Dopamine and the Dynamics of Motivation

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.

Read the full show notes for this episode at hubermanlab.com.

Thank you to our sponsors

AG1: https://athleticgreens.com/huberman

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Waking Up: https://www.wakingup.com/huberman

Timestamps

00:00:00 Introduction  

00:00:30 Sponsors: AG1, LMNT & Waking Up  

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

Disclaimer & Disclosures

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