Intrinsic Motivation and Excessive Procrastination
The background has green at the bottom with a multicolor mural on the right. There is a stop sign in the center with two signs directly above. The first sign says Procrastination Pk. The second sign says Homework Ave.
Motivation is a popular topic, not just in sport psychology. Previous posts have talked about sport motivation, so today we are going to take a wider view of motivation and incorporate some neuroscience. Then we will take a quick look at procrastination.
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation looks at people’s spontaneous tendencies to be curious and interested, to seek out challenges, and to exercise and develop their skills and knowledge, even in the absence of operationally separable rewards. As a lifelong psychological growth function, intrinsic motivation is by no means an automatic expression and instead depends on ambient support for basic psychological needs like those for competence and autonomy.
Diving into the neurobiology, we began this discussion by talking about dopamine. Firstly, this type of motivation in humans is an elaboration of the exploratory activities subserved by the mammalian SEEKING system. That system’s central neurochemistry is based on dopamine. Secondly, dopamine is linked with increased positive affect, cognitive flexibility, creativity, behavioral persistence, and exploration in the face of novelty. Thirdly, some evidence suggests a direct link between intrinsic motivation and dopamine.
As dopamine neurons originate in the midbrain and have two modes of activity, tonic and phasic, they likely interact in complex ways to regulate intrinsic motivation. Tonic activity promotes normal function of relevant neural circuits and could reflect the strength of SEEKING tendencies. The Phasic mode has dopamine neurons exhibiting short bursts of activity or inactivity in response to specific events. During the phasic mode there are two types of dopamine neurons working: value-coding neurons and salience-coding neurons. The value-coding neurons are physically excited by unexpected rewarding events and become inhibited by unexpected aversive events and found in the ventromedial substantia nigra pars compacta (SN) and throughout the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA). From these places in the midbrain, the neurons innervate axons into the NAcc shell, the dorsal striatum (caudate and putamen), and the Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). The signals that are sent are about the availability of rewards, evaluation of outcomes, and learning.
All above information in this section is from (Di Domenico & Ryan, 2017).
Extrinsic Motivation
Since we looked at intrinsic motivation, I thought it might be nice to do a quick contrast with extrinsic motivation. In a study conducted by Lee et al. (2012), they found that intrinsic reasons recruited more insular cortex activity while extrinsic reasons recruited more posterior cingulate cortex activity. Their results showed that decisions based on intrinsic motivation are more determined by weighing spontaneous self-satisfaction. like interest and enjoyment, while decisions based on extrinsic motivation are more determined by weighing socially-acquired stored values.
Neurobiology of Excessive Procrastination and Implications
When looking at the neurobiology, there are few places in the brain of note according to Zhang et al. (2016). From a study they conducted, they found a positive correlation with regional activity in the prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the parahippocampal cortex (PHC) and a negative correlation with that of the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC). In regards to the aPFC-seed connectivity with the anterior medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex, there was a positive association with procrastination. And finally, the connectivity between the vmPFC and regions such as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, the bilateral inferior prefrontal cortex revealed a negative association with procrastination. Zhang et al., (2016) took this information to hypothesize that procrastination may be attributed to hyper-activity of the default mode network (DMN) that overrides the prefrontal control signal in addition to a failure of top-down control exerted by the aPFC on the DMN. Wypych et al. (2019) add to our understanding by suggesting that procrastination involves an impaired error processing mechanism and is related to a decreased ability to intensify self-control in demanding situations and/or impaired coping in what a person perceives as negative situations. So why do we care?
According to Sampson and Balsam (2016), motivational drives need to be modulated as both a function of both internal states in addition to external environmental conditions. This asks us to consider how in the mental health field we need to consider the body’s role in motivation and procrastination in addition to fine tuning skills.
take action today moment:
Consider your own motivation for different things in your life. Are you more motivated by an internal or external type of motivation? Are you motivated by a combination of both? Why? Then consider if you tend to procrastinate excessively. If you do, how do you approach your procrastination as it relates to motivation? Take some time to consider and journal. If this exercise is hard for you, take some time to just simply observe your own motivations and behaviors as you go through daily life. You will learn a lot about yourself especially as it relates to emotions, fears, and behaviors.
Learn More About Motivation and Procrastination:
How to Stop Procrastinating With 25 Tools
Motivation: The Driving Force Behind Our Actions
6 Important Benefits of Motivation For Attaining Goals
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