Re: Why does our brain listen to us?

You are right Hannah, the brain does seem to have a mind of its own.  The 
brain is a wonderful and very mysterious thing and scientists are still 
trying to figure out how it works.  My guess is that they will be trying 
for a long time to come.  The brain is the control center for our bodies; 
it controls all of our body’s functions.  For example, if you want to 
throw a ball, your brain tells your arm how to move in order to throw the 
ball.  If you have to add some numbers together on a test, your brain 
figures out the answer and then tells your hand how to write the answer 
down on a piece of paper.  In both of these cases, you have to think about 
what you are doing.  You have to think about throwing the ball and whom 
you are throwing it too and even why you want to throw the ball.  Or you 
have to remember that 2 + 2 = 4.  These are functions that the brain does 
that we are aware of (in scientific terms we are ‘conscious’ of these 
functions).  But the brain also controls a lot functions that you don’t 
think about like your breathing, your heart rate, and digesting the hotdog 
you had for lunch.  These are functions that the brain does that we are 
generally not aware of (they are ‘unconscious’ functions).  Because you 
don’t have to think about things like breathing, you have more time to 
think about fun stuff like playing tag (and maybe some not so fun stuff 
like doing your homework).  Sometimes, though, we become aware of things 
like breathing.  For example, if you run around a lot, you become short of 
breath, or sometimes, after eating a big meal you might get a 
stomachache.  In these cases, the brain tells us that we have to rest or 
stop eating.  So the brain does a lot of things that we are aware of and a 
lot of things that we are not aware of, but it is all done by the same 
brain.  How the brain does these things is what makes you you.