The Simple Neuroscience of Procrastination
By: Natalie Wilcox and Brandon Slade - Founder of Untapped Learning
Procrastination comes in all shapes and sizes, from putting off taking the trash out until it overflows to cramming for an exam the night before. So why do we do this even when we know it’s not good for us, and what is happening in the brain? Overall, procrastination occurs when the parahippocampal cortex (one of the primary emotion centers) overrides our logical prefrontal cortex, placing immediate emotions at a higher precedence than whatever it is we have to get done. For people that already have prefrontal cortex variations, such as people with ADHD, the battle between the limbic emotion centers and the rational prefrontal cortex becomes way harder. The best way to avoid procrastination is to set a close deadline for a smaller piece of an assignment; the less time there is, the more adrenaline is released which counteracts limbic actions. This is why chunking assignments is so important.
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