Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman Explains Why People Upspeak

In theory, because that map is so regular across cultures, he's looked now in Chinese speaking people, in English speaking people, and people who have a second language. He's even has some interesting data about people who have up speak. They're really annoying. Oh, I hate that shit. That's a lot near where you live. That's a San Francisco tech thing. Is it? Yeah. It's like what they're doing is letting you know that they're one of the tribe. Okay. And we're all in this together. And I think like you do, and you can trust me because I'm unoriginal. Well, it might reflect a subtle brain damage. You think? I think the data show that it's a distortion of the regular map. I think it's the same thing as a Southern accent. I think you're just fitting in with your environment because I know people that have adopted that shit once they've gotten into the tech world. I'm like, hey, fuck face. You didn't used to talk like that. Or the people that go to England and start speaking with the British accent. Madonna. Oh, did she do that? Yes, she did. I don't follow pop culture carefully. Yes, she did. Yeah, I'm moving to Texas. I'm going to start saying y'all two weeks in. I'm giving myself two weeks. So I'm going to try out y'all. Well, some of this stuff is learned. Are you moving? Yes. I've heard rumors of that, but I guess, okay. Sorry to hear. Sorry for California. Congratulations, Texas. These maps have some regularities across people because when we're born into the world, we are not a completely clean slate. There's a kind of a map that expects the world, including language, to be a certain way. And we can't expect that we're going to be born in China or born in France or born in California, or Northern California for that matter. So the map is what we call semi malleable. It's not a rigid concrete hardwired map. So what makes you think that this upspeak is like damage? So I asked Eddie about this. Eddie. Chang, my friend, this neurosurgeon who is kind of premier world, not kind of, he is the world expert on speech and language and the neural transformations and how it controls the pharynx, all that stuff. And I said, what's with the upspeak thing? He said, yeah, you know, we see that sometimes and I'm concerned about that. And when a neurosurgeon tells you they're concerned, you kind of go, okay, what are you concerned about? And he goes, there's something wrong with the map. And this kind of, you know, so maybe that's, you know, it could be because of upbringing and people, you know, the brain is plastic as adults too. And not in the same way it's plastic in childhood. But you know, if you are forced to learn another language, your brain will fundamentally shift. Neuroplasticity is a real thing. And I think it's interesting you raise this kind of cultural component because actually it was Eddie's advisor, a guy named Mike Mersonic was really the one who discovered adult neuroplasticity. You know, in the 70s and 80s and my actually scientific great grandparents, David Hubel and Torrance and Weasel won the Nobel Prize for showing there are critical periods, these periods of development after which the brain cannot change. And they had important implications for amblyopia and eye stuff. Mersonic came along and said, you know what, I don't buy that. And he started doing experiments with his students and postdocs where they would create an essential need or contingency. Like if the animal doesn't eat unless it learns something, then the brain can change. If you break down learning events into kind of smaller, more focused events, the brain can change as an adult at essentially any age. And so the strongest drive for adult neuroplasticity is focus. It's the ability to say this is really important. It's making a soda straw view of the world. It's almost like being in a state of stress. And the best way to do that for a young person in adolescence or maybe even older is the social pressures. If they're strong, they will shape and rewire the brain. I mean, I look at what's happening in the world right now and I think we are in a state of immense neuroplasticity. Everybody is having to rewire their understanding of what's going on. So just to sort of put a kind of a bow of some sort on the speech and language thing, I don't think brain machine interface is going to be all about sticking chips in the head. But still, let's get back to the up-speak thing. Sure. Why does he think it's damage? What is it about up-speak? Well, he just thinks that the map, which shows up kind of normally in ... I mean, this is probably the first time in human history people have used this up-speak. It's also the first time in human history people have typed with their thumbs. I was listening to two guys at the airport back when you can go to the airport. And these two guys at the airport were talking in up-speak. And it was like as clear as day to me. They were letting each other know that they're in the tribe. And I remember Jamie had a tech problem once and he was on the phone with this lady who was doing up-speak when she was talking to him. And we both looked at each other like, eww, yuck. It does kind of create a kind of visceral, like nauseous reflex. I can't trust those people. I can't trust someone who talks like that because I know you're unoriginal. Most of us are clearly at least mostly influenced by the people around us. But it's not just that. It's like you've changed how you talk to fit in with this. There's a tech world. There's tech language. That's tech speak. It's English, but it's tech speak English. It's letting you know. And there does seem to be a body response too. There's sort of a spinal extension. I don't trust them. I don't trust them. I think they're sneaky. Well, I'll try and get the data from Eddie. I'm being halfway joking here if you're like an up-speak person. Like, hey man, I've always loved your show. But then you said you don't trust people who talk like me. Joking. Also, stop doing that. Stop fucking doing that. I know what you're doing. I think Eddie would say that there's some distortion in the way they're using this map. But how did it start? I think it started with one really smart person who's probably a little autistic who talked like that because they were trying to keep it together. And then everyone else is like, I want to be as smart as John. And then they started talking like that. And then it became a thing, sort of like accents. I grew up in Boston. They talk in a weird way. And I picked it up. And then one time I heard myself on television, I heard myself talk like that when I was 19. I was like, oh my God, I sound like a fucking idiot. What is wrong with me? Because I had only lived there at that time for like six years, but I had adopted it, a whole hog. And I was like, what's wrong with me? Like, why am I? I wanted to fit in. That's what it was. I'd moved there when I was 13 and I tried to fit in. And so I had adopted the speech pattern. I didn't realize it until I heard it. Like you knew you listen to a tape of yourself. You actually find out what you really sound like. Like, ew.