Neuroscientific contributions to motivation in education

Neuroscientists and motivation specialists in education are two very different groups of scholars. Their subject matter overlaps in many ways (e.g., students’ learning, motivation), but rather striking differences exist in terms of their training, journals, research methodology, dependent measures, unit of analysis, and what they accept as convincing evidence about how motivation works. Because this is so, it is reasonable to ask whether a chapter on neuroscience can contribute meaningfully to this Handbook on Motivation at School. We think that it can, but we also think that educators need a guide to clarify its potential value. The purpose of this chapter is to offer such a guide.

We organize the chapter into three sections. The first section speaks to the potential future partnership between motivation specialists in education on the one hand and cognitive and affective neuroscientists on the other hand. This partnership may or may not take root and thrive, so we identify and explain the key differences between the two fields, differences that may prove to be barriers (“we are so different”) yet may also prove to be opportunities (“we have so much to learn from each other”). The second section explains what educators can gain from neuroscientific data. We argue that educators may have much to gain from neuroscience, because it has been our experience that motivation specialists who take the time to listen to, understand, and benefit from neuroscientists tend to deepen and sharpen their understanding of motivational processes. The third section is the largest and potentially most interesting section. Here, we show how neuroscientific data can enhance (and already has enhanced) our understanding of education-related motivational phenomena. We take 10 motivational constructs that are featured in other chapters of this Handbook (e.g., goal, value, intrinsic motivation, self-regulation) and look at each one through the unique lens of cognitive neuroscience. Overall, the purpose of the chapter is to act as a potential catalyst to
ready motivation specialists in education to benefit from neuroscientific data.

© 2016 Taylor & Francis

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