The Most "Human" Part of the Brain — Prefrontal Cortex
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the front part of the frontal lobes of the brain. It is what we use when planning and making decisions. We also need it to understand other people.
After birth, the number of synapses in the PFC increases steadily until we reach adolescence.
Experiments have shown that during tasks involving understanding other people's intentions, adolescents have rather low PFC activity. On the contrary, when thinking over one's own intentions, adolescents have even higher PFC activity than adults.
Exploring one's own abilities and searching for personal cognitive strategies is what our brain considers to be the main task of an adolescent.
