publiusvarus wrote:
Bard,
How old am I...hmmm...old enough to know that 21yr olds are fools.
Technically this isn't incorrect. Your pre-frontal cortex isn't done growing until your mid-to-late twenties, and that part of your brain is responsible for your planning, personality, etc.
Quote:
The most typical psychological term for functions carried out by the pre-frontal cortex area is executive function. Executive function relates to abilities to differentiate among conflicting thoughts, determine good and bad, better and best, same and different, future consequences of current activities, working toward a defined goal, prediction of outcomes, expectation based on actions, and social "control" (the ability to suppress urges that, if not suppressed, could lead to socially-unacceptable outcomes).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefrontal_cortex
Quote:
It is now believed that the last part of the brain to mature is the prefrontal cortex, which can take until the early- to mid- twenties to finish growth. It is believed that teenagers use a different part of the brain for some of the thinking processes, while the prefrontal cortex is in the process of maturing. A PBS special on the brain explained that because of the immature prefrontal cortex teenagers may be prone to depression and/or misinterpreting things like the meaning of some verbal or non-verbal communication.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Is-it-possible-for-your-brain-to-quit-growing-mentally-Still-growing-in-its-intelligence--but-stop-growing-in-age
Not saying that all 21-year olds (or 23-year olds, like me) are fools, but it is possible younger folks see the world in a very different way due to how their brains process things.
