Essentials: The Neuroscience of Speech, Language & Music | Dr. Erich Jarvis

In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, my guest is Dr. Erich Jarvis, PhD, a professor and Head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language at Rockefeller University and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). We discuss the brain circuits and genes underlying spoken language and why the ability to learn and produce vocalizations is extraordinarily rare in the animal kingdom. We also explore why song likely evolved before language, how gesture and movement share deep neural roots with speech, the neurobiology of stuttering, why childhood is the optimal window for language acquisition, and how physical movement — including dance — may help preserve speech and cognitive function across a lifetime.

People Mentioned

• Peter Marler: professor emeritus of neurobiology, physiology, and ethology, University of California, Davis
• Fernando Nottebohm: professor emeritus of neuroscience, Rockefeller University; Jarvis's PhD advisor
• Doug Altshuler: professor of zoology, University of British Columbia
• Winrich Freiwald: professor of neurosciences and behavior, Rockefeller University