Dopamine

Masud HusainProfessor of Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, expert on motivation and apathy, author of Our Brains, Our Selves

• Husain warns high-performing students that stimulants may worsen rather than improve their performance due to the inverse U-shaped dopamine curve.

  “So just think twice about taking some stimulant that you want to get a better grade, because actually the evidence would be that you might get worse from doing it”

  Huberman Lab: How to Improve Motivation & Overcome Procrastination | Dr. Masud Husain (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 1:47:30

• Husain explains that dopamine modulates wanting, while liking or hedonic pleasure appears linked to opioid neurotransmitters.

  “wanting, pursuit of a goal is mediated or modulated at least by dopamine, whereas actually the liking, the pleasure you might get from an outcome is not”

  Huberman Lab: How to Improve Motivation & Overcome Procrastination | Dr. Masud Husain (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 1:16:30

• Husain says evidence that doom scrolling produces dopamine hits is not strong.

  “I think the evidence that there are dopamine hits when you're doing this isn't really very strong”

  Huberman Lab: How to Improve Motivation & Overcome Procrastination | Dr. Masud Husain (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 1:15:03