Dr. Masud Husain is a Professor of Neurology & Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and a leading expert on the science of motivation, apathy, and neurological diseases. We discuss how dopamine and specific brain circuits shape motivation, including how the brain weighs the trade-off between effort vs reward when deciding what goals to pursue. Dr. Husain also explains practical tools to increase motivation, reduce distractions, and make it easier to start and maintain goal pursuit. We also discuss dementia, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, including new insights into cognitive resilience and factors that help protect against age-related cognitive decline.

Show notes: https://go.hubermanlab.com/masud-husain-295

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(00:00:00) Masud Husain

(00:02:24) Apathy, Motivation

(00:08:07) Rewards, Apathy & Motivation; Dopamine

(00:13:20) Sponsors: David & BetterHelp

(00:15:44) Types of Apathy; Goal Prioritization: Effort vs Rewards

(00:23:26) Motivation, Apathy, Tool: Activation Energy & Overthinking

(00:29:24) Tools to Increase Motivation: Incentives, Subdivide Tasks, Planning

(00:35:13) Subjective Effort, Mental Framing; Learning & Motivation

(00:42:24) Sponsors: AG1 & Eight Sleep

(00:44:54) Perseverance, Failure; Finding Your Passion, Depression vs Apathy

(00:50:58) Self-Concept, Ambition; Life Satisfaction

(00:58:25) Psychedelics, Anhedonia & Changing Self

(01:03:09) Personal & Social Identity, Tools: Curiosity, Purpose & Dementia Risk

(01:11:58) Addiction, Dopamine; Social Media & Dopamine "Hits"?

(01:18:36) Sponsor: Function

(01:20:13) Dopamine, Parkinson's Disease; Other Roles of Dopamine

(01:26:59) Life Purpose, Culture; Reflection, Weighing Decisions

(01:34:21) Internal & External Attention

(01:39:59) Internal Chatter, Distraction; Working Memory, Stimulants, Nicotine

(01:48:54) ADHD, Diagnosis; Attention & Motivation

(01:54:34) Goal Planning & Perseverance

(01:59:44) Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia, Apathy, Tools: Dementia Risk Factors

(02:06:55) Neurodegenerative Disease & Emerging Treatments

(02:10:59) Can You Train Attention?, Tool: Reduce Distraction

(02:15:14) Enrichment, Art

(02:17:45) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow, Reviews & Feedback, Sponsors, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

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