Finally, beginning about 3 million years ago, the new brain—with its most important component, the neocortex (neo means new or modified) or cerebral cortex—molded itself around the first two brains. That makes this outer shell (which looks like the skin of an orange) the most recent layer and the most advanced brain area to evolve in primates and humans. The seat of our conscious awareness, the new brain houses our free will, our thinking, and our capacity to learn, reason, and rationalize. Figure 4.2 is a cross section of the brain (ear to ear) demonstrating the thickness and size of the
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