The frontal cortex doesn't even fully develop until age 25, which is wild! — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
It's great to have a buff frontal cortex to do that harder thing - for example, help a person in need rather… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
The frontal cortex is an incredibly interesting part of the brain - ours is proportionately bigger and/or more complex than in any… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
What does the frontal cortex do? Gratification postponement, executive function, long-term planning, and impulse control. Basically, it makes you do the harder… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“THE DELAYED MATURATION of the frontal cortex suggests an obvious scenario, namely that early in adolescence the frontal cortex has fewer neurons,… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
But often, it's easier to resist temptation with distraction, or to be so inculcated in doing the right thing that it's automatic,… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“probably the most important fact about genetics and culture is the delayed maturation of the frontal cortex—the genetic programming for the young… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“how acute stress strengthens connectivity between the frontal cortex and motoric areas, while weakening frontal-hippocampal connections; the result is decision making that… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“Most broadly, the PFC chooses between conflicting options—Coke or Pepsi; blurting out what you really think or restraining yourself; pulling the trigger… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“What does the frontal cortex do? Its list of expertise includes working memory, executive function (organizing knowledge strategically, and then initiating an… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“So if whites see a black face shown at a subliminal speed, the amygdala activates.10 But if the face is shown long… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“We process emotionally salient information more rapidly and automatically, but with less accuracy. Frontal function—working memory, impulse control, executive decision making, risk… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“Damasio has produced an influential theory about emotion-laden decision making, rooted in the philosophies of Hume and William James; this will soon… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“The brain is heavily influenced by genes. But from birth through young adulthood, the part of the human brain that most defines… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“Diallo, a West African immigrant in New York, matched a description of a rapist. Four white officers questioned him, and when the… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“Work by Martha Farah of the University of Pennsylvania, Tom Boyce of UCSF, and others demonstrates something outrageous: By age five, the… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share Image
“Secure-attachment 7Rs show more generosity than average. Thus 7R has something to do with generosity—but its effect is entirely context dependent.” — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
But if you get chronically, psychosocially stressed, you're going to compromise your health. So, essentially, we've evolved to be smart enough to make ourselves… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“Finally, for the same criminal conviction, the more stereotypically Af-rican a black individual’s facial features, the longer the sentence.15 In contrast, juries view black… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“So testosterone does subtle things to behavior. Nonetheless, this doesn’t tell us much because everything can be interpreted every which way. Testosterone increases anxiety—you… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“pain makes aggressive people more aggressive, while doing the opposite to unaggressive individuals.” — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“Thus, for our purposes, genes aren’t about inevitability. Instead they’re about context-dependent tendencies, propensities, potentials, and vulnerabilities. All embedded in the fabric of the… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“If we accept that there will always be sides, it’s a nontrivial to-do list item to always be on the side of angels. Distrust… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“In other words, the more genomically complex the organism, the larger the percentage of the genome devoted to gene regulation by the environment.” — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“The subject of one experiment is a rat that receives mild electric shocks (roughly equivalent to the static shock you might get from scuffing… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“No brain region is an island, and the formation of circuits connecting far-flung brain regions is crucial—how else can the frontal cortex use its… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“We process emotionally salient information more rapidly and automatically, but with less accuracy. Frontal function—working memory, impulse control, executive decision making, risk assessment, and… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“Most broadly, the PFC chooses between conflicting options—Coke or Pepsi; blurting out what you really think or restraining yourself; pulling the trigger or not.… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“One stretch of the gene is repeated a variable number of times, and the version with seven repeats (the “7R” form) produces a receptor… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
“some people always get more than their share of equality than others” — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
It's probably even the case that if you stoked up some Buddhist monks with tons of testosterone, they'd become wildly competitive as to who… — Robert M. Sapolsky Copy Share
