Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett

Hearing is in your head. You don't hear in your ears. You hear in your head, in your brain. You don't see in your eyes. You need your eyes. You need your ears. But you don't see in your eyes. You see in your brain. So pain is a combination of the, just like vision, is a combination of the remembered past and the sensory present.

Hearing is in your head. You don't hear in your ears. You hear in your head, in your brain. You don't see in your eyes. You need your eyes. You need your ears. But you don't see in your eyes. You see in your brain. So pain is a combination of the, just like vision, is a combination of the remembered past and the sensory present.

So chronic pain happens when your brain was receiving signals from the body that there was tissue damage, nociceptive signals they're called, and it was making sense of them as pain. And when you're recovering from an illness, that's metabolically taxing. So there's not as much metabolic... There's not as much of your metabolic budget devoted to learning.

So chronic pain happens when your brain was receiving signals from the body that there was tissue damage, nociceptive signals they're called, and it was making sense of them as pain. And when you're recovering from an illness, that's metabolically taxing. So there's not as much metabolic... There's not as much of your metabolic budget devoted to learning.

So you can be in a situation where your brain doesn't update itself and you still experience... pain even though the tissue damage is no longer there. It's just like seeing a green apple in your mind's eye when there is no apple in front of you. It's not all in your head in the insulting sense. It's a normal consequence of how brains work.

So you can be in a situation where your brain doesn't update itself and you still experience... pain even though the tissue damage is no longer there. It's just like seeing a green apple in your mind's eye when there is no apple in front of you. It's not all in your head in the insulting sense. It's a normal consequence of how brains work.

Yeah, exactly. It's like a phantom limb. It's like tinnitus is also like that.

Yeah, exactly. It's like a phantom limb. It's like tinnitus is also like that.

Yeah. So I tried really hard to set a schedule for myself, you know, that would allow me to sort of like optimally dose myself with prediction error, but that meant... you know, that I had to follow that schedule. And I think if you're committed to changing your habits, this is how you change any habit, really. You change the context and then you practice. You practice new behaviors.

Yeah. So I tried really hard to set a schedule for myself, you know, that would allow me to sort of like optimally dose myself with prediction error, but that meant... you know, that I had to follow that schedule. And I think if you're committed to changing your habits, this is how you change any habit, really. You change the context and then you practice. You practice new behaviors.

So with my daughter... Depression, we think about depression in our lab as, let me back up and say, your brain's most important job really is not thinking, it's not feeling, it's not even seeing, it's regulating your body. It's regulating your metabolism, basically. That's your brain's most important job. Your brain's most important job is anticipating the needs of your body,

So with my daughter... Depression, we think about depression in our lab as, let me back up and say, your brain's most important job really is not thinking, it's not feeling, it's not even seeing, it's regulating your body. It's regulating your metabolism, basically. That's your brain's most important job. Your brain's most important job is anticipating the needs of your body,

and preparing to meet those needs before they arise. The metaphor that we use for this predictive regulation of the body, which is the formal term is called allostasis. That's the scientific concept, but the metaphor is body budgeting. It's running a budget for your body. Your brain is running a budget for your body. It's not budgeting money. It's budgeting salt and glucose and oxygen and

and preparing to meet those needs before they arise. The metaphor that we use for this predictive regulation of the body, which is the formal term is called allostasis. That's the scientific concept, but the metaphor is body budgeting. It's running a budget for your body. Your brain is running a budget for your body. It's not budgeting money. It's budgeting salt and glucose and oxygen and

potassium and like all of the nutrients and chemicals that are necessary to run an energetically costly body. You know, you've got all these really low level kind of processes. You can just think of them as vital parts of to keep yourself alive. So some of your energy budget goes to that. Some of your energy budget goes to repair and growth. So if you get taller, you need more cells.

potassium and like all of the nutrients and chemicals that are necessary to run an energetically costly body. You know, you've got all these really low level kind of processes. You can just think of them as vital parts of to keep yourself alive. So some of your energy budget goes to that. Some of your energy budget goes to repair and growth. So if you get taller, you need more cells.

When you learn something, you have to thicken up your myelin and your neurons. You've got to grow more receptors and stuff. That's the kind of growth and repair. And then the rest of it is all for anything effortful. What is effortful?

When you learn something, you have to thicken up your myelin and your neurons. You've got to grow more receptors and stuff. That's the kind of growth and repair. And then the rest of it is all for anything effortful. What is effortful?

Dragging your ass out of bed in the morning is effortful.

Dragging your ass out of bed in the morning is effortful.