In this episode, my guest is Dr. David Linden, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the author of many popular books about the brain. We discuss individual differences between people — focusing on differences in how people sense the world around them and the roles that chance, heredity, and life experiences (even in utero) play in determining our physical and cognitive traits. We discuss the bidirectional connection between the mind and body and how our thoughts and mental practices (e.g., meditation and breathwork) impact our health. We also discuss the link between inflammation and depression. We also discuss Dr. Linden’s terminal illness diagnosis, his mindset during chemotherapy and what his diagnosis has taught him about the mind, gratitude, time perception and life. This episode also covers sensual touch, cerebellar function, and epigenetic inheritance and ought to be of interest to all interested in neuroscience, genetics, psychology and human development.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) David Linden

(00:04:15) Sponsors: LMNT & Waking Up

(00:07:54) Sensory Touch & Genitals, Krause Corpuscles

(00:16:46) Sexual Experiences & Sensation

(00:19:14) Human Individuality & Variation; Senses & Odor Detection

(00:29:32) Sponsor: AG1

(00:31:22) Visual Individuality; Heat Tolerance; Early Life Experiences & Variation

(00:40:28) Auditory Variability, Perfect Pitch

(00:42:08) Heritability & Human Individuality: Cognitive & Physical Traits

(00:49:36) Heritability, Environment, Personality; Twin Studies

(01:01:19) Development, Chance; Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance

(01:07:37) Single Generation Epigenetic Inheritance & Stress; Autism

(01:15:52) Sleep Paralysis; Cerebellum, Prediction

(01:23:47) Nature vs. Nature, Experience; Linden Hypothesis

(01:30:37) Mind-Body Interaction; Chemical Signals

(01:39:10) Inflammation & Depression

(01:43:35) Neuroplasticity, Inflammation & Mental Disorders; Microglial Cells, Exercise

(01:52:15) Fads & Science

(01:55:16) Mind-Body Communication; Cancer

(02:03:28) Mind-Body, Mediation, Breathwork

(02:07:30) Atrial Fibrillation, Synovial Sarcoma, Heart

(02:14:22) Gratitude & Anger; Chemotherapy, Curiosity & Time Perception

(02:19:58) Death, Brain & Future Prediction, Religion & Afterlife

(02:24:15) Life Advice; Time Perception & Gratitude

(02:34:35) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac

Disclaimer

Dr. David Linden: Life, Death & the Neuroscience of Your Unique Experience