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array of functions, from deciding which

brand of toothpaste to buy, to planning

a meeting, to pondering the nature of

reality. One of these functions is to

soothe unwarranted fears.

If you were a high-reactive baby,

then your amygdala may, for the rest of

your life, go a bit wild every time you

introduce yourself to a stranger at a

cocktail party. But if you feel relatively

skilled in company, that’s partly because

your frontal cortex is there to tell

you to calm down, extend a handshake,

and smile. In fact, a recent fMRI study

shows that when people use self-talk to

reassess upsetting situations, activity in

their prefrontal cortex increases in an

amount correlated with a decrease of

activity in their amygdala.

But the frontal cortex isn’t all-powerful;

it doesn’t switch the amygdala off

altogether. In one study, scientists

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