When your brain is aroused and you are living in survival mode, and you have to keep shifting your attention to your job, to the news, to your ex, to your friends, to your e-mails, to Facebook, and to Twitter, you’re activating each of these different neurological networks very quickly. (Review Figure 2.5.) If you keep doing this over time, the act

Executive function. This comes from the most recently evolved part of the human brain, the prefrontal cortex, which is part of the neocortex. Executive function allows us to plan for the future, to postpone immediate gratification for the sake of greater gratification at a later time (for example, building a business or going to college). Executive

The brain achieves this astonishing economy of energy by carrying out the vast majority of its operations via the automation of many thought processes in one of three main ways—all of which have significant implications for the way people shop.

the brain seeks always to maximize its use of energy. Clearly, activities that can be performed easily require less investment of energy than those that demand greater time, effort, and thought.