When does the right hemisphere of the brain dominate development?

The right hemisphere is dominant during the human brain growth spurt, which occurs from the last trimester of pregnancy through the second to third year of life. This period is critical for attachment formation.

How do early attachment patterns translate into adult relationships?

The circuitry and mechanisms established during infant-mother attachment are later repurposed for adult relationships. These patterns, whether secure, anxious, or avoidant, are retained as autobiographical memories in the right brain and influence how individuals regulate emotions and interact with others in adulthood.

What is the therapeutic relationship's role in changing attachment patterns?

The therapeutic relationship is crucial for rewiring right brain circuitry. Through interactive regulation and synchrony, a skilled therapist can help a patient move from disregulated emotional states to more regulated ones, fostering safety and trust, much like the mother-infant bond.

How does 'surrender' relate to therapist-patient synchrony?

Surrender is the colossal shift from left-brain analytical processing to right-brain intuitive sensing. For a therapist, it means listening beneath words, paying attention to the patient's emotional arousal and physiology, allowing for empathetic synchrony and implicit regulation.

Can individuals improve their right brain circuitry without a therapist?

Yes, it is possible by forming close, open, and vulnerable intimate relationships with others. Engaging in interactive dynamics that allow for shared emotional moments can help elaborate and heal the right brain circuits that may have atrophied due to early emotional nourishment.

What is the difference between narrow and wide-ranging attention?

Narrow attention (left brain) is focused on specific details, like following words sequentially. Wide-ranging attention (right brain), also called evenly suspended attention, encompasses a broader context, including internal physiological changes and the emotional atmosphere, seeing the big picture.

How do music and pets tap into right brain functions?

Music and pets serve as mechanisms for affect regulation, tapping into the right brain's capacity for emotional communication. They evoke subjective meaning, allow for down-regulation of stress, and facilitate a shift from left-brain stresses to right-brain processing through tactile, prosodic, and visual cues, and even smell.

How does text messaging impact right brain development and communication?

Text messaging is largely devoid of the non-verbal cues (face, voice, gesture) essential for right-brain-to-right-brain communication and synchrony. It can lead to an increase in left-hemisphere dominance and impede the development and reinforcement of interpersonal dynamics, making deep emotional connection difficult. This is seen as detrimental to young brains in particular.

What activities can help activate right brain circuitry?

Activities include immersing oneself in nature, traveling, seeking new, novel experiences that foster curiosity, engaging in creative pursuits like painting or music (especially improvisation or playing with others), and physical exercise. These activities facilitate 'surrender' from the left brain and deeper right brain engagement.

What are the highest levels of human nature attributed to the right brain?

The right brain is dominant for intuition, imagery, creativity, processing novelty, metaphors, imagination, humor, music, poetry, art, morality, compassion, spirituality, and love. It is considered the hemisphere of depth.

Why is early childhood critical for personality development?

The earliest years of life (from in utero through age three) are a critical period for shaping personality, moral development, and values. This is when the foundational 'right brain' of the infant is regulated by the primary caretaker, influencing emotion regulation and conduct, which are stronger predictors of adult satisfaction than IQ.

What is the main fallacy regarding emotions according to Dr. Schore?

The major fallacy is believing that negative emotions are inherently 'bad' and positive emotions are always 'good'. All emotions, positive and negative, have adaptive value and are necessary for human experience. The key to secure attachment and mental health is the ability to integrate both positive and negative emotions.

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How Relationships Shape Your Brain | Dr. Allan Schore

Andrew Huberman

Science & Technology3 min read128 min video

Nov 11, 2024|346,363 views|8,322|640

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Key Moments

TL;DR

Early parent-child interactions wire the right brain, impacting adult emotional regulation and relationships.

Key Insights

The right hemisphere dominates early brain development (birth to ~3 yrs), crucial for attachment and emotional processing.

Attachment is a psychobiological process of interactive emotional regulation, primarily right-brain to right-brain.

Secure attachment involves attunement, repair of misattunements, and the ability to auto-regulate and inter-regulate emotions.

Insecure attachment styles (avoidant, anxious, disorganized) stem from disruptions in this early regulatory process.

Therapeutic relationships leverage right-brain to right-brain synchrony for healing and emotional regulation.

Positive emotions, play, nature, music, and spontaneous interactions are key for right-brain development and health.

THE DOMINANCE OF THE RIGHT BRAIN IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT

The fundamental development of the human brain, particularly from the last trimester of pregnancy through the first three years of life, is overwhelmingly dominated by the right hemisphere. This crucial period, known as a brain growth spurt, sees accelerated development on the right side, which is essential for establishing emotional processing and attachment. The left hemisphere's growth spurt begins later, around the end of the second year. This early right-brain dominance means that all foundational aspects of attachment are deeply rooted in right-brain dynamics, shaping how infants connect with and regulate their emotions through interaction with their primary caregivers.

ATTACHMENT AS PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL EFFECT REGULATION

Attachment is not merely a psychological construct but a psychobiological process centered on the regulation of emotion, or 'affect.' In the earliest years, this occurs through right-brain to right-brain communication between infant and caregiver, primarily via face, voice, and gesture. The caregiver's ability to attune to, resonate with, and regulate the infant's emotional states—both calming distress (down-regulation) and sharing joy (up-regulation)—is critical. This interactive regulation forms the basis for the individual's lifelong strategies for managing stress and emotional arousal, involving limbic and autonomic nervous system circuits.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SECURE AND INSECURE ATTACHMENT

A secure attachment is built upon psychobiological attunement, where the caregiver is sensitive to the infant's emotional and physiological states. Crucially, it also involves the repair of misattunements; when the caregiver makes a mistake, their ability to reconnect and resynchronize with the infant teaches the child that ruptures can be healed. Insecure attachments, such as avoidant (where the child auto-regulates excessively) or anxious (where the child over-relies on interactive regulation), result from disruptions in this synchronized regulatory process. Disorganized attachment involves an inability to engage in either auto- or interactive regulation under stress.

THE REPURPOSING OF ATTACHMENT CIRCUITS IN ADULTHOOD

The neurobiological circuits established during early childhood attachment are not confined to parent-child relationships; they are foundational and repurposed for adult relationships, including romantic partnerships and friendships. This means that the way individuals learned to regulate emotions and connect with others as infants directly influences their adult relational patterns. These early patterns are retained as autobiographical memory, even before full left-hemisphere development, impacting how individuals respond to stress and form emotional bonds throughout their lives.

THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPS AND RIGHT-BRAIN HEALING

Therapy functions as a space for interactive regulation, leveraging the same right-brain to right-brain synchrony observed in early attachment. A skilled therapist attunes to the patient's emotional state, not just their words, fostering a sense of safety and trust. Through synchronized physiological and emotional states, therapists can guide patients toward better auto- and interactive regulation, helping to repair earlier disruptions. This process emphasizes emotional connection and 'being with' the patient over purely cognitive insights, facilitating deep psychological change by engaging and reorganizing right-brain circuitry.

CULTIVATING RIGHT-BRAIN HEALTH AND RESILIENCE

While early experiences lay the foundation, right-brain circuitry can be nurtured throughout life. Engaging in activities that promote 'wide-ranging' or 'evenly suspended' attention, such as spending time in nature, listening to music (especially its prosody and emotional tone), and engaging in creative pursuits like art or playing music, can support right-brain function. Furthermore, seeking novel experiences, embracing curiosity, exercise, and prioritizing restorative sleep are vital. Ultimately, fostering genuine, spontaneous, and emotionally resonant interpersonal connections, where vulnerability and authentic communication are possible, is key to maintaining and healing right-brain health.

Mentioned in This Episode

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Common Questions

Dr. Schore suggests that 90-95% of our basic motivations and behavior are governed by the unconscious mind, primarily processed by the right brain, especially emotional interactions beneath conscious awareness.

Topics

Neuroscience & the Brain Mental Health & Psychology Mindset & Self-Improvement Relationships & Communication Emotional Regulation Personality Disorders Unconscious Mind Attachment Theory Human Development Brain Lateralization Interpersonal Neurobiology

Mentioned in this video

personSigmund Freud

Referenced for his concept of 'evenly suspended attention' and the idea that the human unconscious acts like a receptor, picking up unconscious communications from others directly.

organizationLondon School of Economics

Conducted a study identifying emotion as the best childhood predictor of adult life satisfaction, with IQ being last.

bookThe Master and His Emissary

Ian McGilchrist's book which argues that the left brain (Emissary) is betraying the right brain (Master).

personAndrew Huberman

Host of the Huberman Lab podcast and a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.

supplementVitamin D3 K2

A supplement offered as a year supply with AG1.

personJonathan Haidt

Author of 'The Anxious Generation', who encourages young people to interact more in the physical world and less on phones.

personAntonio Damasio

A neuroscientist who published his book on emotion around the same time Dr. Schore's first book on emotional development came out in 1994, marking a shift toward scientific study of emotion.

supplementOmega-3 fatty acids

A supplement critical for brain health, mood, and cognition, offered as a free month supply with AG1.

toolMDMA assisted psychotherapy

A modern exploration of compounds discussed for its potential to improve patient-therapist right brain synchrony and accelerate healing, although not currently FDA-approved.

bookProtocols: An Operating Manual for the Human Body

Andrew Huberman's first book, covering protocols for sleep, exercise, stress control, focus, and motivation, with scientific substantiation.

productDavid Protein Bar

A protein bar with 28 grams of protein, 150 calories, and 0 grams of sugar, mentioned as a sponsor.

companyFunction Health

A comprehensive lab testing program that analyzes blood, urine, and saliva to provide insights into various health markers. Mentioned as a sponsor.

studyUNICEF

Conducted a 2021 poll in 36 rich countries where the US ranked last in childhood emotional well-being.

organizationStanford School of Medicine

The institution where Andrew Huberman is a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology.

personDonald Winnicott

A famous psychoanalyst and pediatrician of the 20th century who made a distinction between 'quiet love' and 'excited love'.

personAlbert Einstein

Referenced for his emphasis on maintaining a curious mind.

productEight Sleep Pod Cover

A smart mattress cover with cooling, heating, and sleep tracking capacity. The Pod 4 Ultra has improved features and snoring detection, mentioned as a sponsor.

supplementAG1

An all-in-one vitamin, mineral, probiotic drink with adaptogens, taken daily for foundational health, improved digestion, robust immune system, and better mood/focus. Mentioned as a sponsor.

productTuna

A food that was recommended to limit consumption of due to high mercury levels detected in a Function Health test.

supplementN-acetylcysteine (NAC)

A supplement that can support glutathione production and detoxification, recommended to reduce mercury levels.

personLisa Feldman Barrett

Mentioned as an expert in emotions in the brain, who has discussed the use of emojis for emotional communication.

personIan McGilchrist

A scientist whose ideas about the right brain being more connected to the body and more dominant for unconscious will, and his concern that the left hemisphere is becoming too dominant in society, betraying the 'master'.

bookThe Anxious Generation

A book by Jonathan Haidt advocating for reduced phone use and more real-world interaction for young people.