Original subtitles

Last but far from least comes the prefrontal brain.

This one is a marvel of evolution.

It makes us humans unique as no other living being has as a brain structure the way we have it.

Because let's face it everything we've seen so far of three brain structures are widespread in the animal

kingdom the reptilian and Palio limbic mode are so basic that using them puts us in a state where we

have no connection anymore with our logical thinking abilities.

On the other hand it is true that in the neo limbic lies the essence of who we are as individuals with

our own memories and motivations.

Still that doesn't make us human.

Anyone who has a dog or a cat at home will be able to testify that those animals have their own character

traits likes dislikes and motivations.

So it is the prefrontal brain that makes us human not so much the fact of having one as some of the

more evolved mammals actually also have a prefrontal brain.

I'm thinking here for example dolphins dogs elephants and the other great apes the size of their prefrontal

brain is actually the normal size.

Ours is just ridiculously huge.

It's almost as if it was pimped and it has this oversized prefrontal brain that makes us truly human

how well remember our caveman from the reptilian brain the one who was being hunted down by a pack of

wolves.

Yes him.

Well if you compare him with a cave bear there is one thing that distinguishes both even though generations

of cave bears live for thousands of years in caves never has a single one of them thought about decorating

the place.

I mean putting a little paint on the walls drawing some wild animals is going to hurt.

OK OK.

Sure.

Bears can't paint.

So what about the Klaas.

Why haven't they used it to carve some nice patterns.

Or maybe just a signature type at the entrance to state.

The cave was theirs.

Why prefrontal brain size.

That's why this prefrontal brain works like some kind of supercomputer on a totally unconscious level.

Drawing conclusions from all of the difference and serial inputs it gets creating innovative combinations

to come up with new ways to deal with the situation at hand.

This way the prefrontal mode is a champion of adaptation and creativity especially suited for unknown

and complex situations as we saw before.

Tony your limbic brain works as some kind of autopilot dealing with the World As We Know It.

It is the home of all our little habits and routines which make us function very efficiently in our

daily lives sort of prefrontal brain is the one dealing with new and complex situations.

Let me correct that the prefrontal brain should be the one dealing with new and complex situations because

no it's not always the case.

Let me give you a couple of examples of automatic mode when adaptive mode would have made a huge difference.

Twelfth publishing firms turned down J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book Dickau records turned down

the Beatles in 1962.

The Titanic I think there's a world market for maybe five computers said the IBM chairman and 1943 Who

the hell wants to hear actors talk.

Came from Warner Brothers in 1927 and a Tarion HBO turning down Steve Jobs idea of a personal computer.

Now I could go on like this for hours whenever someone thought of something new.

There has always been others unable to see further than what currently is failing to see what could

be.

They stayed stuck in their limbic mode when what they should have done is switch to their prefrontal

brain.

Now the point I'm trying to make is that when we use our limbic brain we're not able to see further

than what we already know our existing experiences.

Hence the toning down of big opportunities when you have to make decisions on new things.

We should switch to our prefrontal brain.

This one enables us to adapt to change and deal with complex decision making.

It doesn't ensure we'll take the right decision nor does it mean we'll agree with any change just for

the sake of adaptation.

No no it only means we'll use all our knowledge and creativity to be able to see a possible future and

then make a decision yes or no.

This in contrast to the limbic brain where we'll just reject the idea because it has never worked before.

So the reaction of one of brothers who wants to hear actors thought it's a very good example of this

at this point in time in 1927 all movies were mute as limbic brain couldn't imagine anything else.

His prefrontal brain would have been able to and maybe he still would have decided not to go for it

maybe because of financial reasons why investments but not because he couldn't imagine people not wanting

to hear people talk.

He didn't.

Ditto with the IBM chairman stating there was a world market for maybe five computers.

His limbic brain wasn't able to project a world with computers no larger than a book and much more capacity

than at that time.

Of course not all change is good neither is all resistance bad.

Using our prefrontal brain when we need to helps us taking into account all the available information

and taking the best possible decision based on that our prefrontal brain is also home to our creativity

intuition spirituality but also our adaptability an indicator that our prefrontal brain is active is

our emotions.

We feel calm serenity and full control.

We are on top of our game.

This is the true land of possibility right there behind our forehead our prefrontal cortex the marvel

of evolution.

So to summarize the prefrontal brain this is the part of our brain which should switch on whenever we

face a complex situation or we need to adapt to new circumstances.

Unfortunately often we don't which leads to resistance to change and bad decision making.