Science-Based Mental Training & Visualization for Improved Learning

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2023

⏱️ 120 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, I explore the science of mental visualization and its application for learning motor and cognitive skills. I discuss neuroplasticity-based skill development and the roles of focus, sleep, movement restriction, and agitation. I then present five key principles of mental visualization to enhance learning speed, accuracy, and consistency. I also provide examples of specific protocols, including repetitions, rest periods, and session frequency, and how to adapt these methods for injuries or breaks from traditional training. Throughout, I reference the scientific studies supporting these concepts. This episode should allow anyone to learn or teach more effectively through the use of mental visualization and training. For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Maui Nui: https://mauinuivenison.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Mental Training & Visualization (00:04:46) Sponsors: LMNT, Maui Nui, Eight Sleep (00:08:04) Developmental vs. Adult Neuroplasticity (00:11:42) Learning New Skills: Focus & Sleep (00:14:49) Long-Term Potentiation (LTP), Long-Term Depression (LTD) & New Skills (00:23:42) Principle #1: Very Brief, Simple, Repeated Visualization (00:29:36) Sponsor: AG1 (Athletic Greens) (00:30:51) Principle #2: Mental Training Cannot Replace Real Training (00:37:36) Principle #3: Combining Real & Mental Training (00:43:17) Principle #4: Assigning Real-World Labels to Visualizations (00:50:37) Principle #5: Mental Imagery Equivalence to Real-World Perception (00:55:28) Tools: Effective Mental Training: Epochs, Repetitions, Sets & Frequency (01:03:43) Sponsor: InsideTracker (01:05:00) Adding Mental Training; Injury, Travel or Layoffs (01:11:09) Timing of Mental Training & Sleep (01:15:17) Role of Gender & Age on Mental Training (01:17:10) First-Person vs. Third-Person Visualization; Eyes Open vs. Closed (01:23:53) Physical Skills, Motor Cortex & Cerebellum (01:31:15) “Go” & “No-Go” Pathways (01:34:19) Stop-Signal Task, Withholding Action (01:44:19) Aphantasia, Synesthesia; Social Cognition (01:52:58) Mental Training Practice & Benefits (01:57:36) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac Disclaimer

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Uberman Lab podcast where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
0:08.8	I'm Andrew Uberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and
0:12.3	Ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today we are discussing mental training and visualization.
0:18.2	Mental training and visualization is a fascinating process that has been shown over and over again in now hundreds of studies
0:25.1	to improve our ability to learn anything. When I say anything, I mean the ability to learn
0:31.1	music, the ability to learn and perform
0:34.2	mathematics, the ability to learn and perform motor skills in sport and dance across essentially all domains.
0:41.0	The other incredible thing about mental training and visualization is that as you'll soon see when you go into the literature
0:47.0	that is the scientific studies on mental training and visualization,
0:50.2	you quickly realize that it does not take a lot of mental training and visualization in order to get better at anything.
0:57.4	However, that mental training and visualization has to be performed in a very specific way and today we will discuss exactly how to do
1:04.2	mental training and visualization in the specific ways that allow it to complement the actual performance of a motor or cognitive skill to allow you to
1:12.2	learn more quickly and to consolidate that is to keep that information in mind and body so that you can
1:18.4	perform those cognitive task, music task, motor tasks, etc. for long periods of time without ever forgetting how to do them.
1:26.5	All of mental training and visualization relies on what I consider really the holy grail of our brain and nervous system.
1:32.8	And that's neuroplasticity.
1:34.3	Neuroplasticity is our nervous system, which of course includes the brain, the spinal cord and all the connections between the brain and spinal cord and the organs and tissues of the body and then all the
1:43.6	neural connections back from the organs and tissues of the body to the brain and spinal cord.
1:48.2	So the whole thing in both directions has the ability to change in response to experience in ways that are adaptive.
1:54.9	That is that allows us to do things that we could not do before and by doing those things or by being able to perform those mental operations,
2:02.8	we can do better in the world that we live in.
2:05.3	We can perform new tasks.
	...

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