In this episode, my guest is Dr. David Berson, Ph.D., Professor & Chairman of Neuroscience at Brown University. Dr. Berson discovered the neurons in your eye that set your biological rhythms for sleep, wakefulness, mood and appetite. He is also a world-renowned teacher of basic and advanced neuroscience, having taught thousands of university lectures on this topic. Many of his students have become world-leading neuroscientists and teachers themselves.
Here Dr. Berson takes us on a structured journey into and around the nervous system, explaining: how we perceive the world and our internal landscape, how we balance, see, and remember. Also, how we learn and perform reflexive and deliberate actions, how we visualize and imagine in our mind, and how the various circuits of the brain coordinate all these incredible feats.
We discuss practical and real-life examples of neural circuit function across the lifespan. Dr. Berson gives us a masterclass in the nervous system—one that, in just less than two hours, will teach you an entire course's worth about the brain and how yours works.
Read the full show notes for this episode at hubermanlab.com.
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Timestamps
00:00:00 Dr. David Berson
00:03:11 Sponsors: AG1, LMNT & Waking Up
00:08:02 How We See
00:10:02 Color Vision
00:13:47 “Strange” Vision
00:16:56 How You Orient In Time
00:25:45 Body Rhythms, Pineal Function, Light & Melatonin, Blueblockers
00:34:45 Spending Time Outdoors Improves Eyesight
00:36:20 Sensation, Mood, & Self-Image
00:41:03 Sense of Balance
00:50:43 Why Pigeons Bob Their Heads, Motion Sickness
01:00:03 Popping Ears
01:02:35 Midbrain & Blindsight
01:10:44 Why Tilted Motion Feels Good
01:13:24 Reflexes vs. Deliberate Actions
01:16:35 Basal Ganglia & the “2 Marshmallow Test”
01:24:40 Suppressing Reflexes: Cortex
01:33:33 Neuroplasticity
01:36:27 What is a Connectome?
01:45:20 How to Learn (More About the Brain)
01:49:04 Book Suggestion, My Berson Appreciation
01:50:20 Zero-Cost Ways to Support the HLP, Guest Suggestions, Sponsors, Supplements
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