Motivation biases behavior but not perception (opens in new tab)

Why do people differ in their perceptual judgment despite observing the same situation? According to “motivated perception”, a person’s motivation can alter how the brain interprets incoming sensory information. Yet, empirical support remains mixed, often due to methodological confounds. Here, we systematically tested whether motivation alters perception or whether it instead biases behavior. Across four experiments, we assessed the quality and quantity of motivation (self-concordance, value)...