I have an honest question for theists.

[Ace Otana]

But motivations do play a role on the fact finding process. Because human actions have to be motivated; people don't just randomly decide to do things (most of the time). So most of the examples of progress that we see in history are going to include some kind of emotion that helped motivate it--without which the progress might not have occurred.

(Of course, there's a flip side--emotional demotivations or lack of motivation that resulted in a potential breakthrough going undiscovered.)

I'd say motivation comes from a particular interest in a certain subject. It can be how you were brought up, what you're taught and having experienced certain things that cause an interest.