Dopamine, Motivation and Why the Brain Repeats Behavior with Dr. Anna Lembke artwork
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning

Dopamine, Motivation and Why the Brain Repeats Behavior with Dr. Anna Lembke

May 24, 2026 · 23 min

Host Andrea Samadi welcomes Dr. Anna Lembke to explain how pleasure and pain share the same neural circuitry and how dopamine governs motivation. The episode explores why overconsumption of easy rewards dulls motivation, creates withdrawal-like deficits, and shifts the brain toward pain. Through clear takeaways—delay borrowed rewards, try temporary abstinence, create friction for temptations, and…