How Your Thoughts Are Built & How You Can Shape Them | Dr. Jennifer Groh

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2025

⏱️ 137 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

My guest is Dr. Jennifer Groh, PhD, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. She explains how our brain encodes sights and sounds and integrates them so we can navigate and understand the world around us. She explains what thoughts really are and how what you focus on determines your thoughts, not just in that moment but your future thoughts too. We discuss this in the context of how to improve your level of focus and happiness and how to complete tasks and task-switch more effectively. We also discuss how you can rewire the neural circuits that underlie your default patterns of thinking and attention. Sponsors AGZ by AG1: https://drinkagz.com/huberman Lingo: https://hellolingo.com/huberman Wealthfront*: https://wealthfront.com/huberman Our Place: https://fromourplace.com/huberman Helix Sleep: https://helixsleep.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Timestamps 0:00 Jennifer Groh 3:41 Sounds & Vision, Sensory Integration; Dynamic Maps 7:42 Context & Mapping; Screens, Projection & Perception, Ventriloquists 13:52 Sound Localization 16:53 Sponsors: Lingo & Wealthfront 19:50 Hearing Loss & Sound Localization, Ear Folds 21:56 Unfamiliarity of Hearing Your Own Voice; Tool: Bone Conduction Headphones 26:16 Tool: Headphone Volume & Protecting Hearing 28:57 3D Sound, Sound Distance, Thunder, Earthquakes 37:24 Sound Integration; Sound Frequency & Distance, Warning Signals 44:36 Sponsors: AGZ by AG1 & Our Place 47:39 Music, Rhythm, Community & Emotion 57:00 Music, Military; Courtship; Evolution of Music & Language 1:02:37 Ears, Visual & Auditory Integration, Sound Localization 1:09:48 Evolution of Visual & Auditory Systems, Music; Brain Controlling Vision 1:15:17 Sponsor: Helix Sleep 1:16:45 Physical Space & Sounds; Cathedrals, Sound Delay 1:22:37 Music, Emotion & Community; Science & Admitting Weakness 1:27:01 Thinking & Sensory Simulations; Forming Thoughts 1:33:18 Attention, Attractor States, Flow States, Tool: Changing Environment 1:37:38 Sounds & Environment for Focus, Attention, Tool: Mental Interval Training 1:44:37 Sponsor: LMNT 1:45:58 Endurance & Interval Mental Work; Mental Rest, Music 1:50:37 Musician, Rehearsal & Performance; Pressure 1:54:16 Chickens; Hypnotizing Chickens, Visual Attention & Focus 2:03:47 Relaxation, Phones & Schools, Boredom, Social Media 2:12:48 Acknowledgements 2:13:58 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow, Reviews & Feedback, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter *This experience may not be representative of other Wealthfront clients, and there is no guarantee of future performance or success. Experiences will vary. The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The base APY is 3.50% on cash deposits as of November 07, 2025, is representative, subject to change, and requires no minimum. If eligible for the overall boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, your boosted rate is also subject to change if the base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period. Funds in the Cash Account are swept to program banks, where it earns the variable APY. New Cash Account deposits are subject to a 2-4 day holding period before becoming available for transfer. Investment advisory services are provided by Wealthfront Advisers LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Securities investments: not bank deposits, bank-guaranteed or FDIC-insured, and may lose value. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	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.
0:11.3	Could you elaborate?
0:12.3	So the theory is that 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
0:23.6	of having that thought, is to run a little simulation in visual cortex that kind of includes
0:29.6	what a cat looks like, a simulation and auditory cortex that what does the cat sound like?
0:34.6	And as I'm telling you this, I'm, you know, if you used the word cat, what color cat are you thinking?
0:41.8	I'm thinking of a gray cat, but I keep smelling kitty litter.
0:44.9	Okay.
0:45.1	Because my sister had cats and it drove me, the smell kitty litter is just so aversive to me.
0:49.7	Right?
0:50.2	And so you had no hesitation in telling me the color and adding an additional sensory quality.
0:56.2	It provides an explanation for why you might, you know, be driving on the freeway and having to merge into difficult traffic and telling your passenger, okay, be quiet.
1:08.5	I've got to pay attention now.
1:10.8	Like, why would speech impair you from visual motor if it wasn't all part of a kind of
1:18.3	cognitive system that's in operation?
1:21.8	And maybe you need to shift some resources away from processing the conversation and
1:26.6	towards some, you know, actually dealing with
1:29.5	the here and now sensory motor task.
1:32.5	Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday
1:37.8	life.
1:38.8	I'm Andrew Huberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.
1:48.1	My guest today is Dr. Jennifer Groh.
	...

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