Essentials: The Science of Learning & Speaking Languages | Dr. Eddie Chang

Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, where we revisit past episodes for the most potent and actionable science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance. I'm Andrew Huberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. And now for my discussion with Dr. Eddie Chang. Eddie, welcome.

Hi, hi Andrew. Great to be here with you. Your main focus these days is the neurobiology. of speech and language. So for those that aren't familiar, could you please distinguish for us speech versus language in terms of whether or not different brain areas control them?

When I think about language, I think about words and just talking. If I sit down to do a long podcast or I think about asking you a question, I don't even think about the words I want to say very much. I mean I have to think about them a little bit, one would hope. But I don't think about individual syllables unless I'm trying to in, you know, accent something or it's a word that I have a particular difficulty saying or I want to change the cadence, etc. So what in the world is contained in these brain areas?

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