)
Corresponding author
NIV, Y
Venue
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2006-08
Volume
10
Issue
8
Pages
375-381
ISSN
1364-6613 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2148819999
Cited by
251
References
50
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 21
FWCI
6.93
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Trends in Cognitive Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
Keywords
motivation, goal-directed behavior, habitual behavior, utility maximization, motivational states, outcome value, decision-making, behavioral training, normative model
MeSH terms
Animals, Decision Making, Goals, Habituation, Psychophysiologic, Humans, Models, Psychological, Motivation, Reinforcement, Psychology

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