The “Little Person” in the Brain Who Helps to Direct Our Movements

Magazine article, 2023

The Brain Is Organized for Maximum Efficiency
Our brains interpret the world around us, think, imagine, control our movements, and much more. This seems like a lot of work for one small organ! How can the brain control so many different tasks? The best way to deal with many duties is to distribute the work, and this is how the brain does it. Specific parts of the brain are responsible for processing what we see, controlling how we speak, regulating how we move, and so on. In a busy office building, people who need to speak to each other regularly will often have their desks near each other, but people who have very different jobs and tasks can work on separate floors. It would not make sense for members of the same team to go up and down the stairs all day when they could just sit together! Putting people with similar tasks near each other allows them to work faster. The brain uses a similar strategy. Similar brain functions are controlled by brain regions that are close to each other. This means that the brain regions that often work together can communicate quickly and efficiently.