#21 Octopuses, MDMA, and Social Reward Learning with Dr. Gul Dölen

Dr. Gul Dölen, a neuroscientist and Associate Professor at the Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, discusses MDMA’s potential to reopen the critical period for social reward learning in animal research models. She shares how MDMA affects the brain’s capacity to process new social information and how long this enhanced neuroplasticity lingers. She also shares what happens to octopuses (typically anti-social creatures), when they are observed on MDMA, and the importance of pursuing science for curiosity’s sake.