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Incremental learning, focused on making errors, is a powerful way to tap into neuroplasticity as an adult. By engaging in short bouts of intense learning, where we make a lot of errors, we can signal to our nervous system that change is necessary. The frustration and errors during these learning bouts release neurotransmitters like epinephrine and acetylcholine, which promote focus and attention. Keeping the learning sessions relatively short and intense allows us to maintain high levels of focus and engagement. Additionally, by subjectively attaching dopamine to the process of making errors, we can create a positive association with the learning experience, further enhancing plasticity.
Creating a sense of contingency or high importance in our learning tasks can lead to accelerated plasticity. Studies have shown that when the need to learn or accomplish something vital is present, the rate of plasticity increases dramatically. By setting challenging goals or tasks that we must achieve, we can stimulate the release of neurochemicals like dopamine, which enhances motivation and plasticity. This highlights the importance of attaching personal significance and importance to our learning endeavors in order to facilitate neural change.
Finding the right timing and mental states that favor learning can significantly impact plasticity. Each individual has their own natural peaks of mental acuity throughout the day. Identifying these times when focus and concentration are naturally heightened allows us to engage in learning tasks more effectively. By scheduling learning sessions during these optimal periods, we can maximize our ability to tolerate errors and stay focused, creating an ideal environment for neuroplasticity. These timing considerations vary between individuals and should be assessed based on personal mental rhythms.
Engaging in activities that involve limbic friction, such as challenging emotional experiences or intense physical exercises, can open up neural plasticity. Limbic friction refers to the stimulation and engagement of the limbic system, which plays a crucial role in emotion and memory. By purposefully exposing ourselves to situations that create emotional or physical friction, we can trigger the release of neurotransmitters and create an environment conducive to neural change. Additionally, activities that involve balance, such as coordination exercises or balance training, can stimulate brain regions associated with motor control and plasticity.
Limbic friction, a term coined by the speaker, goes beyond the simplistic idea of stress and represents the struggle between our limbic system and our autonomic biology. It can manifest as excessive alertness or tiredness, both of which hinder optimal learning and performance. Achieving the ideal state of clear, calm, and focused arousal is crucial for accessing neural plasticity. Techniques like the double inhale-exhale and expanding your field of gaze can help regulate autonomic arousal.
Engaging the vestibular system, responsible for balance, can significantly enhance neural plasticity. By introducing novel movements and creating errors within the vestibular-motor relationship, the brain releases neurochemicals that facilitate accelerated learning and make errors more pleasurable. Activities that involve multidimensional movements, such as yoga or sports like gymnastics or surfing, offer opportunities for plasticity. Striving for novelty in the relationship to gravity and creating a sense of instability can optimize the vestibular-motor experience and promote enhanced learning.
In this episode, I discuss how we can use specific types of behavior to change our brain, both for sake of learning the movements themselves and for allowing us to learn non-movement-based information as well. I describe the key role that errors play in triggering our brains to change and how the vestibular (balance) system can activate and amplify neuroplasticity. As always, I cover science and science-based practical tools. Thank you in advance for your questions and for your interest in science!
For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com.
AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman
LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman
Waking Up: https://www.wakingup.com/huberman
Momentous: https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:00:29) Sponsors: AG1, LMNT, Waking Up
(00:06:20) Nerves and Muscles
(00:12:00) Exercise alone won’t change your brain
(00:12:58) Behavior will change your brain
(00:13:30) Remembering the wrong things
(00:15:00) Behavior as the gate to plasticity
(00:15:45) Types of Plasticity
(00:17:32) Errors Not Flow Trigger Plasticity
(00:21:30) Mechanisms of Plasticity
(00:22:30) What to learn when you are young
(00:23:50) Alignment of your brain maps: neuron sandwiches 00:26:00: Wearing Prisms On Your Face
(00:29:10) The KEY Trigger Plasticity
(00:32:20) Frustration Is the Feeling to Follow (Further into Learning)
(00:33:10) Incremental Learning
(00:35:30) Huberman Free Throws
(00:38:50) Failure Specificity Triggers Specific Plastic Changes
(00:40:20) Triggering Rapid, Massive Plasticity Made Possible
(00:43:25) Addiction
(00:45:25) An Example of Ultradian-Incremental Learning 00:49:42: Bad Events
(00:51:55) Surprise!
(00:52:00) Making Dopamine Work For You (Not The Other Way Around)
(00:53:20) HOW to release dopamine
(00:55:00) (Mental) Performance Enhancing Drugs
(00:56:00) Timing Your Learning
(00:57:36) (Chem)Trails of Neuroplasticity
(00:58:57) The Three Key Levers To Accelerate Plasticity
(00:59:15) Limbic Friction: Finding Clear, Calm and Focused
(01:04:25) The First Question To Ask Yourself Before Learning
(01:05:00) Balance
(01:07:45) Cerebellum
(01:10:00) Flow States Are Not The Path To Learning
(01:11:18) Novelty and Instability Are Key
(01:14:55) How to Arrive At Learning
(01:15:45) The Other Reason Kids Learn Faster Than Adults
(01:19:25) Learning French and Other Things Faster
(01:22:00) Yoga versus Science
(01:32:00) Closing Remarks
Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac
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