Intrinsic motivation (IM) is key for persistence at work. When they are intrinsically motivated,
people experience work activities as an end in itself, such that the activity and its goal …

Goals play a central role in human cognition. However, computational theories of learning
and decision-making often take goals as given. Here, we review key empirical findings …

Over the last decades, theoretical perspectives in the interdisciplinary field of the affective
sciences have proliferated rather than converged due to differing assumptions about what …

Flow is a cognitive state that manifests when there is complete attentional absorption while
performing a task. Flow occurs when certain internal as well as external conditions are …

How do people's perceptions about when they work affect their intrinsic motivation? We find
that working during non-standard work time (weekends/holidays) versus standard work time …

Interacting with music is a uniquely pleasurable activity that is ubiquitous across human
cultures. Current theories suggest that a prominent driver of musical pleasure responses is …

Humans often pursue idiosyncratic goals that appear remote from functional ends, including
information gain. We suggest that this is valuable because goals (even prima facie foolish or …

All forms of cognition, whether natural or artificial, are subject to constraints of their
computing architecture. This assumption forms the tenet of virtually all general theories of …

Background A vast amount of research has examined how extrinsic rewards influence
motivation in learning. Whereas some studies have indicated that rewards are beneficial for …

Task rules restrict freedom by definition, but do they necessarily harm intrinsic motivation?
We examine how task rules for an open-ended writing activity affect intrinsic motivation, or …