Or is that unrelated ? I guess what I’m wondering is are we able to produce more and more complex reasoning as we age despite the fact that our prefrontal cortex only shrinks as time goes by ?
In: Biology
In simple terms:
The brain is like a building that is already being used while it’s still being built. At some point, the walls and roofs are finished, so the construction workers can leave, but you still can spend years furnishing the place. Later in life, the walls begin to crumble, the roofs leak, your furniture becomes unusable from water damage, and then you have to close off whole rooms.
In the very beginning, the space for rational thinking is just an area marked off on the foundation plate. Within the first 5 years, walls and a temporary roof are added quickly, so you get a small corner to use for rational thinking. This then grows over the next 20 years, making space for some furniture until the walls and roof are finally finished, and you have your first complete set of cheap IKEA furniture. If all goes well, at that age you don’t act childish and rash anymore. You now have all the facilities to act like a rational adult. After that, just like in life, you work on your furniture. Rearranging it with experience, buying nicer pieces, hanging some pictures of events you learned from, and so on.
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BTW, this is the reason that in many countries, you’re not a full adult at 18 in the eyes of the law, but can be judged as a teen. Your brain isn’t yet that of a fully formed adult, expecting you to act like one would be foolish. Usually, the end of that phase is at 21, when you are expected to have a brain that’s developed enough to at least follow the law and suppress your intrinsic behaviour.
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