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Neurological Research on Learning, Reward and Decision Making

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A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2017) | Viewed by 93038

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Hillary Wehe

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Guest Editor

Department of Psychology, Davis and Elkins College, 100 Campus Dr, Elkins, WV 26241, USA
Interests: motivation; reward; learning; decision-making

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to participate in a Special Issue of Brain Sciences, focusing on advances in the field of reward and motivation. The study of motivation incorporates a variety of fields including: Social, behavioral, cognitive, and neuroscience, and the goal of this issue is to highlight developments across a variety of methodological approaches. We will include integrative and diverse explorations of motivation’s impact on behaviour, learning, and decision-making. We invite original empirical articles, meta-analyses and critical reviews for submission.

Prof. Dr. Hillary Wehe
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Motivation
Reward
Learning
Decision-making

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 548 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Local Choices: Rationality and the Contextuality of Decision-Making

by Ivo Vlaev

Brain Sci. 2018, 8(1), 8; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci8010008 - 02 Jan 2018

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5930

Abstract

Rational explanation is ubiquitous in psychology and social sciences, ranging from rational analysis, expectancy-value theories, ideal observer models, mental logic to probabilistic frameworks, rational choice theory, and informal “folk psychological” explanation. However, rational explanation appears to be challenged by apparently systematic irrationality observed in psychological experiments, especially in the field of judgement and decision-making (JDM). Here, it is proposed that the experimental results require not that rational explanation should be rejected, but that rational explanation is local, i.e., within a context. Thus, rational models need to be supplemented with a theory of contextual shifts. We review evidence in JDM that patterns of choices are often consistent within contexts, but unstable between contexts. We also demonstrate that for a limited, though reasonably broad, class of decision-making domains, recent theoretical models can be viewed as providing theories of contextual shifts. It is argued that one particular significant source of global inconsistency arises from a cognitive inability to represent absolute magnitudes, whether for perceptual variables, utilities, payoffs, or probabilities. This overall argument provides a fresh perspective on the scope and limits of human rationality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neurological Research on Learning, Reward and Decision Making)

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456 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metacognitive Precursors: An Analysis in Children with Different Disabilities

by María Consuelo Sáiz Manzanares and Miguel Ángel Carbonero Martín

Brain Sci. 2017, 7(10), 136; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci7100136 - 21 Oct 2017

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4362

Abstract

The analysis of Metacognitive skills is a key element to guide the learning process. Current research has shown the initiation of these skills from an early age. The present study had two aims: (1) to validate a Scale Measuring Precursor Metacognitive Skills (SMPMS) in children with diverse disabilities, and (2) to study possible significant different between different disabilities in precursor metacognitive skill use. We worked with 87 children with different disabilities, with an average age range of 24–37 months. The results have shown high indicators of reliability and validity of the SMPMS. We isolated two factors related to cognitive and metacognitive and self-regulation skills response to an adult. We also found significant differences in the acquisition of metacognitive and self-regulation skills among children with global developmental retardation as compared to children with expressive language and comprehension disability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neurological Research on Learning, Reward and Decision Making)

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1297 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evidences from Rewarding System, FRN and P300 Effect in Internet-Addiction in Young People

by Michela Balconi, Irene Venturella and Roberta Finocchiaro

Brain Sci. 2017, 7(7), 81; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci7070081 - 12 Jul 2017

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 7023

Abstract

The present research explored rewarding bias and attentional deficits in Internet addiction (IA) based on the IAT (Internet Addiction Test) construct, during an attentional inhibitory task (Go/NoGo task). Event-related Potentials (ERPs) effects (Feedback Related Negativity (FRN) and P300) were monitored in concomitance with Behavioral Activation System (BAS) modulation. High-IAT young participants showed specific responses to IA-related cues (videos representing online gambling and videogames) in terms of cognitive performance (decreased Response Times, RTs; and Error Rates, ERs) and ERPs modulation (decreased FRN and increased P300). Consistent reward and attentional biases was adduced to explain the cognitive “gain” effect and the anomalous response in terms of both feedback behavior (FRN) and attentional (P300) mechanisms in high-IAT. In addition, BAS and BAS-Reward subscales measures were correlated with both IAT and ERPs variations. Therefore, high sensitivity to IAT may be considered as a marker of dysfunctional reward processing (reduction of monitoring) and cognitive control (higher attentional values) for specific IA-related cues. More generally, a direct relationship among reward-related behavior, Internet addiction and BAS attitude was suggested. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neurological Research on Learning, Reward and Decision Making)

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Review

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10 pages, 187 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Neuroscience of Growth Mindset and Intrinsic Motivation

by Betsy Ng

Brain Sci. 2018, 8(2), 20; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/brainsci8020020 - 26 Jan 2018

Cited by 79 | Viewed by 71758

Abstract

Our actions can be triggered by intentions, incentives or intrinsic values. Recent neuroscientific research has yielded some results about the growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. With the advances in neuroscience and motivational studies, there is a global need to utilize this information to inform educational practice and research. Yet, little is known about the neuroscientific interplay between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. This paper attempts to draw on the theories of growth mindset and intrinsic motivation, together with contemporary ideas in neuroscience, outline the potential for neuroscientific research in education. It aims to shed light on the relationship between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation in terms of supporting a growth mindset to facilitate intrinsic motivation through neural responses. Recent empirical research from the educational neuroscience perspective that provides insights into the interplay between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation will also be discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neurological Research on Learning, Reward and Decision Making)