top of page

The Neuroscience of Lies

Presenter:

Dr. Robert Sapolsky

Time:

5:29

Summary

Ever hear the expression "it's all in your mind"? Well, according to Robert Sapolsky all the negativity in the world might all be coming from one part of the brain: the frontal cortex.

Transcript

When we look at the world's ills, one of the biggest sources of it is us failing to do the right thing when it's the harder thing to do giving into temptation, giving into impulse giving into emotional sort of immediacy. And the part of the brain that's most central to whether or not that happens is the frontal cortex, most recently evolved part of the brain, we've got more of it proportionally or more complexity than any other primate species out there. It's the part of the brain that does impulse control, long term planning, emotional regulation, does all the stuff where it's the frontal cortex, that whispers in your ear saying.


Do you really, really want to do that right now, I might not do that you're gonna regret it, it seems like a great idea, frontal cortex about that? Okay, so when we look at our moments of life, where there's that enormous temptation to do the impulsive thing, and what's going to determine whether the world will be freed of impulsive horrors, if only we can all get stronger frontal cortices trained and childhood to be able to hold out where you can have one marshmallow right now.

bottom of page