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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 eliana.vassena@donders.ru.nl
Jacqueline Gottlieb
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience and the Mortimer Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA jg2141@columbia.edu
*
*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.

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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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