system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What differs in the brain/body when moving, say a finger, compared to just thinking about moving it?
gpt
There isn’t actually a consensus on this. Everyone will agree that assuming that the action is voluntary, you’ve got some executive function stuff going on either way. Then there is something called motor programming, which can be thought of as a file cabinet of motor actions from which your brain draws. The selected motor program is “sent” to the motor cortex, and then activity there proceeds down some things called corticospinal tracts and goes to the body part you want to move. Answering your question is where it gets fuzzy. It also depends on in what way you are thinking about moving your finger. If you’re imagining it, then a lot of people would argue that that motor program is pulled from the file cabinet and sent to the motor cortex, but some inhibitory activity prevents the motor cortex from asking anything of your finger. The interplay between motor programming and motor activity is still not well understood, and there is a lot less distinction than how I’m making it seem.