How to hack your own brain (with Elizabeth Ricker)
Spencer speaks with Elizabeth Ricker about interventions for enhanced cognition, self-tracking and self-experimentation, and fostering mental clarity and creativity.
Deep Dive Analysis
19 Topic Outline
Introduction to Neurohacking and Self-Experimentation
Personal Benefits: Overcoming Brain Fog
Process for Diagnosing and Resolving Brain Fog
Individual Differences and Dietary Experimentation
Importance of Tracking Nutritional Deficiencies and Intolerances
Getting Started with Self-Tracking and Self-Assessment
Four Key Mental Abilities for Cognitive Improvement
Measuring Executive Function and Working Memory
Measuring Emotional Self-Regulation
Measuring Creativity and Productivity
Criteria for Selecting Neurohacking Interventions
Strategic Use of the Placebo Effect
Nootropics: Promises, Challenges, and Regulation
Neurostimulation (TDCS) for Cognitive Enhancement
Vagus Nerve Stimulation as a Promising Area
Video Games for Cognitive Improvement and Trauma Response
Neurofeedback for Brain State Regulation
Strategic Use of Blue Light for Energy and Mood
Evidence-Based Approach to Self-Experimentation
9 Key Concepts
Neurohacking
A playful, curiosity-driven approach to exploring and improving mental performance through self-tracking and self-experimentation, using consumer devices. It's about tackling hard problems for the love of it, rather than being told what to do.
Brain Fog
A state characterized by slowness of thought, difficulty recalling memories, trouble paying attention, and a dimming of consciousness. It feels like mentally struggling through mud or trying to see through a blizzard.
Executive Function
A broad mental ability encompassing working memory, inhibition, and mental flexibility. Colloquially, it relates to attention, decision-making, organizing thoughts, and planning.
Emotional Self-Regulation
The ability to recognize one's emotional state and effectively manage or change it. This skill is crucial for mental health, relationships, school, and the workplace, and tends to improve with age.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
A biological measure derived from heart rate that is correlated with emotional self-regulation and resilience. Higher HRV is generally desired, indicating greater resilience, while low HRV can correlate with increased likelihood of illness.
Nootropics
Substances, pills, or compounds ingested with the aim of enhancing cognition, such as caffeine. The US supplement industry's lack of regulation makes it challenging to ensure product purity and consistent dosage, limiting their reliable use.
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS)
A non-invasive neurostimulation technique that involves sending a small electrical current (typically 2 milliamps) through electrodes on the head. The theory is that this current increases the likelihood of neurons firing in targeted brain regions, potentially enhancing cognitive function.
Neurofeedback
A technique where a brain monitoring device (often EEG) provides real-time feedback to an individual, allowing them to subconsciously learn to regulate their brainwaves and achieve a target mental state. This can involve positive reinforcement for desired brainwave patterns.
Honest Placebo
A placebo administered to a patient who is fully aware that they are receiving a placebo. Surprisingly, studies have shown that even with this knowledge, patients can still experience benefits due to the mind-body connection.
12 Questions Answered
Neurohacking is a playful, curiosity-driven approach to exploring and improving mental performance through self-tracking and self-experimentation. It offers fun, life-altering insights, and both immediate and long-term benefits.
Brain fog is described as a slowness of thought, difficulty recalling memories, trouble paying attention, and a feeling of dimness or struggling through mud, making mental tasks incredibly hard.
Begin by journaling symptoms with timestamps and context, then consult a doctor for underlying medical conditions or mental health issues, and finally, systematically track lifestyle factors like sleep, nutrition, exercise, and social health.
Individual differences in diet effectiveness often stem from undiagnosed nutritional deficiencies or intolerances, which can change over time due to adaptive immune systems.
The four key mental abilities are executive function, emotional self-regulation, memory and learning, and creativity, as they predict success in work, school, and relationships.
Emotional self-regulation can be measured through self-report assessments and, more objectively, by tracking Heart Rate Variability (HRV), where higher HRV correlates with greater resilience.
Creativity can be measured by tasks like the 'alternate uses task' (generating many novel and useful uses for an everyday object) or by tracking sheer output and subjective quality in a specific domain, along with the frequency of experiencing 'flow' states.
Brain games can lead to improvements in the specific tasks being played due to practice effects and learning curves, but it's crucial to baseline your performance and measure if your learning curve changes significantly faster than before an intervention.
The main challenge in the US is the unregulated supplement industry, which means the actual content and dosage in commercially available products may not match what is stated on the label or what was used in promising research trials, leading to uncertain effects and potential side effects.
Yes, research shows that people can benefit from a placebo even when they are explicitly told it is a placebo (an 'honest placebo'), demonstrating the powerful influence of the mind-body connection.
Playing Tetris intensely immediately after a traumatic event may strategically disrupt the visual system's ability to consolidate the traumatic memories, making them less likely to develop into PTSD.
Blue light can be used strategically to energize and jolt one awake, performing similarly to caffeine in some studies, and has therapeutic uses for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and some types of depression.
24 Actionable Insights
1. Embrace Self-Experimentation
Become a “neurohacker” by engaging in self-tracking and self-experimentation to gain life-altering insights, make immediate and long-term improvements in mental performance, and understand invisible aspects of your daily life.
2. Rule Out Medical Causes
Before self-experimenting with lifestyle factors, consult a doctor to rule out any underlying medical disorders or neurological conditions that could be causing your symptoms.
3. Prioritize Mental Health
Address mental health issues like anxiety, depression, or mood problems, as they can significantly impact cognition; utilize online screeners or teletherapy sessions for support.
4. Implement Structured Self-Experiments
Follow a structured 10-12 week self-experimentation protocol, including a baseline, 7-10 weeks of A-B testing with 15-30 sessions per intervention, and a washout period, performing pre- and post-tests around each 10-minute intervention.
5. Establish Cognitive Baseline
Identify your specific cognitive issues and establish a baseline of your performance across four key mental abilities (executive function, emotional self-regulation, memory/learning, creativity) and lifestyle factors to pinpoint bottlenecks.
6. Track Lifestyle Factors Systematically
Systematically track “usual suspect” lifestyle factors like sleep, nutrition, exercise, social health, and stress daily for several weeks to uncover patterns and identify the real causes of cognitive issues.
7. Track Four Core Abilities
Focus on tracking and testing four key mental abilities—executive function, emotional self-regulation, memory/learning, and creativity—as they predict success in work, school, and relationships.
8. Model Learning Curve in Baseline
When tracking cognitive performance, establish a baseline period to model your natural learning curve and practice effects, then assess if interventions significantly accelerate your improvement rate beyond this baseline.
9. Journal Brain Fog Episodes
When experiencing brain fog or other issues, perform a two-minute free write in a journal, noting what you did before, how you feel, and a timestamp. This helps identify the issue, provides comfort by showing past recovery, and allows for later pattern analysis.
10. Utilize Repeatable Cognitive Tests
Use repeatable computer-based tests, like those found on Quantified Mind or Cambridge Brain Sciences, to objectively measure your cognitive performance, preferring those with transparent scoring systems.
11. Utilize Nutrition Tracking Apps
Use nutrition tracking apps like Chronometer to monitor both macronutrients and micronutrients in your diet, helping identify systematic deficiencies that could impact your health and cognition.
12. Experiment with Elimination Diets
If experiencing unexplained fatigue or stomach issues, consider trying an elimination diet by starting with simple foods and slowly reintroducing others, or radically shifting your diet, to identify potential intolerances or deficiencies.
13. Allow Weeks for Diet Adjustment
When changing your diet, allow at least a few weeks for your body to adjust and for any built-up inflammation to subside, as immediate reactions may not reflect long-term effects.
14. Practice Self-Compassion in Experiments
Avoid going to extremes with self-experiments if they make you miserable or isolate you; be kind to yourself and make compromises to maintain your quality of life and joy.
15. Track Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Use smartwatches or chest strap monitors to track your Heart Rate Variability (HRV) daily, as higher HRV levels correlate with greater emotional resilience and can indicate your general readiness.
16. Quantify Creative Output & Quality
Measure your creativity by tracking the quantity of your output in a specific domain (e.g., poems written) and subjectively rating or objectively assessing the quality of that work over time.
17. Monitor Flow State
Track how often you achieve a ‘flow state’ during creative tasks by setting a timer and rating your mental state, as flow is a pleasurable and quality-of-life-enhancing experience.
18. Incorporate Regular Exercise
Engage in regular exercise as a fundamental, low-cost intervention to potentially improve various aspects of cognition and mental performance.
19. Leverage Honest Placebos
Intentionally use the ‘honest placebo effect’ by acknowledging you’re using a placebo, believing in the mind-body connection, and expecting benefits, as this can lead to real improvements.
20. Utilize Blue Light Strategically
Use blue light strategically in the morning to energize yourself and combat fatigue, as it can be as effective as caffeine without the jitters, but avoid staring directly at the light and exercise caution if you have eye conditions or bipolar disorder.
21. Try Neurofeedback for Brain State Regulation
Experiment with neurofeedback, using a brain monitoring device (typically EEG) to receive real-time feedback that helps your brain learn to enter desired mental states, which can lead to quick and noticeable cognitive improvements.
22. Use Targeted Video Games
Play specific video games, such as Brain HQ or Lumosity for executive function, or Tetris for emotional self-regulation after a traumatic event, to potentially improve targeted cognitive abilities.
23. Explore TDCS (Cautiously)
Consider experimenting with transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) by sending small amounts of electricity to specific brain regions, as research shows mixed but sometimes surprisingly good results for cognitive enhancement.
24. Exercise Caution with Nootropics
Approach nootropics and supplements with extreme caution due to unregulated industries and potential for inaccurate labeling or unexpected side effects; use third-party watchdog sites like Labdoor to verify product purity.
6 Key Quotes
I kind of believe that everyone should become a neurohacker, and the reason for this is many-fold, but one is that it's incredibly fun. It's likely to provide life-altering insights, and it's useful both immediately and long-term.
Elizabeth Ricker
Your brain is just sort of, I mean, it's everyone, it's different for everyone, but for me it was, um, it was almost like there was like a silence.
Elizabeth Ricker
I think nutrition seems really mysterious to people, but a lot of it is because they're just not tracking themselves and they're unaware of the fact that there are some clear areas where you can be high or low in something or you can have an intolerance to things and just be unaware of it.
Elizabeth Ricker
The brain wiring was, so basically the researchers were able to identify individuals at nearly a hundred percent accuracy because their brain wiring was so unique.
Elizabeth Ricker
The mind is, is wild in that way. Expectation is really powerful.
Elizabeth Ricker
I'm just imagining the paramedics saying, get this man some Tetris.
Spencer Greenberg
2 Protocols
Diagnosing and Resolving Brain Fog (Elizabeth Ricker)
Elizabeth Ricker- When brain fog is noticed, perform a two-minute free-write in a journal, noting experiences and timestamp, without lifting hands from the keyboard.
- Later, when feeling better, review journal entries to identify underlying patterns and gain critical insight.
- Consult a doctor to rule out underlying medical disorders or neurological conditions that could be causing the brain fog.
- Address potential mental health issues like anxiety or depression, using online screeners or teletherapy as resources.
- Systematically track 'usual suspects' lifestyle factors for weeks, including sleep, nutrition, exercise, and social health, using apps and wearables to gather data.
- Look for nutritional deficiencies using apps like Chronometer, which track micronutrients in addition to macronutrients.
- If an intolerance is suspected, try cutting out the suspected food for a couple of weeks and track changes in symptoms, as Elizabeth did with gluten.
- If problems persist, consider an elimination diet or other significant dietary shifts, giving each change at least a few weeks to observe effects.
Designing a Self-Experiment for Cognitive Improvement (Elizabeth Ricker)
Elizabeth Ricker- Identify the specific issue or bottleneck you want to address in your mental performance.
- Conduct a self-assessment across various lifestyle areas (sleep, exercise, nutrition, stress) and the four mental abilities (executive function, emotional self-regulation, memory/learning, creativity) to establish a baseline.
- Track yourself for at least one week, ideally two, to model your natural learning curve for any performance tasks you will be testing.
- Design an A-B experiment (or A-B-A) targeting your identified bottleneck, ensuring a control period and an intervention period.
- For each daily experimental session, dedicate 2.5 minutes for a pre-test, 10 minutes for the intervention, and 2.5 minutes for a post-test.
- Run the intervention for 7 to 10 weeks, ensuring 15 to 30 sessions for each intervention (A and B) to gather a large enough sample size.
- Include a washout period at the end of the experimental phase to allow effects of the intervention to dissipate.
- Analyze results to see if your learning curve changed significantly or if you improved at a faster rate during the intervention period compared to the baseline or control.