Description
Our brains are constantly trying to predict what comes next, but in an increasingly unpredictable world, that mental workload can fuel stress, anxiety and even depression. In this episode of Science Quickly, author Maia Szalavitz explains how the brain processes uncertainty, why some people are better equipped to handle it than others and how we can build resilience by learning to embrace the unknown.
Recommended Reading:
How uncertainty breaks the brain
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-your-brain-learns-to-cope-with-uncertainty/
E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!
Discover something new every day. Subscribe to Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/getsciam/
And sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter: https://www.scientificamerican.com/account/email-preferences/
Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
0:00 — Introduction
0:53 — Meet the Guest: Maia Szalavitz
2:50 — The Brain as a Prediction Engine
4:43 — Implications of the Predictive Brain
5:50 — How Stress Impacts the Body
7:32 — Mental Illness & Prediction Errors
9:32 — Four Phenotypes for Managing Uncertainty
11:37 — Real-World Examples & Depression
13:15 — Coping in Crisis: The Eaton Fire Story
17:17 — Changing Your Prediction Engine
20:32 — Outro & Credits