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

This section of the episode develops the topic through the following source points: Andrew Huberman: Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, my guest is Dr. Eddie Chang. Dr. Eddie Chang is the chair of the neurosurgery department at the University of California at San Francisco. Dr. Chang's clinical group focuses on the treatment of movement disorders, including epilepsy. He is also a world expert in the treatment of speech disorders and relieving paralysis that prevents speech and other forms of movement and communication. Indeed, his laboratory is credited with discovering ways to allow people who have fully locked-in syndrome, that is, who cannot speak or move, to communicate through computers and AI devices in order to be able to speak to others in their world and understand what others are saying to them. It is a truly remarkable achievement that we discuss today. In addition to his discoveries about critical periods, which are periods of time during one's life when one can learn things, in particular languages, with great ease as opposed to later in life, and we talk about the basis of things like bilingualism and trilingualism. We talk about how the brain controls movement of the very muscles that allow for speech and language, and how those can be modified over time.