Thus, the frontal cortex isn’t just this cerebral, eggheady brain region weighing the pluses and minuses of each decision, sending nice rational Libetian commands to the motor cortex—i.e., an excitatory role. It’s also an inhibitory, rule-bound goody-goody telling more emotional parts of the brain not to do something because they’re going to regret it. And basically, those other brain regions think of the PFC as this moralizing pain with a stick up its butt, especially when it turns out to be right.
