The Science of Motivation | Professor Masud Husain | #2

Professor Masud Husain is a cognitive neuroscientist and neurologist at the University of Oxford. Masud has spent much of his career investigating one of the most fundamental questions in human behaviour: what makes us motivated? Why are some people driven to achieve their goals, while others struggle even to get started? And how can disease or brain damage cause some people to develop profound apathy? In this episode: How a stroke caused Masud's patient to lose almost all motivation, and how a drug originally developed for Parkinson’s brought it back The role of dopamine, and why having too much dopamine can be just as bad as too little What the neuroscience of motivation means for how we think about willpower and agency Whether apathy could predict depression or dementia The future of treatments for dementia Why bureaucracy has become a serious threat to scientific progress Masud’s book, Our Brains, Our Selves, won the 2025 Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize. In it, he tells the stories of seven patients whose experiences reveal how the brain shapes our sense of identity, and how neurological disorders can transform it. It's a superb book, and well worth reading. https://www.waterstones.com/book/our-...