In the philosophy of mind,[1] and in psychology, conation refers to the ability to apply intellectual energy to a task to achieve its completion or reach a solution.
It may overlap to some extent with the concept of motivation, but "the ability to focus and maintain persistent effort" has been seen as more pertinent to conation.
[2] Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines conation as "an inclination (as an instinct or drive) to act purposefully".
[7] For George Berkeley in his essay De Motu, it was a term to be avoided, because "we do not rightly understand" its meaning.
[8] Neuropsychology researchers Ralph M. Reitan and Deborah Wolfson looked at the performance of specific tasks which were "judged to require conative ability" in a research study published in 2000 and surmised that "conation, which has been a neglected dimension of behavior in neuropsychological assessment, may be the missing link between cognitive ability and prediction of performance capabilities in everyday life".