Dr. Jennifer Groh

What goes on in our brains when we think might be that we're running simulations.

related to the thought using that sensory motor infrastructure of the brain.

So the theory is that like maybe when you think about a cat, for example, or you think the concept of a cat, that the mental instantiation of that or the brain mechanism instantiation of having that thought is to run a little simulation in visual cortex that kind of includes what a cat looks like.

A simulation in auditory cortex that what does the cat sound like?

And as I'm telling you this, I've used the word cat.

What color cat are you thinking?

Right?

And so you had no hesitation in telling me the color and adding an additional sensory quality.

It provides an explanation for why you might be –

Driving on the freeway and having to merge into difficult traffic and telling your passenger, okay, be quiet, I've got to pay attention now.

Like, why would speech impair you from visual motor if it wasn't all part of a kind of cognitive system?

Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.

Thank you.

It's great to be here.

Absolutely.

The story that is triggered by that question is a little bit long, so maybe I can start at the beginning of when I first got interested in this question.

And so I was a college student.

I was interested in neuroscience, but we didn't have a neuroscience major.

So a couple of us talked a professor into offering a seminar in neuroethology and kind of like what he thought were sort of the coolest findings in neuroscience.

And in that class,