How Your Brain’s Reward Circuits Drive Your Choices | Dr. Robert Malenka

In this episode my guest is Robert Malenka, MD, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford School of Medicine who has made numerous seminal discoveries about how the brain changes (neuroplasticity) in response to learning and to rewarding and reinforcing experiences. We discuss the brain’s reward systems involving dopamine and serotonin and how they motivate us to seek out specific behaviors and substances. We discuss how these reward systems are modified based on context and our memories and how they can be hijacked toward maladaptive drug-seeking in addiction. We also explore how reward systems influence social connections, oxytocin and empathy and how that applies to our understanding of autism spectrum disorders. This episode should be of interest to those interested in neuroplasticity, social bonding, addiction, autism, learning and motivation. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman ROKA: https://roka.com/huberman Levels: https://levels.link/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Huberman Lab Social & Website Instagram:   / hubermanlab   Twitter:   / hubermanlab   Facebook:   / hubermanlab   TikTok:   / hubermanlab   LinkedIn:   / andrew-huberman   Website: https://hubermanlab.com Newsletter: https://hubermanlab.com/neural-network Dr. Robert Malenka Stanford academic profile: https://profiles.stanford.edu/robert-... Publications: https://profiles.stanford.edu/robert-... Current clinical trial: https://clinicaltrials.stanford.edu/t... MapLight: https://maplightrx.com/team/robert-ma... LinkedIn:   / robert-malenka-09b3a016b   Articles Distinct neural mechanisms for the prosocial and rewarding properties of MDMA: https://bit.ly/3PNs2ze Oxytocin receptor is not required for social attachment in prairie voles: https://bit.ly/3XLguOZ Gating of social reward by oxytocin in the ventral tegmental area: https://bit.ly/3rigeee Anterior cingulate inputs to nucleus accumbens control the social transfer of pain and analgesia: https://bit.ly/44z3qP1 Social reward requires coordinated activity of nucleus accumbens oxytocin and serotonin: https://go.nature.com/44iOQvl Selective filtering of excitatory inputs to nucleus accumbens by dopamine and serotonin: https://bit.ly/44UG8n1 Serotonin receptor regulation as a potential mechanism for sexually dimorphic oxytocin dysregulation in a model of Autism: https://bit.ly/44DS24e 5-HT modulation of a medial septal circuit tunes social memory stability: https://go.nature.com/3rjlXk7 Other Resources MapLight: https://maplightrx.com Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS): https://maps.org MindMed: https://mindmed.co Timestamps 00:00:00 Dr. Robert Malenka 00:02:37 Sponsors: ROKA & Levels 00:05:21 Dopamine & Reward Circuitry 00:11:31 Reward, Arousal, Memory & Dopamine 00:17:34 Context, Cues & Dopamine Modification 00:25:38 Memory & Reward Scaling 00:30:50 Dopamine, “Addictive Liability” & Route of Administration 00:39:07 Sponsor: AG1 00:40:04 Drugs of Abuse & Brain Changes; Addiction & Individual Variability 00:50:51 Reinforcement vs. Reward, Wanting vs. Liking 00:57:50 Opioids, Psychostimulants & Dopamine 01:03:38 Sponsor: LMNT 01:04:51 Self-Doubt, Confidence & Career 01:12:40 Autism Spectrum Disorder 01:19:29 Pro-Social Interaction & Reward; Oxytocin, Serotonin & Dopamine 01:30:30 Nucleus Accumbens & Behavior Probability 01:38:28 Reward for Pro-Social Behavior 01:43:13 Social Media & “Addictive Liability”; Gambling 01:52:17 Pain, Social Behavior & Empathy 02:02:19 Empathy Circuitry, Dopamine & Serotonin 02:10:07 Autism Spectrum Disorder & Social Interactions, Empathy 02:17:23 MDMA, Serotonin & Dopamine; Addiction & Pro-Social Effects 02:28:13 Autism Spectrum Disorder, Social Behavior, MDMA & Pharmacology 02:37:18 Serotonin, MDMA & Psychedelics 02:40:16 Psychedelics: Research & Therapeutic Potential 02:47:57 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac - https://www.blabacphoto.com Disclaimer: https://hubermanlab.com/disclaimer