Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science Apr 18 2025 When you see a bag of carrots at the grocery store, does your mind go to potatoes and parsnips or buffalo wings and celery?  It depends, of course, on whether you're making a hearty winter stew or getting ready to watch the Super Bowl.  Most scientists agree that categorizing an object - like thinking of a carrot as either a root vegetable or a party snack - is the job of the prefrontal cortex, the brain region