Implication of Cognitive Science on Motivation
The problem of motivation as the driving force of human behavior naturally arises in any theory of knowledge. The cognitive science does not avoid this problem too. It is originally united the study of the cognitive processes and does not affect motivation. The cognitive science is sharply contrasted itself with functionalism and behaviorism, offering a holistic approach to the study of psychic phenomena, aimed at the finding of relationships between traditional mental functions and their integration into the psychology of cognition (Pessoa, 2009).
At the same time, the received experimental data in cognitive science have shown the dependence of human information processing on a number of subjective factors, such as motivation, the interpretation of which is unconvincing and unproductive in the purely cognitive terms (Davis, 2008). The motivation can also be produced by the relationship between a new knowledge and the existing cognitive structures. The essence of the theory of the cognitive dissonance is transparent. The existence of contradictions between the knowledge, perceived by the subject, leads to its motivational state that causes the activity aimed at the eliminating this contradiction (Davis, 2008). This is due to a fact that people have a tendency to avoid the state of doubt and reach the state of knowledge according to the representatives of cognitive science.
The findings of the motivating function of knowledge in cognitive science are undoubtedly important. At the same time, the attempts to implement the motivation in the processing of information by the subject is somewhat artificial, since in this case there is no meaningful analysis of the emergence of motivation. Despite the fact that cognitive theories of the motivation in many ways decide on what kind of processes are primary in the event of motivation, they point to the importance of the interaction between the affective and cognitive components in cognition.
References
Davis, D. (2008). Linking perception and action through motivation and affect. Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 20 Issue 1, p. 37-60.
Pessoa, L. (2009). How do emotion and motivation direct executive control? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Vol. 13 Issue 4, p. 160-166.