An overlooked brain system helps you grab a coffee — and plan your next cup

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/04/20/ [login to see] /an-overlooked-brain-system-helps-you-grab-a-coffee-and-plan-your-next-cup
The seemingly simple act of reaching for a cup of coffee requires a lot of effort from the brain.

It has to plan a trajectory to the cup, control dozens of muscles, make adjustments based on feedback from the eyes and fingers, and maintain its focus on the goal: a tasty jolt of caffeine.

And it turns out that medical textbooks may be wrong about how all this happens. The books show a model of the brain in which the motor cortex is solely controlling movement.

But scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that previously overlooked areas of the brain's motor cortex appear to link control of specific muscles with information about the entire body and brain.

As a result, the act of, say, reaching for a cup of coffee can directly influence blood pressure and heart rate. And the movement is seamlessly integrated into brain systems involved in planning, goals and emotion.