Using Maude to Model Motivation in Human Behaviour

Human beings act and think driven by motivation, which can be physiological as well as psychological. Although there is no unified theory of motivation, there are a number of theories in psychology that define conceptual models to explain distinct kinds and aspects of motivation. Such a conceptual fragmentation of the notion of motivation makes it very challenging the attempt to build a formal framework to model motivation. In this paper we address the needs underlying motivation, focusing in particular on physiological needs, such as the ones for food, water and sleep, and on the lowest level of psychological needs, the needs for safety and security. We use BRDL (Behaviour and Reasoning Description Language) to model human behaviour and thinking as well as its psychological motivation and LTSs (Labelled Transition Systems) to model physiological motivation. Finally, we illustrate our translation of this formal framework into the Maude rewrite language, which supports the simulation and analysis of the modelled cognitive systems.