Schauer Thoughts

By Sarah Schauer & Studio71Comedy Education

Schauer Thoughts episodes

November 13, 2025 How to Learn to Love Math feat. Mina Neuberg
This week on Schauer Thoughts we have a special guest - please give a warm welcome to Mina Neuberg, CEO of WonderMath! Also, this episode is NOT an ad, I am not being paid, I just really love math and wanted to discuss learning and executive functioning with the executive putting the “fun” in functional learning. No but seriously, math is incredibly important and I appreciate y’all listening and *hopefully* expanding the communal comfort zone!

Learn More About WonderMath:
https://www.wondermath.com/

Where to Reach Mina:
[email protected]

New Book Club Information:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-book-for-143088045

Resources:

What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice & Change - Emily Falk

The Power of Fun - Catherine Price

Mathematics for Human Flourishing - Francis Su

Is Math Real? - Eugenia Cheng

The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone - Philip Fernbach

Neural correlates of hate
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18958169/

What Is Hate and Where Does It Live in the Brain?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-on-food/202208/what-is-hate-and-where-does-it-live-in-the-brain

The premotor cortex
https://www.physio-pedia.com/Premotor_Cortex#:~:text=The%20premotor%20cortex%20is%20a,of%20the%20contralateral%20hemisphere%20alone.

Behavioral energetics in human locomotion: how energy use influences how we move
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11993254/

Demonstration and Pantomime in the Evolution of Teaching
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5361109/

Total Physical Response (TPR) - Teaching Method
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392376539_Total_Physical_Response_TPR

Screen Apnea
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/10/1247296780/screen-apnea-why-screens-cause-shallow-breathing

Olfactory Enrichment to Improve Memory
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10405466/

What the Thalamus Does
https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/2012/3/12.03.02/4#:~:text=In%20this%20way%2C%20the%20thalamus%20is%20screening,matters%20of%20value%20and%20filtering%20out%20distractions.

This is How the Brain Filters Out Unimportant Details
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-babble/201502/is-how-the-brain-filters-out-unimportant-details#:~:text=This%20%E2%80%9Creciprocal%E2%80%9D%20connectivity%20can%20be,popcorn%2C%20and%20air%20conditioning).

Movement-Based Learning: Students Need to Use Their Bodies to Learn
https://www.teachhub.com/teaching-strategies/2025/03/movement-based-learning-students-need-to-use-their-bodies-to-learn/

Math Has Its Own Language. How Can Students Learn to Speak It?
https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/math-has-its-own-language-how-can-students-learn-to-speak-it/2024/09

Conceived linearities in mathematics education and how to disrupt them
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14794802.2025.2579307?src=#d1e125

How Did You Solve It? Metacognition in Mathematics
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/how-did-you-solve-it-metacognition-in-mathematics

Writing Problems in Possessive Form
https://www.ef.edu/english-resources/english-grammar/forming-possessive/

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1 hr 3 min
November 05, 2025 Regular & Hypnotic Shower Thoughts
Today’s Schauer Thoughts are a little smattering of everything with hypnotic speech for desert. Nod your head ‘yes’ if that sounds like a good time, shake your head ‘no’ if that sounds like a bad time. You’ve been a lovely audience, make sure to tip your waiter, as well as visit coat check to put your clothes back on.

And once again, run this episode and related resources by your therapist or mental health provider so your sense of self can relieve oneself.

“That was a stretch.” Exactly, you get it.

Resources:
How Magicians Think - Joshua Jay

Introduction To American Deaf - Thomas K. Holcomb

This Is What It Sounds Like - Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas

A Little Book of Language - David Crystal

What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice & Change - Emily Falk

The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone - Steven Sloman & Philip Fernbach

Is Having a Boyfriend Embarrassing?
https://www.vogue.com/article/is-having-a-boyfriend-embarrassing-now

What Is the Somatic Nervous System?
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-somatic-nervous-system-2795866

Automatic-voluntary dissociation
https://www.medlink.com/articles/automatic-voluntary-dissociation

Watch How You Nod
https://www.science.org/content/article/watch-how-you-nod

Imagined and real movements are controlled by the brain in the same way
https://news.ki.se/imagined-and-real-movements-are-controlled-by-the-brain-in-the-same-way

Chapter 8: Hypnotic Phenomena and Keeping Techniques
https://connect.springerpub.com/content/book/978-0-8261-2487-6/part/part01/chapter/ch08

Reflex Arc
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/reflex-arc#:~:text=A%20reflex%20arc%20is%20a,the%20body%20to%20a%20stimulus.

The Link Between Optic and Spinal Nerves
https://www.themiamiproject.org/the-link-between-optic-and-spinal-nerves/

Examples of other hypnotic speech pattern’s
https://hypnosistrainingacademy.com/milton-model-hypnotic-language-patterns-trance/?amp=1

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1 hr 18 min
October 29, 2025 A Refreshing Take on “Brain Rot”
This week we’re tackling brain rot, brain fog, social media addiction, and stopping to smell the roses! Join me on a cognitive journey to the land of untapped and undervalued sensory input, the nose. Remember, this is about a harm reduction method, it alone will not “cure” you - also feel free to run absolutely all of this by a licensed medical professional and thoroughly review the resources for yourself. As always, it’s been a pleasure having you in the communal Schauer, I hope my STEAM (du-dun-tss) of consciousness (and extended research) provides some refreshing mental clarity.

For more information on my book club visit:
Substack:
https://sarahschauer.substack.com/p/schauer-thoughts-book-club-additional?utm_source=activity_item

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/sarahschauer/membership

Books:
Horror on the Brain: The Neuroscience Behind Science Fiction - Austin Lim, PhD
Attention: Beyond Mindfulness - Gay Watson
Scent: A Natural History of Fragrance - Elise Vernon Pearlstine
Plant Lore and Legend: The Wisdom and Wonder of Plants and Flowers Revealed - Ruth Binney
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Mihály Csizkszentmihalyi

Articles:
Demystifying the New Dilemma of Brain Rot in the Digital Era: A Review
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11939997/

The Psychological Conditioning of Brainrot
https://www.fau.edu/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/psychological_conditioning_brainrot/brainrot/

Defining brain fog across medical conditions
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166223625000177

Does Exposure to Air Pollution Cause “Brain Fog”?
https://hudsonvalleypress.com/2025/08/13/does-exposure-to-air-pollution-cause-brain-fog/

Screen Apnea: What happens to our breath when we type, tap, and scroll
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/10/1247296780/screen-apnea-why-screens-cause-shallow-breathing

A New Reason to Stop and Smell the Roses
https://www.bottomlineinc.com/health/mental-health/a-new-reason-to-stop-and-smell-the-roses/

Memory Air Research Page
https://memoryair.com/pages/science

Nasal Respiration Entrains Human Limbic Oscillations and Modulated Cognitive Function
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5148230/

To smell the immune system: olfaction, autoimmunity and brain involvement
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17110318/

The Connections Between smell, memory, and health
https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/connections-between-smell-memory-and-health

Transforming the understanding of brain immunity
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo7649

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1 hr 26 min
October 22, 2025 Let’s Get An *Applied* Understanding of Working Memory!
Make sure to stretch, drink water, and break out a pencil and paper for this week’s episode of Schauer Thoughts because it will require active attention (you don’t have to do anything I say, this is just a word of warning that there will be math in this episode and it’s cruel to make someone listen to math without being able to write it down) because we’re getting into working memory!
If you have any difficulties with math, please do not be hard on yourself, it’s had some wickedly bad instruction and PR, but I promise math is not the enemy! It’s how we’ve all evolved to this point!
Fun little resource before the resource list, if you like literature and you’re math-curious, you should check out: The Meaning of Proofs: Mathematics as Storytelling by Gabriele Lolli.
Also, good news for my fiction readers! Due to my lack of internal monologue I’m realizing I genuinely don’t understand the flow of people’s thoughts, so if you’d like to comment your favorite fiction book with an omniscient POV, I’d really appreciate it!
I love sapphic romance, academia(?), appreciate a good classic, female lead, dark but also enlightening, anything in that general vicinity.
Excited to pick up some recommendations!
Thank you all for listening in on this week’s communal Schauer!
Resources:
The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics - Tim Harford
What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change - Emily Falk
Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe - Steven Strogatz
Connections Over Compliance: Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline- Lori L. Desautels, Ph.D.
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century - Timothy Snyder
Teaching Absolute Value of a Number in Math
https://www.hmhco.com/blog/teaching-absolute-value-of-a-number-in-math#:~:text=What%20does%20absolute%20value%20mean,is%20neither%20negative%20nor%20positive.)
A Brief Overview of Working Memory
https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2019/4/25-1

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1 hr 21 min
October 15, 2025 What is Cognitive Labor? How Do I Know If People Are Using Me for It? Pt.2
Schauer Thoughts? More like Schauer Cognitive Labor! Kidding, we have fun here. Welcome to part two of my mini-series on cognitive labor! Remember, not everyone is out to use you, discernment is a skill, and always do your own research. Thank you all for listening and as always, please feel free to run the episode and resources by your therapist.
Make sure to like and subscribe on YouTube, and rate me five stars wherever you get your podcasts!

For more information on my book club visit:
Substack:
https://sarahschauer.substack.com/p/schauer-thoughts-book-club-additional?utm_source=activity_item

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/sarahschauer/membership

Resources:
The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again - Catherine Price
What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change - Emily Falk
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism - Amanda Montell
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism - Robert Jay Lifton
What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice & Change - Emily Falk
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/annenberg-emily-falk-book-what-we-value

Thought terminating cliches:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_clich%C3%A9

The Power of Silence: Unpacking Thought-Terminating Cliches
https://desireebstephens.substack.com/p/the-power-of-silence-unpacking-thought

Entertrained
https://entertrained.app

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1 hr 16 min
October 08, 2025 So What is Cognitive Labor??
This week on Schauer Thoughts we’re discussing cognitive labor: what it is and isn’t, situations you use it in, and how to tell when someone is using you for your cognitive labor via thought-terminating cliches! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the discussion.
Also, I do want to apologize for how disorganized this episode is, I forgot to take my ADHD medication that day and I was really struggling to order my thoughts.
I have also received some feedback that my podcast is unpolished and a bit of a “burden” and I completely understand the intention behind those comments. I really do appreciate feedback and I feel so bad that this is the episode going out with those comments in mind.
I have ordered a couple books on how to polish your research, I’m currently reading Polish Your Academic Writing by Helen Coleman and I also signed up for a *free* seven week online course on scientific communication.
(If you’d also like to take the class here’s a link: https://sciencecommunicationlab.org/research-skills/presentation-on-science/ - you don’t have to, it’s just to share!)
It will take me a few weeks for you all to see these new skills in the podcast, so thank you for your patience and hopefully you see that effort payoff soon.
I am talking about neuroscience and more technical things but I want to do so in a way that’s more easily understood and accessible so I am working on that! I do genuinely want to share what I’m learning and while I love research I love connecting with my audience more and that’s not really possible if I don’t make more of an active effort to structure and translate concepts in a more accessible way. I promise I am working on it, I deeply appreciate the feedback.
There will be a part two to this episode and I am making sure that it’s more cohesive, organized, and delivered in a more accessible way!
Links:
How I Met Your Masi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howimetyourmasi/?hl=en
Where to Stream: https://www.dynasty.tv/products/how-i-met-your-masi-premiere
Sounds Like a Cult Podcast:
Website: https://www.soundslikeacult.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soundslikeacultpod/
Reese’s Instagram: (adore her)
https://www.instagram.com/reesaronii/
For more information on my book club visit:
Substack: https://sarahschauer.substack.com/p/schauer-thoughts-book-club-additional?utm_source=activity_item
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/sarahschauer/membership
Resources:
Future Tense: Why Anxiety is Good for You (Even Though It Feels Bad) - Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, PhD
How To Make Your Brain Your Best Friend: A Neuroscientists Guide to a Healthier, Happier Life - Rachel Barr
- Guys! This is the book I’ve talked about from the neuroscientist on “microdosing delight!” Go pick it up!
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism - Amanda Montell
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China - Robert Jay Lifton
Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker PhD
The Difference Between Mental Load and Emotional Labor
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/equal-partners/202508/the-difference-between-mental-load-and-emotional-labor
Anticipatory feelings: Neural correlates and linguistic markers
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763419300570#:~:text=A%20new%20feeling%20construct%20related,role%20in%20future%20oriented%20feelings.

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1 hr 8 min
October 01, 2025The Real Downside of Intentionally Misunderstanding People
This week in the communal Schauer we’re discussing the actual, neurological, downside of intentionally (not accidentally) misunderstanding others! Now I do want y’all to know that there is a difference between genuine debate and being an obtuse pr*ck, so please don’t assume I’m saying “never disagree again.” You can understand (comprehend) someone but you do not have to validate their augment (apply positive or negative moral judgement) because those are two separate processes in the brain. Other than that, please enjoy this episode, have an amazing week, and I hope you feel *a moderate to intense* experience of delight with this new information!

Please like and subscribe on YouTube, rate me five stars on Apple Podcasts and Spotify! I greatly appreciate it.

Please always feel free to send Schauer Thoughts episodes to your therapist or mental health provider :)

For more information on my book club visit:

Substack:
https://sarahschauer.substack.com/p/schauer-thoughts-book-club-additional?utm_source=activity_item

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/sarahschauer/membership

Resources:

Olivia Unplugged Tiktok
https://www.tiktok.com/@olivia.unplugged?_t=ZT-90APwzxxDNG&_r=1
Such an incredible creator and account, definitely recommend following her!

Life In Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life - Shigehiro Oishi, PhD

Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker PhD

Use Powerful Intentions to Become Your Authentic Best
https://newayscenter.com/powerful-intentions-authentic-best/
Helpful resource for positively framing intentions

The influence of intentions on dream content
https://academic.oup.com/sleepadvances/article/5/1/zpae088/7912101

How the Little-Known Zeigarnik Effect Impacts Everyone Daily
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/natural-order/202209/how-the-little-known-zeigarnik-effect-impacts-everyone-daily

The Art of Sustainable Performance: The Zeigarnik Effect
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-46463-9_10

Dreaming and offline memory processing
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(10)01360-6?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982210013606%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

The Neuroscience of Goals and Behavior Change
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5854216/#:~:text=This%20habit%20learning%20process%20also,with%20in%20the%20first%20place.

The neural bases of feeling understood and not understood
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4249470/#nst191-B33

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1 hr 14 min
September 24, 2025 Why AI Will Never Truly Replace Humans Pt. 3!
Here it is! Part three to why AI will never truly replace humans - it can’t “afford” to. This weeks episode is a bit long and rambly and for the sake of y’alls likely waning interest in AI, I’m going to include some additional reading on how AI is effecting the environment and what can be done to stop as well as mitigate the damage. Next week I’ll be moving onto another topic, another Schauer filled with long-winded musings and hopefully hotter water (and takes.) Thank you so much for hanging in there, I hope you and your brains leave a little bit more pruny (wrinkles in your brain are a good thing lol.)
For more information on my book club visit:
Substack:
https://sarahschauer.substack.com/p/schauer-thoughts-book-club-additional?utm_source=activity_item
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/sarahschauer/membership
Stand up show to benefit Pal Humanity!
https://www.instagram.com/share/BBEsWrfoDb
Please come if you’re in LA!
Resources:
Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life - Shigehiro Oishi, PhD
James J. Gibson
The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception
Chapter 8 - The Theory of Affordances
https://cs.brown.edu/courses/cs137/2017/readings/Gibson-AFF.pdf
Lectures on Tap
https://lecturesontap.com/
The session I attended was hosted by Drew McClellan who spoke about the Art & Science of Color Design in Cinema (absolutely incredible lecture, he is so knowledgeable and fun)
Please check out his website - he has online courses!
https://www.drwmcc.com/about
The Visual Story - Bruce A. Block
This is the book that Mr. McClellan recommended during his lecture, the book was actually written by his mentor and I will be picking it up.
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams - Matthew Walker, PhD
I cannot recommend this book enough, it is SO good, absolutely masterfully written.
This Is What It Sounds Like - Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas
An eco-political economy of AI to understand the complexities of its environmental costs
https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/eco-political-economy-ai-understand-complexities-its-environmental-costs

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1 hr 10 min
September 17, 2025 Why AI Will Never Truly Replace Humans Pt. 2
This week we’re doing a part two to why AI will never truly replace human beings - we’ll discuss neuroscience, opinions from accredited experts, as well as go on several explanatory tangents about how the brain *actually* works and how AI does not work like that. Please enjoy this week’s communal Schauer and I hope (a type of wonder -> happiness + fear) to see you all join my book club, starting September 21 & 22nd! More information linked below.

Book Club Info:
Sunday & Monday dates available!

Substack:
https://sarahschauer.substack.com/p/schauer-thoughts-book-club-additional?utm_source=activity_item

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/sarahschauer/membership

Resources:
The Human Brain Doesn’t Learn, Think or Recall Like an AI. Embrace the difference
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-07-09/human-brain-artificial-intelligence-model

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life - Shigehiro Oishi, PhD

The Order of Time - Carlo Rovelli

This Is What It Sounds Like - Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas

The Nature and Technique of Understanding: Some Fundamentals of Semantics - Hugh Woodworth
- Book I talked about having feelings, sensations, etc. outlined - pg. 26 & 27

Epistemic Injustice: Power & the Ethics of Knowing - Miranda Fricker

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1 hr 8 min
September 10, 2025Why ‘AI’ Will Never Truly Replace Humans
This week we’re going over what AI can’t “afford” to do that the human brain can! Next week we will cover more on the “neuroscience” (actually just programming) of AI, as well as the ecological impacts. No need to sit tight, this week we’re sensing, feeling, and moving through the communal Schauer as a collective to spite some *very much* artificial intelligence.

Get this new customer offer and your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just $15 a month at https://MintMobile.com/SCHAUER

Book Club:
For information about my book club, as well as cost, schedule, and additional learning opportunities, please visit my Substack, linked below.
The outline, as well as the platform it will be hosted on - likely Patreon (not Substack, even though I do know the platform can host book clubs) will go up on my Substack at noon PST on Wednesday, September 10.
I hope you all can join, I am so beyond excited to read and share with you all!

My Substack: https://substack.com/@sarahschauer?utm_source=user-menu

Book Club Book:
Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Makes a Fuller, Better Life - Shigehiro Oishi, PhD

Resources:
Your Brain Instantly Sees What You Can Do, AI Still Can’t
https://neurosciencenews.com/human-ai-visual-encoding-29279/

The Human Brain Doesn’t Learn, Think or Recall Like an AI. Embrace the Difference
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-07-09/human-brain-artificial-intelligence-model

Mind Brain Lecture: Neuroscientist Anthony Zador on the Future of AI and the Brain
https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/mind-brain-lecture-neuroscientist-anthony-zador-on-the-future-of-ai-and-the-brain/
Don’t agree with this guys aim or enthusiasm, but his opinion is revealing

The Posterior Parietal Area V6A: An Attentional-Modulated Visuomotor Region Involved in the Control of Reach-to-Grasp Action
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763422003128

Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation - Christopher Kemp
Flow - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Tech Agnostic - Greg M. Epstein
The Order of Time - Carlo Rovelli

Additional Links
The Huntington Library & Gardens
https://www.huntington.org

Madeline Garden & Bistro
https://www.instagram.com/madeline_garden/?hl=en

Photoskin: Illuminating Body Gloss
Glistening “body oil”

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1 hr 20 min

About Schauer Thoughts

From the publisher's feed

Left and right brainers are often pitted against each other but here they’ll be given the time and space to collaborate. So strip away the day and step into the steam, it’s time to open up your pores and perspectives for a truly immersive, imaginative, and information-rich experience that’ll leave you refreshed and ready for whatever life throws at you next. Welcome to Schauer Thoughts, hosted by comedian and student-of-the-world Sarah Schauer!