Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-2jptb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-21T09:55:31.248Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Postcard from inside the black box

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2025

David Spurrett Open the ORCID record for David Spurrett [Opens in a new window]
David Spurrett*
Affiliation:
Philosophy, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa [email protected] https://philpeople.org/profiles/david-spurrett
*
*Corresponding author.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There are indeed questionable motivation constructs in psychology. The diagnosis and proposed remedies in the target article both neglect the crucial consideration that all tendencies to behaviour compete for the same finite set of degrees of freedom. Action selection also has irreducibly economic aspects which should constrain motivation constructs and already inform healthy research programmes.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 48 , 2025 , e45
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bartra, O., McGuire, J. T., & Kable, J. W. (2013). The valuation system: A coordinate-based meta-analysis of BOLD fMRI experiments examining neural correlates of subjective value. Neuroimage, 76, 412–427.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elson, M., Hussey, I., Alsalti, T., & Arslan, R. C. (2023). Psychological measures aren't toothbrushes. Communications Psychology, 1(1), 1–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gallistel, C. R. (1980). The organisation of action: A new synthesis. Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Levy, D. J., & Glimcher, P. W. (2012). The root of all value: A neural common currency for choice. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 22, 1027–1038.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Platt, M. L., & Glimcher, P. (1999). Neural correlates of decision variables in parietal cortex. Nature, 400, 233–238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sherrington, C. S. (1906). The integrative action of the nervous systems. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Spurrett, D. (2021a). The descent of preferences. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 72(2), 485–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spurrett, D. (2021b). Time and the decider. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 44, e133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed