This episode explains the science of motivation and drive. I describe how dopamine, a chemical we all make in our brain, underlies our desire for and pursuit of our goals, as well as our capacity to move and experience pleasure. I describe how we can leverage specific behaviors, reward schedules and dopamine-prolactin balance to help ensure we can maintain motivation and capacity for pleasure over the long term. I also discuss dopamine in the context of ADHD, craving and addiction, and some absolutely amazing results about specificity of drug effects based purely on belief.

#HubermanLab #Motivation #Neuroscience

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Link to study:
Effects of expectation on specificity of stimulant effects: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734725/

Timestamps
00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:22 Announcement: Spanish Subtitles
00:05:06 Emotions, Addiction & Mindset
00:06:22 Motivation & Movement: The Dopamine Connection
00:07:29 A Double-Edged Dopamine Blade
00:08:56 Dopamine Fundamentals: Precursor to Adrenalin
00:10:15 The Reward Pathway: An Accelerator & A Brake
00:12:10 Motivation= Pleasure Plus Pain
00:14:14 The Dopamine Staircase: Food, Sex, Nicotine, Cocaine, Amphetamine
00:16:15 Subjective Control of Dopamine Release
00:17:40 Social Media and Video Games
00:18:15 Addiction & Dopamine: Progressively Diminishing Returns
00:18:48 Novelty, Sensation-Seeking & Anticipation
00:20:15 Craving: Part Pain, Part Pleasure & Pain Always Prevails
00:23:11 Desire Scales With Pain: The Yearning Function
00:24:43 The Croissant Craving Circuit
00:25:45 “Here and Now” Molecules: Serotonin, Bliss & Raphe Nucleus
00:26:26 In Your Skin Or Out In the World
00:27:25 Cannabinoids Lethargy & Forgetfulness
00:28:15 The Almond Meditation
00:29:30 Drugs That Shift Exteroception Versus Interoception
00:30:36 Emotional Balance, Active & Passive Manipulation
00:32:36 Procrastination: Leveraging Stress, Breathing, Caffeine, L-Tyrosine, Prescription Drugs
00:37:04 When Enough Is Never Enough; How Dopamine Undermines Itself
00:38:58 Dopamine-Prolactin Dynamics: Sex, Reproduction & Refractory Periods
00:40:30 The Coolidge Effect: Novelty-Induced Suppression of Prolactin
00:42:22 Vitamin B6, Zinc As Mild Prolactin Inhibitors
00:43:25 Schizophrenia, Dopamine Hyperactivity and Side Effects of Anti-Dopaminergic Drugs
00:45:08 Prolactin, Post-Satisfaction “Lows” & Extending the Arc of Dopamine
00:48:00 The Chemistry of “I Won, But Now What?”
00:49:00 Healthy Emotional Development: Child and Parent
00:50:03 Never Say “Maybe” (Reward Prediction Error)
00:52:02 Surprise!
00:52:59 Are You Suppressing Your Drive and Motivation By Working Too Late?
00:54:50 Disambiguating Pleasure and Drive: Dopamine Makes Us Anti-Lazy
00:58:00 Beta-Phenylethylamine (PEA), & Acetyl L-Carnitine
01:00:00 Attention Deficit Disorders, Cal Newport Books, Impulsivity & Obesity
01:03:55 Leveraging Dopamine Schedules
01:05:22 Subjective Control of Dopamine and Drug Effects: The “Adderall” Experiment
01:09:03 Caffeine May Protect Dopamine Neurons, Methamphetamine Kills Them
01:10:57 Nicotine: Dopamine, Possible Neuroprotection, Prolactin Increase
01:11:53 Gambling, Intermittent Reinforcement, & Persistent Goal Seeking (Bad and Good)
01:14:14 Intermittent Halting of Celebration; Enjoy Your Wins, But Not All of Them
01:18:38 A Story Example of Intermittent Reward to Maintain Long-Term Drive and Motivation
01:21:25 Corrections & Notes About Spanish Captions & Other Languages Soon
01:24:00 Synthesis & Framework, Zero-Cost Support & A Note About Sponsors

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Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac https://www.blabacphoto.com