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There's no such thing as a free lunch: A computational perspective on the costs of motivation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2025

Eliana Vassena Open the ORCID record for Eliana Vassena [Opens in a new window]  and
Jacqueline Gottlieb
Eliana Vassena*
Affiliation:
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands [email protected]
Jacqueline Gottlieb
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience and the Mortimer Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA [email protected]
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

Understanding the psychological computations underlying motivation can shed light onto motivational constructs as emergent phenomena. According to Murayama and Jach, reward-learning is a key candidate mechanism. However, there's no such thing as a free lunch: Not only benefits (like reward), but also costs inherent to motivated behaviors (like effort, or uncertainty) are an essential part of the picture.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 48 , 2025 , e47
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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