<ul><li>The brain will maximize plasticity and learning when there is a strong need or motivation to learn. Our survival instincts drive changes that keep us safe.</li><li>Attach importance to your learning by linking it to meaningful goals or outcomes. The brain does not distinguish between real or imagined contingencies, so use mental visualization and framing.</li></ul>

High Contingency or Importance

<ul><li>Arrive at learning with appropriate arousal for the task by using tools to shift your autonomic state up or down as needed.</li><li>Focus learning bouts around making repetitive errors for short periods, 7–30 minutes for most adults. Break learning into smaller increments.</li><li>When learning feels frustrating, reframe it as effective and rewarding to activate dopamine. Shift your perception and experience.</li><li>Engage your vestibular system through safe practices that move your body in new dimensions relative to gravity. Find activities that feel novel or challenging for you.</li></ul>

How to Learn Faster by Using Failures, Movement & Balance — Key Takeaways, Part 1/2

<ul><li>Errors signal the brain that a change is needed and release chemicals necessary for plasticity like epinephrine, acetylcholine, and dopamine.  </li><li>Errors should be made for 7–30 minutes per learning bout to be effective. Shorter, intense bursts are best for adults due to limits in sustained attention.</li><li>Errors should focus on one component at a time. The brain can only change so much, so keep errors targeted. </li><li>Associate errors subjectively with reward by reframing frustration as a signal of effective learning. This amplifies their impact.</li></ul>

Making Errors

<ul><li>Mechanism determines applicability. Understanding why certain methods work allows flexibility in applying them as needed. Rigid attachment to protocols alone is limited.  </li><li>While errors trigger plasticity, the brain still has capacity limits. Pushing beyond frustration will not accelerate learning and may be counterproductive. Find the “sweet spot” for your needs.</li><li>The subjective nature of experience means the same methods may differ in impact between individuals. Analyze what works for your own mind and body.</li></ul>

Considerations

<ul><li>Link your learning goals to meaningful outcomes to maximize motivation and accelerate change. Our mindset and framing influences our reality.</li><li>Understand the mechanisms behind the methods, so you can apply them flexibly. Question rigid attachment to any one approach. </li><li>Supplement practices with rest, nutrition, movement and social connection. Take a balanced, multifaceted approach to shaping yourself.</li></ul>

How to Learn Faster by Using Failures, Movement & Balance — Key Takeaways, Part 2/2

<ul><li>The vestibular system controls balance and orientation. Novel challenges to balance release dopamine, epinephrine and acetylcholine, priming the brain for change. </li><li>Doing familiar motor activities like yoga or surfing will not activate plasticity mechanisms in the brain. The key is finding activities that disrupt your normal relationship with gravity in new ways. </li><li>Activities that incorporate instability or falling (within reason) create the strongest signal for change. But avoid danger.</li></ul>

Using the Vestibular System

<ul><li> “Limbic friction” refers to states where we are either over- or under-aroused for a task. We can adjust arousal up or down using respiration, vision, movement, etc.</li><li>The ideal state for learning is clear, calm and focused. Slight anxiety or fatigue is okay, but avoid extremes.</li><li>Tools to decrease arousal: double inhale/exhale, panoramic vision. Tools to increase arousal: faster breathing, physical movement.</li></ul>

Arriving at Optimal Arousal

The podcast provides an overview of neuroplasticity, how we can reshape our neural circuitry through targeted and deliberate practice by focusing our attention, making errors and accessing optimal mind-body states. Discussion centered around four behaviors that optimize neuroplasticity in adults: arriving at an optimal level of arousal, making many errors, utilizing the vestibular system, and attaching high importance or contingency to 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. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Thesis: https://takethesis.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Introduction (00:00:29) Sponsors: AG1, LMNT, Thesis, Momentous (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 Disclaimer

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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. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Introduction (00:00:29) Sponsors: AG1, LMNT (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 Disclaimer

Huberman Lab 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.