Neuroscience - PreFrontal Cortex (PFC)

Everyone's born with the same brain right all brains have 100 billion neurons so why are some brains more capable than others some people are able to focus more be more creative ?. While others procrastinate struggle with everyday tasks and why is there so much difference. It is unlike the LLMs which compete with one another for the size and number of parameters. All of us have the same number of neurons. It is only how these neurons are connected/wired makes the difference. the good news is that because of neuroplasticity anyone at any age can learn skills that can make them as good as anyone else.

Brain is composed of many systems but two most important ones are the Prefrontal cortex and the Limbic system. Prefrontal cortex is the most evolved recent part of the brain right behind the forehead. It matures throughout the life but reaches adult maturity by the age of 25. Limbic system is behind and under your brain and it is the old part of the brain. It is responsible for emotions, instincts, love, anger and jealousy whereas the prefrontal cortex is the logical part of the brain. Both of these system needs each other and are always in conflict. Prefrontal is the one which plans for the future and if you want to form a habit you have to master it, whereas limbic can only plan for one or two minutes.

Following are the 5 things that a prefrontal cortex does and how you can improve each one of them.

Goal Directed Behaviour:

A part called fronto polar area in the PFC is responsible for planning ahead this part has the job of planning what you will do later and also predicting how will you do it. The key word here is prediction the better you are able to predict your own behavior the stronger your PC gets. A simple way to do this is add a timer to your tasks and predict how much time it will take to complete your task. It could be as simple as predicting how much time it will take you to reach your office by looking at the maps or any project activity.

Pattern recognition:

The second thing that your PFC does is pattern recognition your PFC has the job of quickly analyzing a situation breaking it down into smaller parts and putting it together to understand a situation in its own way. how you can practice this is by playing games like jigsaw puzzles Rubik's Cube and even games like Sudoku and solving crossword puzzles. Studies have found that have found that older people who solve Sudoku and crosswords have a later onset of memory problems like dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Language:

There is area in PFC called Broca's area is responsible for what words you are going to use and what will you say. The way to make this area stronger is practice speech and writing. The more you teach others, the more you write the stronger the PFC becomes and you become master of the subject.

Inhibition:

The fourth thing that your PFC does is inhibition or in other words it develops the ability to say no. The Limbic system is the old part of the brain that constantly chases pleasurable things, running away from things that considers as a harm. The ability to say no is a neural network just like anything else the more you practice saying no the easier it becomes. Start with smaller things, if you are craving to have sweets just start saying no.

Movement:

The fifth thing that your PFC does is movement your prefrontal cortex has two movement areas one is the visual eye field which controls where your eyes will go and the other is the primary motor cortex which controls the rest of your body's movement the more you practice these two movements the strong stronger your PFC. So how do you control your eye movement ,a simple eye exercise is the candle test put a candle in front of you and gaze at the flame and do not let your eyes move or flicker away from it the longer you're able to hold your gaze the stronger your attention networks become there's a yogic meditation practice called trataka meditation which talks about the exact same thing. When it comes to your body's movement and your primary motor cortex all forms of physical exercise helps build those networks. All movement is based on dopamine spikes now you know that dopamine is the pleasure or motivation chemical. So here is a very simple hack for anytime you feel that you are low on motivation just get up walk for a minute swinging your arms and come back and sit and see if your motivation level has changed what happens is just by the act of movement.