Staff Writers Khushi Chhaya and Lorelei Gorton attended Sing for Science: Simpson’s Neuroscience, which featured Psychology professor Dr. Kevin Ochsner and voice actor Hank Azaria, who voiced Moe the Bartender on The Simpsons (and many other characters).

“Liquor in a mug / Can warm you like a hug”–or so promises the jaunty tune featured in Season 22, Episode 11 of The Simpsons, “Flaming Moe.” As it turns out, this statement might not be far from the truth. Columbia Psychology professor Dr. Kevin Ochsner discussed this and many other topics with host of Sing for Science Matt Whyte and actor/Moe-voicer Hank Azaria at the Sing for Science: Simpsons Neuroscience event. 

Whyte, a musician with a strong interest in science, first began the Sing for Science series by bringing together singers and scientific experts (an idea that first sprung to his mind when he was listening to Mötley Crüe’s “Kickstart My Heart” and thinking of cardiology). The podcast has since expanded to host artists of all stripes: not just musicians, but writers and actors, like guest Hank Azaria. 

The event began with Whyte, Ochsner, and a projected real-time animation of Moe, the bartender from the Simpsons, voiced by Azaria backstage. (This is the first time a real-time animated Simpsons character has appeared before an audience.)

The starting point for the discussion was an exploration of how and why humans are social creatures, and why we seek connection with each other in an environment like “Moe’s Tavern”—in other words, why a bar is such a hub of social activity. Ochsner answered that alcohol has a myopic effect, fixing us in the present and obliterating the big picture, thereby making us much more willing to connect with others in the moment. 

Moe had doubts: the progression of social-emotional states at a bar, he said, was less of a friendly situation and more of an annoying -> tipsy -> fun -> drunk -> vomiting -> annoying circular pipeline. “Pretty much I find everyone annoying,” he said—not the best source to quote for Ochsner’s theory. But, as Whyte mentioned, even Moe is capable of social empathy. By the end of the “Flaming Moe” episode, he’s willing to split his profits with a depressed and disgruntled Homer. Ochsner said when we see people (in a bar or otherwise) feeling down, our default response is empathy. This is the founding principle of human society. The first sign of civilization, according to anthropologist Margaret Mead, is a healed femur, because it proves humans were willing to help each other, instead of (as things would be in a “survival of the fittest” world) leaving the injured person behind. The capacity for empathy and to understand and sympathize with others’ pain without necessarily feeling it ourselves–is a key component of what separates us from animals. 

There’s an interesting physiological component to this, as Ochsner revealed: when we’re being empathetic, the pain centers in our own brain activate without actually receiving any painful stimuli. The thought of someone else’s experience is enough to create a real, physical reaction and, in turn, a connection. In a similar vein, Ochsner’s research has shown that a person subjected to pain who’s holding the hand of their partner, or even just looking at a picture of them, will experience a less intense physical response.  

At this point, Moe became increasingly angry, causing a “technical difficulties” graphic to flash across the screen. The screen then went black and Azaria was welcomed onto the stage as himself. The episode in question, “Flaming Moe,” was the first to properly feature his character, so he remembered it well. It was meaningful to his experience to have worked on the show with Steven Tyler, who was newly sober. The conversation naturally led to Azaria’s journey through alcohol use and recovery. He told us that if he hadn’t become Moe the Bartender, he would have become Hank the Bartender–a joke made with a somewhat somber undertone. Concerning the discussion of sympathetic pain, Azaria also brought up para-alcoholism, where someone may exhibit traits associated with alcoholism due to their close relation to or proximity to an alcoholic. 

Ochsner then presented some of his research on drinking and recovery in social contexts, which concentrates specifically on the brain systems involved in triggering emotional responses in someone who is alcohol dependent. One point of his research explores how these people regulate cue-induced cravings, which can occur when they experience triggers like walking past a bar or liquor store, and how they respond both internally and in social settings. Ochsner’s lab studied the activity of various parts of the brain by measuring blood flow to those areas. Ultimately, they found that the frontal lobe of the brain—the center of logic, reason, and control—plays an important role in turning off cravings.

Social regulation can be achieved through a variety of methods. From parents to therapists, we all have people in our lives who guide us and regulate our impulses. Ochsner continued to speak about how empathy, collaboration, and complex social interactions are huge evolutionary advantages to humans. This aligns with a popular social intelligence hypothesis, which suggests that humans are intelligent because we are social. Further, we need to be intelligent to understand and support each other. 

Azaria chimed in, agreeing that being social provides evolutionary advantages and saying that “load-sharing” is built into how many animals work together. For example, watching horror movies in the theater surrounded by others reduces the impact of the scary movie. The same goes for beating alcoholism. “Alcohol is a bully you can’t beat alone,” he said. To this, Whyte retorted: “Don’t they say you’re not a real New Yorker until you’re in multiple twelve-step programs?”

Ochsner then asked Azaria to talk about the experience of not being able to turn to alcohol. “It was misery,” Azaria responded simply. “Alcoholism is an attempt at a solution to a problem,” he said. He described the period of grieving that he went through during his recovery. While his grief spanned trauma and bad childhood experiences, his “deepest bottom” was his divorce and his disconnection with his father. These latent feelings had been building for a long time, he explained. “[They] didn’t come out until I stopped numbing myself.”

To Azaria, somebody being empathetic made all the difference. The true understanding he found in connecting with others with the same (and sometimes worse) experience as his own was crucial to his recovery. Ochsner added that how people communicate with each other can often make you feel like your feelings have been lifted, and burdens have been eased. Azaria agreed, saying that many people in recovery find sponsors by waiting to hear someone share what sounds like their story. 

Whyte then asked Ochsner how he navigates studying people in an anonymous recovery program. Ochsner said that his team still contacts and connects with the people in these groups, getting to know them through their research but not including their names on any official papers or reports. On a related note, Azaria touched on the tradition of anonymity in the Alcoholics Anonymous community and how it sometimes conflicts with the desire to speak out about alcoholism and normalize seeking help. 

Azaria pivoted to speak about some of the tenets of recovery, one of which is making amends with those you have wronged, touching briefly on the controversy around his voicing of Apu, a South Asian character on The Simpsons.  He also brought up mindful acceptance as a form of self-control, which comes from Buddhist teachings and tradition. In mindful acceptance, negative responses are broken down into two components: a “first arrow” which represents the initial injury inflicting pain or sadness, and the “second arrow,” which is the wound you cause yourself, making an emotional mountain out of a molehill. When seeking support during the breakdown of his marriage, Azaria went to his sponsor, who gave him the advice that bad feelings were natural, but attacking yourself for feeling them can only compound the pain. Bad days or feelings, Azaria reflected, should be treated as “a storm that will pass.” Scientists have found that the amygdala, responsible for processing emotions and responding to threats, is less active when mindful acceptance is practiced.  In contrast to other ways of regulating emotion, this method doesn’t use the frontal lobe—a surprising finding, Oschner said, since we usually associate self-control with logical reasoning. 

“It wasn’t the pain that made me want to drink,” Azaria said. “It was the core belief that this pain was never going to end.” Ochsner characterized negative emotions as disempowering, creating the unique feeling that “nothing will ever get better.” This fear of being unable to cope with present struggles leads people to turn to maladaptive coping strategies. This is part of how addictions can take root when there isn’t support or alternative methods of regulation available. Help and empathy from others is a key element of finding healthy coping strategies. 

The discussion then opened up to an open Q&A session, where audience members had the opportunity to submit questions via a QR code displayed throughout the discussion.

A highlight was a question about Moe’s take on anxiety. Azaria (as Moe) responded by saying Moe “aspires to anxiety”; seeing that his usual state of being is like“the worst jump scare in a horror movie all the time,” he appreciates a “nice baseline of anxiety.” Ochsner chimed in with the interesting suggestion that “happiness is the absence of anxiety.” Azaria, now himself, then spoke about his experience of feeling bored and nihilistic about six months into his recovery. After pondering this feeling, he concluded that he would rather “take the boring” than face all the negative effects if he had continued drinking. 

Another interesting question was in regards to Azaria’s take on voicing Jim Brockmire, a sportscaster on The Simpsons who was characterized as an alcoholic and drug addict. Azaria described voicing him as cathartic and talked about having “free-lapses,” where he would feel the (imaginary) effects of alcohol by drinking iced tea “like shots of whiskey,” feeling a nonexistent buzz. Ochsner validated this, saying that we can associate the muscle memory of actions, like lifting a glass, with mental responses of drunkenness. 

The event was certainly a hit; a few members of the crowd stood to give standing ovations at the end, and, for those willing to brave a long line, a last opportunity for questions, photographs, and signatures from the speakers. For more updates, be sure to tune into the Sing For Science podcast or keep your eyes peeled for any future collaborations with the University.

Images by Lorelei Gorton