The brain mostly processes movement. It organises moving its person’s body and monitoring their movements in relation to their surroundings.
Is empathetic mirroring system mimics and internalises the movements of others almost as if they were its own
Brain imaging maps of thought pathways are gradually expanding our understanding of how a brain works.
In its recent evolutionary adventures the human brain has expanded to consume a quarter of its body’s resources. The phylogenetically newer cerebral cortex hangs over the older brain. Vegetative, perceptual and affective brain centres are now influenced by complex intellectual activity including symbolic thought.
The seat of the mind is not solely in the brain. The endocrine system is also involved in thinking. Other collections of nerves for example in the gut and heart also process information, make decisions and remember. They are brains too.
Other parts of the body are recruited into the top brain's symbolic representations of its body’s experiences.
For example the muscles of speech are involved as they inaudibly and almost imperceptibly voice each word that is thought or read.
The internal organs, musculature and particularly the face participate in our rich and complex emotional and intellectual economy.
Thinking, sensing and moving muscles change the brain. Areas of the cortex that we use enlarge as the interconnections between neurons increases. Unused areas diminish. Long term stress shrinks the brain.