The Huberman Lab Podcast discusses neuroscience: how our brain and its connections with the organs of our body control our perceptions, our behaviors, and our health. We also discuss existing and emerging tools for measuring and changing how our nervous system works. Dr. Andrew Huberman is a tenured Professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. His laboratory studies neural regeneration, neuroplasticity, and brain states such as stress, focus, fear, and optimal performance. For more than 20 years, Dr. Huberman has consistently published original research findings and review articles in top-level peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Science, Cell, Neuron, and Current Biology. He is a regular member of several National Institutes of Health review panels and a Fellow of the McKnight Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Dr. Huberman regularly consults for technology development companies, professional athletic organizations, and various units of U.S. and Canadian Special Operations.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett: How to Understand Emotions
In this episode, my guest is Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, Ph.D., a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University who is a world expert in the science of emotions. She explains what emotions are and how the brain represents and integrates signals from our body and the environment around us to create our unique emotional states. We discuss the relationship between emotions and language, how our specificity of language impacts our emotional processing, the role of facial expressions in emotions, and how emotions relate to sleep, movement, nutrition and the building and reinforcement of social bonds. We also discuss actionable tools for how to regulate feelings of uncertainty and tools to better understand the emotional states of others. This episode ought to be of interest to anyone curious about the neuroscience and psychology underlying emotions and for those who seek to better understand themselves and relate to others and the world in richer, more adaptive ways.
For show notes, including referenced articles and additional resources, please visit hubermanlab.com.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett
(00:03:01) Sponsors: Eight Sleep & Levels
(00:05:46) Core Components of Emotions
(00:10:42) Facial Movement & Interpretation, Emotion
(00:19:33) Facial Expressions & Emotion, Individualization
(00:31:03) Emotion Categories, Culture & Child Development
(00:36:53) Sponsor: AG1
(00:37:50) Legal System, ‘Universal’ Emotions & Caution
(00:41:07) Language Descriptions, Differences & Emotion
(00:48:18) Questions & Assumptions; Language, Emotions & Nervous System
(00:53:40) Brain, Uncertainty & Categories
(01:02:51) Sponsor: InsideTracker
(01:03:57) Brain & Summaries; Emotions as “Multimodal Summaries”
(01:14:45) Emotional Granularity, Library Analogy
(01:19:40) Brain & Compression, Planning
(01:29:04) Labels & Generalization
(01:34:29) Movement, Sensation, Prediction & Learning
(01:42:44) Feelings of Discomfort & Action
(01:50:32) Tool: Feelings of Uncertainty, Emotion, “Affect”
(02:01:18) Tool: Experience Dimensions & Attention; Individualization
(02:08:36) Affect, Allostasis & Body Budget Analogy
(02:15:41) Depression, “Emotional Flu”
(02:20:20) Tool: Positively Shift Affect; Alcohol & Drugs; SSRIs
(02:27:40) Relationships: Savings or Taxes, Kindness
(02:36:50) Zero-Cost Support, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter
Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac