> This pseudoscience idea that "dopamine equals motivation" or that you can modulate your entire motivation/reward circuitry by playing games to modulate dopami

> This pseudoscience idea that "dopamine equals motivation" or that you can modulate your entire motivation/reward circuitry by playing games to modulate dopamine is an egregious abuse of the science. I suggest you listen to the Huberman episode. Of course, he never claims something as simplistic as "dopamine _equals_ motivation", but there's wealth of evidence that he cites in the episode that the two are intimately related. The second part of your sentence is actually pretty close to the truth rather than an egregious abuse of the science, though it depends on what you mean by "playing games to modulate dopamine". The entire episode is about the topic, and I strongly recommend it. > You can't reduce everything down to one, singular chemical in the brain. Human psychology and motivations are complex and not a function of singular chemical "levels" in the brain. I'm pretty sure you won't find any instance in the episode where Huberman claims to reduce everything down to dopamine.