Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Motivation deficits remain an unmet treatment need in schizophrenia. Recent preclinical research has identified novel mechanisms underlying motivation deficits, namely impaired effort-cost computations and reduced future reward-value representation maintenance, that may serve as more effective treatment targets to improve motivation. The main aim of this study was to test the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of a translational mechanism-based intervention, MEMS (Mobile Enhancement of Motivation in Schizophrenia), which leverages mobile technology to target these mechanisms with text-messages. Fifty-six participants with a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder were randomized to MEMS (n = 27) or a control condition (n = 29). All participants set recovery goals to complete over eight-weeks. The MEMS group also received personalized, interactive text-messages each weekday to support motivation. Retention and engagement in MEMS was high: 92.6% completed 8 weeks of MEMS, with an 86.1% text-message response rate, and 100% reported that they were satisfied with the text-messages. Compared to the control condition, the MEMS group had significantly greater improvements in interviewer-rated motivation and anticipatory pleasure and obtained significantly more recovery-oriented goals at the end of the 8-week period. There were no significant group differences in performance-based effort-cost computations and future reward-value representations, self-reported motivation, quality of life, functioning, or additional secondary outcomes of positive symptoms, mood symptoms, or neurocognition. Results suggest that MEMS is feasible as a relatively brief, low-intensity mobile intervention that could effectively improve interviewer-rated motivation, anticipatory pleasure, and recovery goal attainment in those with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

Lärande och motivation är nära sammankopplade, en motiverad elev tar till sig materialet bättre. Detta är ett område som utforskats under lång tid, men verktygen som tillämpas för att främja lärande har utvecklats och därmed finns nya motivationsfrämjande faktorer som kan utforskas. Idag finns det även digitala läroverktyg. Samspelet mellan teknologi, lärande och motivation är ett intressant och växande forskningsområde. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan upplevelse av gamification (eller tv-spels element som tillämpas inom en annan kontext än ren underhållning) i ett digitalt läroverktyg och användarnas motivation till språklärande. Följande forskningsfrågor har ställts: Finns det gruppskillnader i fråga om motivation mellan personer som är enspråkiga respektive flerspråkiga? Finns det gruppskillnader gällande motivation och åldersgrupper? Finns det ett samband mellan hur högt aktiviteten värderas och motivation kopplad till spelfunktioner? Motiveras personer som drivs av inre motivation av spelfunktioner? Hur beskriver deltagarna sina erfarenheter av gamification kopplat till motivation? Datainsamlingen genomfördes genom en enkät med kvantitativa samt kompletterande kvalitativa frågor. Urvalet bestod av 35 deltagare i åldern 15-42 år, varav 31,4% identifierade sig som män, 62,9% som kvinnor och 5,7% som annan. Dataanalysen skedde i SPSS och visade på en signifikant korrelation mellan aktivitetsvärdering och gamification samt gruppskillnad kopplad till flerspråkighet där gruppen för flerspråkiga uppvisade högre yttre motivation. Inga signifikanta gruppskillnader kopplat till ålder kunde identifieras. Deltagarna var generellt positivt inställda till gamification, men upplevde att liv-systemet motverkade lärandet eftersom användaren förlorar ”liv” när misstag begås och när liven tagit slut stoppas från att fortsätta genomföra lektioner under en viss tid. / Learning and motivation are closely linked; a motivated student will have an easier time learning the material. This is an area that has been researched for a long time, however the tools used to promote learning have evolved and therefore there are new motivational factors that can be explored. Today, digital learning platforms are also being used. The interaction between technology, learning and motivation is an interesting and growing research area. The aim of this study was to examine if there is a relationship between how gamification (or video game elements applied in other contexts than entertainment) is experienced in a digital learning tool and the users’ motivation to learn languages. The following research questions were asked: Are there any group differences in terms of motivation based on multilingualism? Are there any group differences in motivation based on age groups? Is there a correlation between how highly the activity is valued and motivation derived from gamification? Are intrinsically motivated people driven by gamification? How do the participants describe their experiences with gamification in terms of motivation? Data collection was performed through a quantitative survey with some qualitative questions as well. The participant group consisted of 35 participants aged 15-42 years. Of these 31.4% identified themselves as men, 62.9% as women and 5.7% as other. Data analysis was performed in SPSS and showed a significant correlation between activity-value and gamification, as well as a significant group difference based on multilingualism, where multilingual individuals scored higher on extrinsic motivation. No significant differences at group level could be identified based on age. The participants were generally positive towards gamification, but expressed that the life system disrupted their learning, since the users lose lives when they make mistakes, when they run out of lives they are prevented from continuing for a certain time, disrupting learning.

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Motivation kan skilja sig åt mellan individer. Tidigare studier inom självbestämmande teorin visade på positiva och negativa effekter av inre motivation, yttre motivation och amotivation. Ingen studie hade, till kännedom, jämfört olika yrkeskategorier gällande motivationstyperna. Det resulterade i studiens syfte att jämföra 4 yrkeskategorier, män och kvinnor och undersöka interaktionsteffekten, vilket var grunden till studiens 9 frågeställningar. En digital enkät distribuerades bland poliser, sjuksköterskor, banktjänstemän och lagerpersonal. Enkäten inkluderade bakgrundsfrågor och 18 påståenden från en skala som mäter motivation. 130 respondenter deltog, varav 69 kvinnor. Tvåvägs variansanalyser för oberoende mätningar användes. Signifikanta skillnader fanns mellan yrkeskategorierna gällande de 3 motivationstyperna. Ingen signifikant skillnad fanns mellan kön, inte heller någon interaktionseffekt mellan kön och yrke. Poliser och sjuksköterskor hade hög grad inre motivation och lagerpersonal hade högre amotivation än övriga 3 yrken. Resultatet och kunskapen om motivationstyperna borde ligga i allas intresse för att skapa en optimal arbetsplats med drivna medarbetare.

Accumulating evidence suggests a potential relationship between approach motivation and perceptual enhancement. The current investigation was undertaken with the goal of exploring the causes of the phenomenon as well as implications for personality. Below, a model is introduced to help explain the causes and consequences of relations between approach motivation and perceptual size. Two studies are then presented testing a number of assumptions made by the model. In Study 1 (n = 78), state-related variations in approach motivation were manipulated with the intent of sensitizing the perceptual system to appetitive stimuli. It was predicted that such sensitization would result in greater size estimations. In Study 2 (n = 123), size overestimates were used to assess relations between daily events and outcomes. It was hypothesized that individual differences in size estimations for appetitive words (relative to neutral words) would predict daily motivations, emotion, and behaviors, as well as reactivity to daily events. In addition, several individual difference variables ostensibly related to dopamine activity were assessed in both studies and entered as moderators of the degree to which size overestimations varied by stimulus type. Many of the hypotheses were not supported, but size overestimations did, as hypothesized, moderate relations between positive events and goal-related motivation.

The purpose of this study was to design the Abstinence Motivation Scale-Sex (AMS-Sex), a scale to assess adolescent motivations for sexual abstinence using the self-determination theory (SDT) motivation continuum as a framework. Previous sexual abstinence research, SDT measurement studies, pilot study data, and expert panel feedback were used to develop the initial 77-item AMS-Sex. The sample consisted of 695 adolescents (aged 15 to 18; M age = 16.49, SD = 1.08; 50.8% male) recruited online from the across the U.S. Participants completed an online survey. The sample was randomly split into two samples. Independent samples t-tests indicated that sample 1 (N = 351; M age = 16.53, SD = 1.09; 48% male) and sample 2 (N = 344; M age = 16.46, SD = 1.07; 51% male) did not significantly differ by age, gender, parent education, annual household income, sexual behavior, or social desirability. Sample 1 data was used to assess scale reliabilities and run exploratory factor analyses (EFA) to examine the factor structure of the 77-item AMS-Sex. The 77-item AMS-Sex had good internal consistency (α = .99), as did the four subscales. As anticipated, the EFA resulted in a four-factor structure. However, these factors did not represent the anticipated SDT motivation types. Rather, the autonomous motivation items loaded on a single factor; the controlled motivation items loaded onto three factors by source or reference (i.e., parents, peers/others, and self). A second EFA was examined, constraining the model to two factors (i.e., controlled, autonomous). The 77 AMS-Sex items were reduced to a final 24-item AMS-Sex measure with six items per motivation type through a rigorous process using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with modification indices and information from CFA loadings, item means, standard deviations, skewness, correlations with social desirability, EFA loadings, and item wording and clarity. Sample 2 was then used to validate the final 24-item AMS-Sex using CFA and structural equation modeling (SEM). CFA was used to assess the four-factor, three-factor, and two-factor models. Model fit indices indicated that the four-factor and three-factor models had acceptable model fit, but the two-factor model did not. SEM was used to assess the relationships between the factors (i.e., types of motivation) and age, gender, social desirability, and sexual behavior for the four-factor, three-factor, and two-factor models. The SEM models indicated that older teens tended to be less motivated towards abstinence; girls were more motivated towards abstinence than boys; and sexual behavior was negatively correlated with all four motivation types, but more strongly with the autonomous motivations; and, in general, autonomous motivations were negative predictors of sexual behavior, while controlled motivations positively predicted sexual behavior. EFAs with the final 24 items were assessed, resulting in a three-factor solution: external, introjected, and autonomous motivations.