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PH002 — Motivation / Drive

Capacity to initiate effort, pursue goals, and maintain goal-directed behaviour.

How readily a person starts effort, pursues goals, and stays engaged with what matters to them.

Therapeutic areas: TA001 ★TA003TA004TA007

Provenance: Core Version 1 ADHD registry phenome. Benchmarked against RDoC Positive Valence Systems (motivation, reward learning) and kept distinct from Behavioural Activation (PH010) and Reward Regulation (PH009). (origin: BRAIN)

Related phenomes: PH009 — Reward Regulation, PH010 — Behavioural Activation

External framework cross-references

RDoC domains

  • Positive Valence Systems — reward learning
  • Positive Valence Systems — motivation / effort

DSM / ICD context

  • Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
  • Major depressive disorder — motivational symptoms

Foundational Evidence

Evidence Confidence: Low–Medium

Registry-level score for this phenome's foundational evidence stack — not Biology → Phenome Confidence on individual mechanism pages.

Dopaminergic and endocannabinoid motivation biology are review-supported; open-label tyrosine and dietary precursor evidence is mechanistic or adjunct — not definitive motivation-intervention efficacy.

Registry-level foundational evidence for this phenome. Mechanism pages link to phenome IDs and carry relationship-specific evidence — not duplicated here.

Construct landmark papers

  • MacDonald et al. (2024) — Reviews dopamine signalling in motivation and goal-directed behaviour.
  • Aquili (2020) — Catecholaminergic neurotransmission framing for effort and drive biology.

Biology → phenome landmark papers

  • Fernstrom (2013) — Precursor transport and tyrosine availability upstream of catecholaminergic drive circuits.
  • Garani et al. (2021) — Endocannabinoid system modulation of motivation and stress-related behavioural states.

Nutrition → biology landmark papers

  • Wurtman et al. (2003) — Dietary tyrosine and precursor manipulation affects catecholamine synthesis biology.
  • Reimherr et al. (1987) — Open-label tyrosine supplementation in ADHD — early human adjunct evidence for drive/activation biology.

Connected mechanisms

BRS-X(ECS)

BRS-X(Hormones)

BRS1