Human Cognition: Interaction with Motivation and Emotion

Introduction

Research on motivation and emotion and how they are integrated with human cognition has gained much attention over the years. Evidence of this can be seen in the increasing popularity of the term "emotion-cognition relationships." This literature appreciates the close relationship between motivational, emotional, and cognitive processes. Emotion is defined as an organization of multiple related processes that encompass experiences, thoughts, and preparation for a course of action. These processes manifest in overt behavior, psychology, and language (Liu, Fu, & Fu, 2009).

Furthermore, these processes promote adaptation by responding to the pursuit, achievement, and non-achievement of human goals, concerns, and needs. Motivation and emotion are related but not identical. Although the two are similar in composition, motivations are hypothesized as processes that act as driving forces for goal-oriented behavior aimed at attaining desirable outcomes. Brosch et al. (2013) describe motivation as what drives an individual to obtain a reward and avoid punishment.

Although some believe that motivation and emotions cannot be separated, many studies argue that they are related while still exhibiting differences in their effects on behavior and cognition (Brosch et al., 2013). These processes are both instigated by distinct and shared regions of the brain. When a mismatch occurs between expected and actual progress, changes in emotional state are inevitable. These changes alter successive motivations, which in turn promote or hinder goal achievement. Furthermore, emotional changes can alter expectations about future occurrences, which then produce further emotional changes.

Cognition is an essential part of emotion and motivation and impacts the extent to which they influence behavior and ongoing activities. There is also strong evidence indicating that motivation and emotion play a key role in attention, decision-making, perception, and control. Cognitive, motivational, and emotional processes are implemented by brain regions whose functions vary depending on context. This paper therefore examines the interaction between emotion, motivation, and human cognition, and shows how the integration of emotion and motivation affects cognition. It also addresses the implications of this interaction for human cognition. The main topics covered include a definition of human cognition, the importance of motivation and emotion in explaining human cognition, the interaction between motivation and cognition, the interaction between emotion and cognition, the effect of motivation, and the implications of the interaction among these three psychological processes (Crocker et al., 2013).

Defining Human Cognition

Human cognitive psychology is a branch of psychology that deals with human mental processes. Cognition includes the processes and activities concerned with how we acquire, store, retrieve, and process information and knowledge. These processes help us attend, perceive, think, remember, categorize, reason, and make decisions. These activities represent the brain's higher-level functioning and incorporate imagination, planning, perception, and language (Crocker et al., 2013).

Why Motivation and Emotion Matter for Cognition

A view of human intelligence that focuses only on cognition is likely to miss some crucial aspects of human intelligence. A more complete view must incorporate emotion and motivation. As stated by Reeve (2014), motive and emotion are major influences on cognitive behavior, and a general theory of problem-solving and thinking must therefore integrate such influences. When motivation is incorporated into human intelligence, we can better explain the origin of goals. This idea agrees with Crocker et al. (2013) that goals arise from particular needs — including social needs for relationships, avoidance of pain and hunger, and sexual needs. Motivation is useful in explaining why a particular plan may be given priority, why it is implemented, and why a certain action has come to a standstill.

Incorporating emotion into models of human intelligence is equally important. This incorporation can help explain various aspects discussed under intuitive psychology and deep learning. According to Reeve (2014), emotions form the basis for cognition. For instance, when an individual fails to reach an important goal, that individual may get angry. In this case, anger shapes perception, decision-making, planning, and behavior — characterized by little deliberation, high activation, quick decision-making, and rough perception.

Emotions are also useful in modulating human behavior by explaining how they control behavior. Guss and Dörner (2017) argue that emotions can trigger specific cognitive processes. They note that individuals are most likely to feel uneasy when every attempt to find a solution fails. This feeling of unease can then become the beginning of metacognition: the individual starts reflecting on their own thinking to determine what went wrong and to evaluate new solutions. In such a case, human intelligence is effectively reprogramming itself.

According to Brosch et al. (2013), emotions play a critical function in adjusting behavior to meet the demands of the current situation, which aligns with Reeve's (2014) view that emotions may partly explain how and why humans learn. For instance, a child watching his or her parent smile happily while watching a football match needs few exposures to conclude that football must be enjoyable. Crocker et al. (2013) note that emotion and motivation share a common theme: both occur in the presence of, or as a function of, a goal or valued object. Investigating effort, time, and attention invested in a specific goal implies value, while emotions elicited by stimuli imply that the person is not indifferent to that object. Considering emotion and motivation together therefore helps explain key differences in how individuals perceive priorities, goals, and judgments (Crocker et al., 2013).

The Interaction Between Motivation and Cognition

A large body of literature has shown that cognitive processes are significantly influenced by motivation. The depth of these influences is extensive, involving reward, emotion, and other motivational processes across every cognitive domain. In general, motivation is defined as goal-oriented behavior aimed at minimizing pain and maximizing pleasure (Liu, Fu, & Fu, 2009). Motivated cognition refers to the impact of motivation on thought processes such as information processing, judgment, reasoning, decision-making, and memory — processes essential to social phenomena including persuasion, self-evaluation, stereotyping, communication, and perception.

Memory is one clear example of motivated cognition. People often remember their successes more than their failures. When led to believe that a particular attribute is desirable, people are more likely to recall past events that display that attribute. Motivation also influences how a person processes information: an individual is more likely to trust a small amount of information that is consistent with their desired expectations, even when they recognize that a smaller information sample is unreliable. This tendency is especially pronounced with messages that threaten desirable beliefs. If a person engages in a behavior like smoking, they are more likely to find fault with information suggesting that behavior is dangerous.

Judgments of probability and frequency are also influenced by motives. Individuals tend to overestimate how frequently events occur that support their desired beliefs, and they view their personal prospects of experiencing positive events as greater than the chance of experiencing negative ones. Motivational influences may further cause individuals to find explanations for success more appealing than explanations for failure, and may lead them to believe that people who have had negative experiences are partly responsible for those experiences.

By doing this, individuals shield themselves from believing they could have similar experiences. As Reeve (2014) writes, applying and accessing negative stereotypes about others serves as a coping mechanism that protects self-concept. Similarly, how an individual defines personality characteristics may be connected to self-serving motives — for instance, many people believe they are better leaders when they define leadership in terms of their own strengths.

Motivation also appears to activate careful scrutiny of information. Many people exhibit a confirmation bias when testing theories, paying more attention to information that confirms their hypotheses than to information that disconfirms them. They also tend to remember personal and vivid information over impersonal or vague information, and they are more likely to apply decision-making rules that are consistent with their motives. When given an opportunity for self-affirmation — that is, reflecting on personal core values — individuals are less likely to display bias in their judgments. Non-conscious motives can also influence cognition through the spontaneous activation of ideas relevant to a particular judgment (Crocker et al., 2013).

Conclusion

This literature review demonstrates the relationship between emotion, motivation, and cognition. These processes are closely interconnected, and complex human behavior emerges from their interaction. Emotion shapes our perception of the world, the decisions we make, and how we remember experiences. Motivation, meanwhile, is the driving force underlying the decisions we take and our expectations about outcomes. Like any other system, these interactions can go wrong, with consequences such as the exaggerated attentional biases associated with anxiety and depression. When functioning normally, however, these processes serve as helpful guides for human behavior.

It is important to note that although recent research has provided considerable evidence supporting the interaction of these psychological processes, several unresolved questions remain that require future evaluation and research (Guss & Dörner, 2017). Accumulating evidence shows that even ostensibly non-emotional task performance can be influenced by motivational and emotional states — including emotion-related traits and the emotional features of a given situation. Cognition is also an essential component of motivation and emotion. The interrelationship among these three processes shapes behavior and ongoing activities, and it is becoming increasingly clear that emotion, motivation, and cognition are complexly interwoven — making it difficult to draw clear boundaries between them.

There is a growing body of research and interest in this topic, but much work remains, particularly in developing concepts and theories that can guide practical applications. Significant potential exists for applying a deeper understanding of these interactions to the treatment of psychopathology and other areas. A better understanding of the neural and psychological mechanisms involved in the complex interaction of cognition, motivation, and emotion can help advance the development of new therapeutic and clinical applications. Ultimately, the interaction among cognition, motivation, and emotion is essential for human adaptation to the environment.

References

Brosch, T., Scherer, K. R., Grandjean, D. M., & Sander, D. (2013). The impact of emotion on perception, attention, memory, and decision-making. Swiss Medical Weekly, 143, w13786.

Crocker, L. D., Heller, W., Warren, S. L., O'Hare, A. J., Infantolino, Z. P., & Miller, G. A. (2013). Relationships among cognition, emotion, and motivation: Implications for intervention and neuroplasticity in psychopathology. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 261.

Güss, C. D., & Dörner, D. (2017). The importance of motivation and emotion for explaining human cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40, 38–39.

Liu, Y., Fu, Q., & Fu, X. (2009). The interaction between cognition and emotion. Chinese Science Bulletin, 54(22), 4102–4116.

Reeve, J. (2014). Understanding motivation and emotion. John Wiley & Sons.