Episode

Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
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1:54:27
Published: Mon Sep 12 2022
Description

My guest is David Anderson, PhD, a world expert in the science of sexual behavior, violent aggression, fear and other motivated states. Dr. Anderson is a Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), a member of the National Academy of Sciences and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). We discuss how states of mind (and body) arise and persist and how they probably better explain human behavior than emotions per se. We also discuss the many kinds of arousal that create varying levels of pressure for certain behaviors to emerge. We discuss different types of violent aggression and how they are impacted by biological sex, gender, context, prior experience, and hormones, and the neural interconnectedness of fear, aggression and sexual behavior. We also discuss peptides and their role in social isolation-induced anxiety and aggression. Dr. Anderson also describes novel, potentially powerful therapeutics for mental health. This episode should interest anyone wanting to learn more about mental health, human emotions, sexual and/or violent behavior.   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 Thesis: https://takethesis.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Dr. David Anderson, Emotions & Aggression  (00:03:49) Sponsors: LMNT, Thesis, Momentous (00:08:10) Emotions vs. States (00:10:36) Dimensions of States: Persistence, Intensity & Generalization (00:14:38) Arousal & Valence  (00:18:11) Aggression, Optogenetics & Stimulating Aggression in Mice, VMH (00:24:42) Aggression Types: Offensive, Defensive & Predatory  (00:29:20) Evolution & Development of Defensive vs. Offensive Behaviors, Fear (00:35:38) Hydraulic Pressures for States & Homeostasis (00:37:24) Sponsor: AG1 (00:39:46) Hydraulic Pressure & Aggression (00:44:50) Balancing Fear & Aggression (00:48:31) Aggression & Hormones: Estrogen, Progesterone & Testosterone (00:52:33) Female Aggression, Motherhood (00:59:48) Mating & Aggressive Behaviors  (01:05:10) Neurobiology of Sexual Fetishes  (01:10:06) Temperature, Mating Behavior & Aggression (01:15:25) Mounting: Sexual Behavior or Dominance? (01:20:59) Females & Male-Type Mounting Behavior (01:24:40) PAG (Periaqueductal Gray) Brain Region: Pain Modulation & Fear  (01:30:38) Tachykinins & Social Isolation: Anxiety, Fear & Aggression  (01:43:49) Brain, Body & Emotions; Somatic Marker Hypothesis & Vagus Nerve  (01:52:52) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous Supplements, AG1 (Athletic Greens), Instagram, Twitter, Neural Network Newsletter, Huberman Lab Clips Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac Disclaimer

Chapters
InsideTracker helps to understand metabolic factors, lipids, hormones, and more by pointing out specific directives to bring those numbers into the range that is optimal for immediate and long-term health.
00:00 - 06:56 (06:56)
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Health
Summary

InsideTracker helps to understand metabolic factors, lipids, hormones, and more by pointing out specific directives to bring those numbers into the range that is optimal for immediate and long-term health. They also emphasize supplements that are single ingredient and optimized for cost and effectiveness.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
Arousal is a type of internal state that is not generic in the brain but specific to different behaviors.
06:56 - 17:22 (10:26)
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Arousal
Summary

Arousal is a type of internal state that is not generic in the brain but specific to different behaviors. There are behavior specific forms of arousal in addition to other aspects of internal states like motivation and sleep.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
Dayou found a way to evoke aggression in mice by activating specific neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus using optogenetics.
17:22 - 27:32 (10:10)
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optogenetics
Summary

Dayou found a way to evoke aggression in mice by activating specific neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus using optogenetics. While defensive rage and predatory aggression were mapped out through earlier studies, the encoding of the former remains a mystery.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
The podcast discusses homeostatic behaviors, which are need-based behaviors that arise due to the pressure created by needs.
27:32 - 37:17 (09:45)
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Homeostatic behaviors
Summary

The podcast discusses homeostatic behaviors, which are need-based behaviors that arise due to the pressure created by needs. From an evolutionary perspective, defensive behaviors and fear might have arisen before offensive aggression as animals first and foremost have to defend themselves from predation by other animals.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
The stronger the activity in the region of the brain associated with aggression, the easier it is to trigger an animal to fight.
37:17 - 43:09 (05:51)
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neurobiology
Summary

The stronger the activity in the region of the brain associated with aggression, the easier it is to trigger an animal to fight. Accumulated gravitational pressure, resulting from unfulfilled needs or desires, needs to be exerted somewhere.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
Discussion on the role of aggression-promoting neurons in the brain and their relation to fear neurons and mental illnesses.
43:09 - 51:19 (08:09)
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Neuroscience
Summary

Discussion on the role of aggression-promoting neurons in the brain and their relation to fear neurons and mental illnesses. Progesterone and estrogen are also shown to play a role in aggression in mice.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
Research has shown a surprising link between mating and aggression in male flies, with activation of mating neurons causing a male to stop attacking another male and instead begin singing and trying to mate.
51:19 - 1:04:01 (12:41)
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Insects
Summary

Research has shown a surprising link between mating and aggression in male flies, with activation of mating neurons causing a male to stop attacking another male and instead begin singing and trying to mate. The discovery raises questions about the relationship between love and violence in the insect world and may offer insight into the same connection in higher animals including humans.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
The preoptic area has many subsets of neurons that are specifically active during different behaviors and even different phases of mating behavior.
1:04:01 - 1:14:15 (10:14)
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Neurons
Summary

The preoptic area has many subsets of neurons that are specifically active during different behaviors and even different phases of mating behavior. By stimulating certain neurons in the medial preoptic area, you can trigger changes in body temperature and mating behavior.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
This episode discusses studies on the neural control of mounting behavior in animals and how it can differ based on sex and context.
1:14:15 - 1:22:21 (08:05)
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Neuroscience
Summary

This episode discusses studies on the neural control of mounting behavior in animals and how it can differ based on sex and context.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
The PAG (periaqueductal gray) has been implicated in various innate behaviors including fear and pain responses.
1:22:21 - 1:32:34 (10:13)
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PAG
Summary

The PAG (periaqueductal gray) has been implicated in various innate behaviors including fear and pain responses. There is evidence of its involvement in fear induced analgesia and its relationship with other behaviors such as aggression and social isolation.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
The speaker discusses the lack of testing for neuropeptide inhibitors, which could be used for treating conditions caused by social isolation or bereavement stress, due to an economic disincentive for pharmaceutical companies to retest drugs that have previously failed animal experiments.
1:32:34 - 1:42:19 (09:45)
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drug testing
Summary

The speaker discusses the lack of testing for neuropeptide inhibitors, which could be used for treating conditions caused by social isolation or bereavement stress, due to an economic disincentive for pharmaceutical companies to retest drugs that have previously failed animal experiments. He suggests giving questionnaires to people who are given these drugs and are socially isolated to measure its efficacy.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
The experience of emotions is mediated by the peripheral nervous system, and neuroscience research has been successful in identifying the circuits involved in the regulation of emotional behaviors.
1:42:19 - 1:49:28 (07:08)
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Neuroscience
Summary

The experience of emotions is mediated by the peripheral nervous system, and neuroscience research has been successful in identifying the circuits involved in the regulation of emotional behaviors. The development of new tools that stimulate the vagus nerve may allow researchers to manipulate specific emotions and states.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab
Andrew Huberman covers various topics on caffeine, alcohol, dopamine, serotonin, mental and physical health, and more, sometimes overlapping with the content of his own podcast, the Huberman Lab.
1:49:28 - 1:54:20 (04:51)
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Health and Science
Summary

Andrew Huberman covers various topics on caffeine, alcohol, dopamine, serotonin, mental and physical health, and more, sometimes overlapping with the content of his own podcast, the Huberman Lab. He also invites people to leave topic suggestions and guest recommendations in the comment section on YouTube.

Episode
Dr. David Anderson: The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal
Podcast
Huberman Lab