All emotions, whether positive (happiness, joy, satisfaction, etc.) or negative (anger, sadness, anguish, etc.), are closely linked to the development of some motivation or desire. The patterns of emotional expression are highly varied. Theorists have compiled categorical lists that include as many as eight or ten, so-called primary affective states. The evolutionary foundation of emotion has a motivational aspect of two simpler organization factors, the appetitive or aversive stimulus. For example, something bad that is happening in your life that causes you bad emotions motivates you to get out of that situation (aversive stimulus), or something that you want and think will bring good emotions that can also be responsible for your motivation (appetitive stimulus).

   The addictive nature of smoking, for example, is illustrated by the difficulty of smokers in quitting. The desire, typically experienced by smokers acutely abstaining from withdrawal, is understood as a key component in the addiction cycle. Studies carried out with smokers have shown that the addiction to smoking is attenuated or abolished after focal damage to the insula cortex. Almost half of the studied patients quit smoking after acquired brain injury. However, if the injury involved the insula cortex, the patient was twice as likely to quit smoking as patients with damage that does not affect the insular cortex.

  How do we study emotional relationships with motivation and desire in neuroscience? Works performed with electroencephalography (EEG) showed certain relationships between emotions and specific brain wave patterns, for example, usually, the Beta wave state (14-30 Hz) is associated with strong emotions such as fear, anger, anxiety, alertness, attention selective, concentration and anticipation (Figure below). Therefore, associating the use of EGG with motivational tasks, we have an efficient method for evaluating these parameters. The investigation of neuronal activity in the prefrontal cortex in cerebral areas of the limbic system through the invasive electrophysiology technique can also be a method used for this purpose since these areas are responsible for the various emotional patterns.