For a long time, dopamine has been one of the hot topics when discussing what governs the brain. Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman has often spoken about its various roles and how it affects the functioning of humans. He once revealed how it also distorted perception and affected judgment.
In a resurfaced conversation with Jay Shetty, the Stanford professor discussed the effects of dopamine release and the change in its levels in-depth. Being a peculiar chemical, it acts directly on one’s external stimulus. Therefore, Shetty was curious about how it impacted one’s way of living.
Dr. Huberman brought up a phenomenon surrounding the neurochemical called ‘reward-prediction’ error. In generic situations that involve anticipation of a result, this event usually plays its part. The theory was given by Wolfram Schultz, who suggested that the positive expectations surrounding a situation lead to an increase in dopamine.
However, here’s the twist. If the situation did not turn out according to what the individual anticipated, the dopamine levels would tank lower than the amount present before expecting. This, the neuroscientist quipped, is what happens with addictive drugs as well. The bar slowly hangs lower on the unfavorable consequences, leading to an asymmetric graph.
“Dopamine reward prediction error says that if you have less dopamine heading into something than you do afterward, that tells the synapses…to reinforce themselves.”
The trick was to manage expectations, thus gaining control over the dopamine release. Dr. Huberman suggested that this helped curb the addictive behavior and individuals end up with good practices later.
“Dopamine, fundamentally, is about accessing things that are outside your immediate experience.”
Unlike other neurochemicals that work with existing feelings that an individual may already have, dopamine works with external situations. Something that the subject may or may not be in control of. But Dr. Huberman stressed that no matter how the situation is, it was important to keep a check on the dopamine levels to ensure it didn’t crash or spike.
Dr. Andrew Huberman revealed a surprising effect of dopamine
An unexpected consequence of rising and falling levels of the neurochemical was distortion of perception. The neuroscientist gleefully revealed how dopamine would often affect one’s understanding of time.
He cited the example of how, when one performed tasks that they favored, would lose the count of time. Individuals would often feel like time passed on too fast. Whereas while performing tasks that weren’t as favorable, time would seem to move too slowly. All of this was dopamine working on one’s brain.
