Could the frenzied intensity of life today be partly responsible for the rise in mental illness? Here's how our brains might be overloaded, explains markregomd
, mental shifting and making mental representations . These abilities stack on top of one another to give us even higher functions like getting the subtle gist of a conversation and imagining what another person thinks or feels. People with PFC illnesses, such asmemory
. This is like RAM on a computer. It is all the things we can keep in mind for easy access of conscious thought. The second is our ability to inhibit reactions to emotions. Some real-life examples are in order. A good illustration of executive function is cooking. Our cook has four pots on the stove and a pan in the oven. She knows the different plan for each dish. Suddenly, the doorbell rings. She forgot a repairman was scheduled to come over. Using her PFC, she accesses the cooking data, which is already in working memory, quickly shifts plans, has a representation of everything in her mind, then executes the plan for each dish.
The PFC was meant for quiet contemplation, not frenzied work. It can do the latter, but not for long. As I discussed in my last post, modern life demands that we be able to manage complex and abstract things in most of what we do . We use it all day, every day, in normal work and under stress. We see the fault lines when it’s difficult to concentrate, we can’t find words, or irritability constantly breaks through. This is the PFC under stress.
By doing this all our lives we make ourselves vulnerable to any mental disorder we may carry genetically or be prone to for other reasons. Scientists can now see the actual change of a normal PFC to
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