Harnessing biopsychology and mobile technology to develop motivation science in the next decade

Benefits arise from adding “new generation” biopsychological indicators of motivation to “classic” motivation assessments. With the rise of mobile technology (smartphones, wristbands), researchers are now better positioned to capture real-time biopsychological motivation markers and to conduct more ecologically valid motivation research in the classroom setting. Such psychophysiology indicators include heart rate, heart rate variability, electrodermal activity, and eye gaze, and these measures can be paired with traditional motivation assessments such as surveys and observations. The authors of this essay discuss how complementing classic research methods with new-generation biopsychological indicators is the next exciting empirical frontier in both educational psychology and motivation science.