Anterior Mid-Cingulate Cortex

For more information, please watch Andrew Huberman’s podcast with esteemed guest David Gogginshere.

I have been in constant pursuit of an answer to the question, Is it a moral necessity to be better? This is a loaded question and requires a fair bit of nuance to answer. I am far from having a satisfactory answer to this question; however, I was very intrigued when I heard Huberman discuss with Goggins the research finding evolving the anterior mid-cingulate cortex, or AMCC for short.

In layman’s terms, the more you pursue that which you do not want to do, the more there is significant mental friction between thinking about the act and doing the act. The more your MMC grows,

Ok, thanks, got it. Who cares?

You should care.

In this study, it was realized that the bigger the aMCC, the more likely you are to live longer. The core of this function is rooted in delayed gratification. The longer it takes for you to see the reward, the more effort it takes to do the thing, and the greater the chance that it will grow your MMC.

The aMMc is smaller in obese people and gets larger when they diet. It’s larger in athletes and is larger and continues to get larger in people who see themselves as challenged and overcoming those challenges.