Prefrontal Cortex in Addiction: Impulse Control | MindLAB
The Prefrontal Cortex in Addiction: Why Your Brain’s Brake System Fails Before You Know It The prefrontal cortex addiction impulse control mechanism is not a willpower failure. The PFC — the brain’s brake system — is the cortical region that holds back a triggered response long enough to evaluate it. In addiction that brake does not disappear; it miscalibrates. A specific class of inhibitory circuits stops gating signals to the reward pathway, and the brake fails before conscious awareness arrives. ...
